This feature is being released as a “Limited Edition” Blu-ray by Arrow Video on July 30th.
History is full of incredible filmmakers who have created cinematic classics that will be remembered forever. Yet, not every title in their catalogs are masterpieces. Howard Hawks was a singular talent responsible for Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Red River, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Rio Bravo, El Dorado and many others. One of those others is Red Line 7000, a melodrama from Paramount Pictures about the troubled personal lives of stock car racers.
The movie was a critical and box office flop when it first came out. As the years have passed, reaction to it seems to fall into two camps. The majority are those who believe it to be something of a mess, while a smaller group have declared the film an underappreciated jewel that is among the filmmaker’s strongest works. I’m not sure about the latter, but one thing that no one can say about this movie is that it is boring. I had a great time watching it, and even if it is as silly as it is compelling, the disc is still worth picking up for any film connoisseur curious about the more obscure works of a great director.
Arrow Video have now picked up the title for distribution and are releasing a fantastic new “Limited Edition” Blu-ray that nicely presents the film in high definition, along with plenty of material that can help people come to their own conclusions about it.
This is an ensemble piece that follows a few storylines involving racers on a particular team. The first racer is Mike Marsh (James Caan, in his first starring role), an intense competitor who has issues dating women who are not, in his view, ummm, pure. His best friend is Jim Loomis (Anthony Rogers), another team member who immediately dies in a horrible crash. It is revealed that Loomis’ lounge singer girlfriend Holly McGregor (Gail Hire) also dated a racer that perished on the track and is now certain that she carries a death curse.
Meanwhile, arrogant up-and-coming Ned Arp (John Robert Crawford) begins a relationship with Julie Kazarian (Laura Devon). Focused only on his career, he treats her incredibly poorly, which only seems to make her dote on him even more. There is also Dan McCall (Skip Ward), who has returned from a lengthy stay in France with his partner Gabrielle Queneau (Marianna Hill). Despite still being a couple, they are no longer in love and are open-minded about engaging in relationships with others. All of the characters cross paths and interact. Both romance and a sense of conflict builds between the selfish drivers over their romantic interests. There are fiery confrontations in private and on the road that leave their marks.
The movie contains plenty of impressive, authentic driving footage (which was captured by a camera team led by an ex-racer who photographed real stock car competitions for nearly a year), mixed with pure melodrama shot on elaborately designed but obvious-looking soundstages. The characters act out in none-too-subtle ways and the performances are all over the map. Some, including those with the charismatic Caan, are solid. In fact, he has a few intriguing scenes with Hill as his strange psychosis builds and leads him into trouble.
However, others aren’t as convincing and Hire in particular doesn’t fare well. She’s forced to hit some hysterical notes early on while also adopting a sultry voice that later vanishes (the reason for the odd delivery is stated in the bonus features). Then, in a particularly bizarre and out-of-place scene, the character performs a racing-related number at a club frequented by the entire cast. It’s a horrid song that is like something you’d see out of a B-grade teen horror flick and not a major studio picture. Again, this isn’t the performer’s fault, but she clearly is struggling in the role.
The movie’s look and tone are completely unbalanced and jarring, but to some degree that’s what helps to keep it interesting. You truly don’t know what’s coming next and there are plenty of surreal surprises and eccentric moments as the story develops. For me, this is not a quality film, but I still enjoyed it a great deal. It is a fascinatingly odd effort that does keep one’s attention and, at the very least, works on a campy level.
This film was shot on a couple of different stocks (the driving footage definitely looks different from the driving projection shots and the dramatic material) so the footage itself can only look so good, but the image quality overall is certainly a vast improvement on previous editions and is pleasing to the eye. It’s a very good transfer and the roadside motel set and other backdrops look very impressive on this disc.
Extras on this disc are fascinating and really help one understand exactly where everyone was coming from. The commentary track from critic Nick Redman and Julie Kirgo (the daughter of the screenwriter) is incredibly illuminating. Kirgo was on the set frequently and is a wonderful reference. She describes how her father and Hawks met, as well as how the filmmaker eventually asked the writer to write the project he had been developing.
Kirgo notes that there are aspects of the film she really likes, but that it is flawed (despite the claims of a handful of critics who do adore the picture). She goes on to suggest that ensemble pieces like this often have trouble when not all of the sections work. The speaker also remarks that Hawks was a director known for keeping up to date with popular trends and discovering new talent, but that he may have gotten in over his head with this picture. Apparently, by this point in his career he wasn’t as personally invested in helping inexperienced cast members on set, leaving Hire and few others lost as to how to perform. One of Hawks’ amazing discoveries was Lauren Bacall, and it was likely suggested that Hire initially try to sound like her.
Kirgo really laments how rough it must have been for Hire, but is happy that she ultimately found happiness elsewhere and became a successful artist. She also admits that Hawks’ next picture, El Dorado, was vastly superior. She suggests that westerns were a genre better suited to the director and that, had some of the new faces from that picture been cast in this one, the results on Red Line 7000 may have been more favorable.
Just about everything good and bad about the production that Kirgo describes sounds frank and enlightening, making this one of the better commentary tracks in recent memory.
There’s also a piece with assistant director Bruce Kessler, who was the ex-racer responsible for filming the impressive driving footage. He talks about his previous profession and how it led to him being hired for this picture. He goes over the challenges he faced and how he helped create some of the striking crashes in the picture. Kessler does note that he saw Hawks leave set during the shoot one day, which may add more to the theory that he wasn’t present to help struggling cast members.
Also included is a nifty visual essay on the picture that goes over the movie’s peculiarities and how others have responded, and now even admire these unique touches. There is also a visual essay from a film scholar that goes into each of the female characters and describes the film, in some respects, as forward-thinking in making them essential to the narrative. You’ll also get an image gallery of posters, lobby cards and stills for the movie. Furthermore, the disc comes in a reversible sleeve featuring new and original artwork for the picture. This material is also included on a double-sided foldout poster that comes in the package. And there is also an illustrated booklet with writing on the picture.
Is Red Line 7000 a cinematic car crash or an underappreciated masterwork in an incredible filmmaker’s long catalog? Well, if you pick up this impressive “Limited Edition” Blu-ray, you can decide for yourself and join in the conversation. No matter what side you fall on, the final product is certainly something to behold and a lot of fun to watch. If you’re curious, this Blu-ray is definitely worth picking up!