Roadracers is a 1994 TV movie by writer - director Robert Rodriguez. It was Robert's second film after the 1992 El Mariachi. It was first film in the 10 film Rebel Highway series on Showtime. Producer Lou Arkoff took the name from the 1959 American International Pictures film and a whole new story was written. About the same time as this series was going on Cinemax was doing the same thing with remakes of American International Pictures science fiction and horror films like The She Creature and The Day The World Ended.
Roadracers stars David Arquette, Salma Hayek, John Hawkes, Jason Wiles and William Sadler. David is Dude, a 1950s greaser and Salma is his girlfriend Donna. John is Dude's best friend Nixer. William is the local cop, named Sarge, and Jason is his son Teddy. David does not get along with the hard ass Sarge or his out of control asshole son. Dude accidentally sets Teddy's girlfriend's hair on fire and Teddy vows some violence. Sadly, he's a gutless bully and things don't go his way. Sarge wants to get Dude for his hot rod drivin' and he hassles him anytime he sees him. Sadly, he's no match for Dude. The confrontations build through the movie and it ends with a fiery climax.
I've seen this several times and have enjoyed it every time. I highly recommend it. For a movie about some teens in the 1950s it covers a lot of different ground. For some reason it took ages to get a DVD out, I had the laserdisc since the late 1990's and the DVD got released in 2012. I've had the DVD for a couple of years and I found the Bluray at HPB for $7. It looks and sounds really great. There's a short featurette and an interesting commentary by Rodriguez.
Comments