Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)

Dir: John Hough

Starring: Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow

More Info: IMDB

Tagline:

Plot: Mary and Larry are two lovers who, with Larry's ace mechanic, rob a grocery store and flee the police with hopes of making the professional racing circuit. They are chased over hill, over vale by the cops, who deploy everything from a 426 Hemi to a helicopter to stop Larry's Dodge Charger culminating in a memorable ending.







My Rating: 4/10
Would I watch it again? No

The hype about this movie in the Mondo Movie world I live in HUGE. It's been referenced in films and talked about with fanboy glee so when I finally saw it I couldn't believe my eyes. This movie is an assault on your senses and intelligence.

I've got no problem checking my brains at the door when I go to see certain films. I expected a fun 1970's-era, gear-head, car-chasing, rednexploitation film. What I got was a complete waste of time at the expense of Peter Fonda and Susan George getting their kicks and collecting a paycheck.

The first thing you're going to notice is how much Fonda and George look and sound like a couple of childish idiot low-lifes. You'd probably tell me that that's the point. I can accept that to a degree but the words that come out of their mouths are absolutely some of the worst, if not THE worst, dialogue I've ever heard before. I expect that in some piece of shit B-movie where there's no talent or money involved but with this? I watched a little bit of the interviews after the movie and they WERE PROUD to have improvised this drivel. Unbelievable. Fucking unbelievable.

"Can you spot the REAL actor? It ain't the mongoloid on the left or the skank in the center."

So what worked? SOME of the car chases (although I was STUNNED at how mediocre they were), Vic Morrow over-acting his obviously drunk-ass self in just about every scene he's in, the "third wheel", so-to-speak, actor riding along with Fonda and George - Adam Roarke. Compared to F&G he's Brando. He knows how to play his part. He underplays it. He'd have to compared to the coloring book performances from F&G. And while I'm at it, this is the first time I've seen Susan George and if I never see her in a film again I'll be that much better for it. She's terrible and she's hideous! I'd like to think this is her worst performance but even at that it's a looooong road for her to get to a mediocre one. Woof.

"Ugly Mary"

I gave this film a 4 out of 10, 1 for Roarke and 3 for the coolest fucking ending EVER! It's like a bitch-slap the morning after. It will sober your ass up and fast. I really think that without the film's ending the movie would barely be a blink in any of these film maker's careers. I can't say enough of the ending. It's stunning. BUT it's certainly not worth watching everything else just to get to it. If you watch the last 20 minutes then you will see a pretty decent movie IF that's all you watch. The actors start taking things seriously at that point when the heat is really on so the silliness is almost non-existent. The rest of the movie is absolute crap. If I watch any of this again it will be the final 20 minutes. Skip the empty main course and go straight for desert.