Customer Reviews:
the borstall system - first hand.......2007-03-26
Good acting , good direction and an accurate storyline. This workmanlike british film of the fifties is enjoyable and interesting. By far the biggest atribute , in my own personal eyes , is its accuracy and authenticity to the borstal system. Being a borstal officer during this period , many of the situations and incidents contained within the film are equal to many I have encountered over the years. The "feel" of the film is very authentic indeed. Good performances by Redgrave , Courtney and a fledgling John Thaw .
Not exactly a film to relax with but nevertheless enjoyable
One of the best films of all time.......2005-08-07
Ever since I first saw this film, I found it unforgettable. It is based on a short story by Alan Sillitoe, and does a wonderful job of bringing the unique atmosphere of his story to the screen (Sillitoe wrote the screenplay himself). There is a lot to admire in this film: the b&w cinematography (its power especially evident in the lyrical running sequences);the realistic presentation of the environment of the English working class at the time; brilliant acting, especially in the scenes of the confrontations between the - both masterful - Tom Courtenay and Michael Redgrave. All these ingredients provide for a richly textured study of the fine complications of emotion, experience and self-analysis. I would, of course, be in some ways inclined to agree that this film is outdated, but the main theme, that of the titular loneliness of the individual caused by the inadequacy of human means of communication, is something that can be still be felt in the modern times. Although the movement that spawned this film, the British Free Cinema, lasted for only a brief period of time, "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" has become the key British film of the 60s and a masterpiece of world cinema that,if you are a lover of classic films,you cannot allow yourself NOT to have.
Have you never felt this way before?.......2005-03-06
I don't understand why another reviewer has said that this film is dated. The school system may not be the same, but the battle of wills that plays out in the film is being played out not just in every school, but on every factory floor, every office, every lab, football team, choir, everywhere. This is one of the supreme human stories and if you don't have this film, you have no excuse. It's an element of what makes people people.
For Tom Courtenay.......2003-12-26
The story is to day a bit out dated , but this masterpiece must be seen for its actors. Tom Courtenay is absolutely great , and we can only wander why this actor has refused to be a star , he had all the talents for it.
A small part with James Fox, who plays, as always, the perfect brit-gentleman !
Customer Reviews:
action paced thriller !.......2007-07-14
i recently saw "ghost rider " with peter fonda starring alongside nicholas
cage,it prompted me to try to remember that peter fonda was in another
"biker" thriller in the 70s also about the devil.checking on amazon i saw
"race with the devil " wow ! i watched it years ago so when the dvd came
i couldnt wait to see it ! was it good ? absolutely gripping ,half the stuffing is gone in my armchair ! campers firstly witness a murder at a
black mass ,they are chased relentlessly through the desert & towns ,
their dog is hanged,snakes put in the van ,forced off the road you name it
but cannot give too much away because of the surprise ending.do they get
out alive ? brilliant ! cant give much more away ,just watch it ! theres
also an inteview with peter fonda & extras .
Hell on wheels!.......2007-04-29
"When you Race With the Devil, you better be faster than Hell!" screams the trailer for one of the all-time great irresistible chase movie premises: vacationers Warren Oates and Peter Fonda inadvertently witness a ritual killing and find themselves and their wives pursued in their RV by a bunch of unrelenting Satanists. And these aren't any old Satanists - these are Texan Satanists, and darn well connected ones too. Pretty soon it's looking like the whole of the Lone Star State is part of a Satanic conspiracy, and thankfully it's one that involves lots of car crashes. While it doesn't make quite as much of the idea as it perhaps could and the great ending completely defies logic, it's still as much fun as it sounds. It's not a great movie by any means, but as Peter Fonda says on the DVD it was never meant to be: it was just about having a good time with it (though I'm guessing that original director Lee Frost didn't have such a great time since he got replaced by Jack Starrett). Unfortunately, but perhaps predictably, there is a remake in the works.
Anchor Bay's Region 1 NTSC DVD is a good package, featuring a good 1.85:1 widescreen transfer with decent extras - a 17-minute featurette including an interview with Peter Fonda, audio commentary by producer Paul Maslansky and actress Lara Parker, stills and poster gallery, 3 radio spots, original theatrical trailer and trailers for The Entity, Quicksilver Highway and Ghost in the Machine.
MUST SEE!!!.......2005-12-20
race with the devil has finally arrived!!! Last saw this movie on tv in the late Seventies when i was a kid and was scared out my wits end!! this is a must see movie at any age!!
Race With the Devil.......2005-10-07
Brilliant, action packed and genuinely scary. This film is so good we should see a Hollywood watered down action remake in the near future!
Customer Reviews:
A Chase classic!!.......2003-12-02
If you have seen the other great Chevy Chase offerings (Vacation, European Vacation and Christmas Vacation being excellent examples) then this film is right up your street!
Save the comedy and the usual madcap situations that are trademark traits of a Chevy Chase film, this truly is a heartwarming little tale about a retiring sports writer who moves to the country to find the novel inside.
As always the best laid plans fall to pieces and the novel is the least of Chevy's worries! Psychotic postmen, bodies in the garden, run-away dogs and that is just the beginning!
This film is a true comedy gem if overlooked at times.
Another excellent Chevy Chase classic!
PRETTY DARN FUNNY..........2003-03-31
This is definitely one of the better Chevy Chase vehicles, as it does not go too far off the beaten path and is handled with a lighter touch than many of his other films. It is funny, wry, and deftly humorous.
The plot is simple. A sportswriter from New York, Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase), and his wife, Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith-Osborne), decide to move to the country so that he can write his great American novel. They move to rural Redbud, Vermont, and instead of a bucolic, pastoral setting with friendly, kindly, country folk, they find snakes, a postman who maniacally drinks and drives, a sheriff who can't drive a car, a corpse in their back yard, and a whole slew of the weirder than weird.
Instead of writing the great American novel, Andy only manages to turn out some useless drivel, while Elizabeth turns out a charming children's book. This causes great friction between the two, and it looks as if their sojourn in the country, as well as their marriage, is to be a brief one. They decide to move back to New York and inveigle the entire town of Redbud to assist them in selling their house, by turning the town and its environs into a warm and cozy setting out of a Norman Rockwell painting. What happens next is quite funny.
Just about every one in the film is a little wacky, with the exception of Andy's wife, Elizabeth, who is the one sane, grounded character. Madolyn Smith-Osborne gives an excellent performance as the wife. She is a perfect comedic foil. Chevy Chase as Andy is well...Chevy Chase and, as always, funny. The supporting cast is likewise excellent and contribute to the many humorous moments in the film. All in all, this is an enjoyable comedy that is fun for the whole family.
Customer Reviews:
Brooks cuts to the quick too often to win this race.......2006-10-26
Bite the Bullet has a solid screenplay and is an often handsome looking picture, but it boasts some of the worst editing I've ever seen in a major studio picture. At times it's so disjointed it's almost as if you're watching an assembly put together before shooting has finished. Certainly the potential of many scenes seems to thrown away in slapdash editing that constantly undermines the film. Considering the troubles other Columbia pictures had at the time in their desperate attempts to avoid bankruptcy, it's possible that the film was cut to the bone from a much longer version, but it looks like they've thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
As a result, Richard Brooks' tale of a western endurance horse race never really connects despite a great cast - Gene Hackman on top form and James Coburn in roles that seem to be virtual reprises of Robert Ryan and Burt Lancaster's characters in The Professionals, and Ben Johnson as a nameless saddle tramp out to make a name for himself before he dies best among them. There's also the problem of animal cruelty: despite the script's compassion for horses, there's no doubting that some of the horsefalls would now be illegal. On the plus side, there's some truly striking use of slow motion and normal speed in the same frame, and when the film isn't in such an all-fired hurry it does throw in some nice character moments. And it's a lot better than Hidalgo.
A surprisingly enjoyable Western!.......2005-07-05
This Western has a light touch, without ever being camp or dated.
The plot surrounds a 700 mile endurance horse race, and the varied contestants that enter it. As the movie unfolds, there are themes of 'do as you would be done unto' and also that striving for the best does not have to mean sacrificing the things that are important - in this case, how you treat animals, and indeed people.
Although fun, it is never a comedy, and the superb casting makes for some moments rich in pathos, such as Ben Johnsons excellent turn as the old man wanting to make his mark and become somebody, or Ian Bannen as the wide eyed Englishman who looks up to the ideal of the West and wants to be part of it. The only weaker role is Candice Bergen, in a role that seems inserted for the sake of having a woman present, and does not add a great deal to the movie. Jan Michael Vincent also does well in his role as the brash and thoughtless young cowboy who wants to be somebody and will do anything to get there - though his transformation to nice guys seems somewhat rushed at the end.
The main acting chops go to Gene Hackman and James Coburn who as ever lend genuine gravitas to what could otherwise have been too frothy a concoction. Gene Hackmans character gets the best moments, such as his relating the story of his Cuban wife to Candice Bergen, and the times when he cares for animals or people - the eyes tell the story of him being 'simpatico' as one character puts it.
The scenery is varied - sometimes confusingly so, as the riders trot from desert to green forest in a few screen minutes, and beautifully captured with excellent cinematography. The script is deft, allowing for fun to be had with zingy one liners ('Aint never known a man that can hold liquor the way a bottle can..' and as one girl asks 'Buffalo Bill - aint he the fastest gun in the West?' the brothel madam replies 'only in bed, hon').
The music by Alex North is rousing and effective, riffing frequently on Camptown Races, but not entirely memorable.
Some might find the plot similar to Hidalgo, but this is simultaneously a simpler affair, being a more straightforward Western, and a richer affair, for having the excellent ensemble cast and a deft script which only runs out of steam somewhere near the end of the movie.
Well worth a watch, especially at the reduced price - will fill in a lazy Sunday afternoon! And the moment of 'biting the bullet' might put you off the dentist for a while...
Exuberant western with stunning cinematography.......2004-05-05
This overlooked 1975 gem set in 1908 deserves much better treatment on DVD. An exuberant story about a punishing 700-mile horse race across stunning, beautifully filmed western landscapes. However, it's the fine screenplay's treatment of character that makes the movie more than a picturesque gallop.
Gene Hackman is Sam Clayborn, the experienced cowboy drawn into the race against his better judgement. After some impromptu dentistry involving a spent bullet casing, a Mexican contestant describes Clayborn as 'simpatico', and that he is: hard as nails, his wisdom and humanity nevertheless bring the competitors together to survive the ordeal. At the heart of the film is a moving speech, delivered by Hackman, which tells of the death of his Cuban wife when he was a young Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt. I think it as memorable a piece of storytelling as the great Robert Shaw 'USS Indianapolis speech' in Jaws. But the film is full of well-observed human moments, such as those involving the sick, ageing saddle-tramp Ben Jonson.
Candice Bergen is fetchingly butch, as ever, as the female rider with her own agenda and Jan Michael Vincent the arrogant young buckaroo who is the antithesis of Clayborn's considerateness.
A fine cast in a fine film with, in my opinion, one of the most admirable screen cowboys ever created.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Death Race 2000, Paul Bartel's 1975 cheapo satire about a futuristic international sport--an anything-goes car race where drivers score points for hitting pedestrians--stars David Carradine as a hero behind the wheel and Sylvester Stallone as his nemesis. The film is clever and macabre enough as a modernist satire, but finally overplays its hand in grim, decadent humour. The sets are gloriously artificial, and former Andy Warhol-star Mary Woronov is in sexy, comic form. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Created a stir...........2008-01-25
A cracking little film!
Created a great deal of press attention at the time of its cinema release...back in the days when a 6 week hype campaign were the norm.
Even that bastion of trash 'Titbits' magazine ran a colour spread!
Stallone excells as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, as does Carradine as Frankenstein.
Even the dreadful continuity ( check the attack scene, involving the French air force) doesn't detract from the films energy and gusto.
Don't expect a digitally remastered version on DVD though...its still as grainy as a bag of rice.
Apparently, a new version of this film..imaginatively titled Death Race 3000 is due to grace our screens soon, but it'll have to go some to beat the cornball splendour of this gem.
please re make this movie!.......2007-03-13
If ever a film was begging to be re made it's this one. a crazed reality show involving death on a grand scale on the roads of America. for once i would welcome CGI effects and gallons of gore. The Texas Chainsaw meets Fast and the Furious (With lashings of satire). You see the Original Death Race is a fun idea, a fantastic concept but poorly done. Now is the time for it to be made again. watch this film and see if you agree.
ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.......2006-02-01
This rubbish will probably be remade sometime in the future , well i can absolutley 100 % declare that in this case, the remake will be considerably better than the original.You all know the story and if you don't then you'r not missing anything, Kitch it aint BAD it is, Banal,Bromidic it is , i wont go on any more but one peice of advice if you buy or rent this................... have a Labotomy first.
"Meep Meep!".......2005-10-08
Don't expect any attempt at realism here. This is like a cartoon in many ways. Maybe not 'Wacky Races' as another reviewer said, more like a cross between some cheesy manga and Road Runner. The attempts of the race saboteurs are right out of the ACME textbook, including a fake tunnel entrance (I kid you not).
This ludicrous but entertaining satire is perfect for after-pub viewing. Sly Stallone gets a good kicking too, bonus!
A must-see experience........2004-06-28
This is a Roger Corman epic made with the usual low budget ($300k when other films at the time were costing $5 million).
Melodramatic and kitsch: almost a farce at times and overlooking reality the whole of the way through..
But it's a brilliant and highly intelligent film all the same.
With great 70's music, a bit of titillation and a smattering of gore- there's no pussy-footing around.
It's all done with the blackest of black humour: there's the usual message about too much violence in society and at times it's almost anti-American in the send-up of American institutions The presenters are larger than life and the appearance of "Mr President in his Summer Palace in Peking" is inspirational.
In this alternative future, most of the world is an American totalitarian state where the real power is with the secret police. The race is there to placate the population. The drivers are adored by the public but the drivers, far from being important are expendable and replaceable. Shades of Rollerball but done with a wry smile.
The snippets of info on the future are just enough to keep you wondering and there's even hints of a American-European rift (the French Airforce mention is especially funny).
The film sets up a fast pace from the off with an intro to the drivers & their cars:
Calamity Jane
Matilda the Hun
Nero
Machine gun Joe (Sylvester Stallone is a natural in only his 2nd feature film).
Frankenstein (David Carradine)
Good DVD extras too
Amazon.co.uk Review
Death Race 2000, Paul Bartel's 1975 cheapo satire about a futuristic international sport--an anything-goes car race where drivers score points for hitting pedestrians--stars David Carradine as a hero behind the wheel and Sylvester Stallone as his nemesis. The film is clever and macabre enough as a modernist satire, but finally overplays its hand in grim, decadent humour. The sets are gloriously artificial, and former Andy Warhol-star Mary Woronov is in sexy, comic form. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Created a stir...........2008-01-25
A cracking little film!
Created a great deal of press attention at the time of its cinema release...back in the days when a 6 week hype campaign were the norm.
Even that bastion of trash 'Titbits' magazine ran a colour spread!
Stallone excells as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, as does Carradine as Frankenstein.
Even the dreadful continuity ( check the attack scene, involving the French air force) doesn't detract from the films energy and gusto.
Don't expect a digitally remastered version on DVD though...its still as grainy as a bag of rice.
Apparently, a new version of this film..imaginatively titled Death Race 3000 is due to grace our screens soon, but it'll have to go some to beat the cornball splendour of this gem.
please re make this movie!.......2007-03-13
If ever a film was begging to be re made it's this one. a crazed reality show involving death on a grand scale on the roads of America. for once i would welcome CGI effects and gallons of gore. The Texas Chainsaw meets Fast and the Furious (With lashings of satire). You see the Original Death Race is a fun idea, a fantastic concept but poorly done. Now is the time for it to be made again. watch this film and see if you agree.
ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.......2006-02-01
This rubbish will probably be remade sometime in the future , well i can absolutley 100 % declare that in this case, the remake will be considerably better than the original.You all know the story and if you don't then you'r not missing anything, Kitch it aint BAD it is, Banal,Bromidic it is , i wont go on any more but one peice of advice if you buy or rent this................... have a Labotomy first.
"Meep Meep!".......2005-10-08
Don't expect any attempt at realism here. This is like a cartoon in many ways. Maybe not 'Wacky Races' as another reviewer said, more like a cross between some cheesy manga and Road Runner. The attempts of the race saboteurs are right out of the ACME textbook, including a fake tunnel entrance (I kid you not).
This ludicrous but entertaining satire is perfect for after-pub viewing. Sly Stallone gets a good kicking too, bonus!
A must-see experience........2004-06-28
This is a Roger Corman epic made with the usual low budget ($300k when other films at the time were costing $5 million).
Melodramatic and kitsch: almost a farce at times and overlooking reality the whole of the way through..
But it's a brilliant and highly intelligent film all the same.
With great 70's music, a bit of titillation and a smattering of gore- there's no pussy-footing around.
It's all done with the blackest of black humour: there's the usual message about too much violence in society and at times it's almost anti-American in the send-up of American institutions The presenters are larger than life and the appearance of "Mr President in his Summer Palace in Peking" is inspirational.
In this alternative future, most of the world is an American totalitarian state where the real power is with the secret police. The race is there to placate the population. The drivers are adored by the public but the drivers, far from being important are expendable and replaceable. Shades of Rollerball but done with a wry smile.
The snippets of info on the future are just enough to keep you wondering and there's even hints of a American-European rift (the French Airforce mention is especially funny).
The film sets up a fast pace from the off with an intro to the drivers & their cars:
Calamity Jane
Matilda the Hun
Nero
Machine gun Joe (Sylvester Stallone is a natural in only his 2nd feature film).
Frankenstein (David Carradine)
Good DVD extras too
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