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I wanted to but couldn't!

Fantastic!

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I searched long and hard for this movie, as I do for all of Joe Don's early work. This movie is magnificent! I watch it over and over. It's got Joe Don, Susan Sarandon, Larry Hagman and Parnelli Jones, and it casts Joe Don much better than a lot of his other movies.A GREAT thing about this movie is how creatively the actors talk--they NEVER use profanity, but come up with other ways to express what they are feeling. Any other "action" movie is full of foul language.Another great thing about it is all the Bugs and rail-jobs. Even Walkaway's car started out as a Bug. I've been a Bug person most of my life.And I LOVE the way Bo says "motor-cicle" instead of motorcycle. I say it that way myself very often.I guess the best thing about this movie for me is that it is set in the 1970's. That was a kinder, gentler time when Joe Don was young and SO gorgeous.

The below commentary on the movie was written by a friend, who caught a Spanish dub of "Checkered Flag or Crash" on Telemundo well into the evening. ------------------ "Checkered Flag or Crash" is about as bad as it gets. From what I can tell, Joe Don stars as Joe Don Baker, the lovable lunk he always plays. He's competing in some off road challenge race. (By the way, the lyrics to the theme song for Checkered Flag or Crash, "Checkered Flag or Crash", has four words - can you guess what they are?) The supporting cast of Larry "J.R. Ewing" Hagman and Susan Sarandon (?!) made it way too fun not to share with you guys. I really don't think MST3K could have done this movie. They would have choked to death on a combination of vomit and laughter. The movie seemed to be a series of spectacular and more often unspectacular car crashes - mostly stock footage. Essentially it was an hour of the chase scene from Mitchell. There were hilarious moments when the camera was trying to get the natural vantage point of an off road race, but because of the wind all you could see were tires and dust because tree branches covered the screen. It was as if they had budgeted exactly an hour of tape, so everything was done first take and then all this nonsensical stock was added. I think they may have had footage from NASCAR - Joe Don in a jeep, Joe Don in a Jeep, Richard Petty crashes in turn 2 at Talladega, Joe Don in a Jeep... Did I mention that I'm watching all this in Telemundo? The worst were the uncomfortable moments when Joe Don whooped it up after knocking innocent, unassuming competitors into walls, off of cliffs, or out of focus (each ending in explosion and emphatic death). I wonder if in the closing credits they were listed as "Unnecessarily Killed Driver 1-12" The movie ends with a final, triumphant vehicular manslaughter followed by our pudgy hero recklessly and needlessly going at the finish line at full speed with nary a competitor in sight (perhaps there was a time limit he had to beat - I didn't know and I didn't care). As the car crosses the line, he loses control, jumps a bridge like KITT (you know, there's no ramp, but the car somehow becomes airborne), and flips over repeatedly. Four crashes are shown to represent the incident. Note that I didn't say "four angles". There were four independent crashes filmed - they physically could not have been the same accident. The best part was that it almost looked like the car was hitting spectators at one point - the over-under on extras injured during filming must have been 60.So as a smoke machine billows and the shocked crowd approaches to ask a) if Joe Don's character has been killed, b) if the movie is over, and c) with whom should they file their injury claim, our man's hand eases out the passenger side window and gives the thumbs up. Sarandon shakes her head dumbfoundedly and Hagman is seen racing toward the nearest bank to cash his check before the studio goes under. Then the theme music comes in. "Checkered Flag or Crash". Absorbing stuff.Since this viewing, I have been reflecting on the three stars: 1) Hagman - Really, between 'I Dream of Jeanie' and 'Dallas', there was ten years of him doing nothing. I wonder if he did any porn in that time. And I wonder if that would have been a step up or a step down from 'Checkered Flag or Crash' 2) Sarandon - you're kidding me, right? And here's the weird thing, in this movie she's probably 20-25 years old, and not remotely hot. I've never found her to be good looking, but I always figured she must have gotten in by being hot when she was younger. Not the case. How does she always get guys in movies? Did Joe Don tell her the secret to being a hatchet face that still gets cast as a romantic lead? Which brings us to... 3) Baker - How the hell did he get lead roles? And how the hell did he always get a romantic partner? Was he a sex symbol in the 70s? He wasn't attractive, he had no charm, and his characters were horrible people. His movies seem to be ninety minutes of him getting the crap beat out of him until he finally kills everyone else. Do you realize this was like casting Drew Carey as the lead in 'The Fast and The Furious'? And finally, what did it take to stop a movie from being produced in the 1970s. This budget couldn't have exceeded thirty thousand dollars. The major special effect (used with great frequency I might add) was dust. I figure the only significant costs must've been the wrongful death suits by families of extras.

Don't listen to these others posters - this is a great film. How can you go wrong with the great Joe Don Baker, Susan Sarandon (although this is one of the few films in her early career where you don't get to see her breasts. and what breasts those are - the lemon scene in Atlantic City is probably the defining moment of this great actresses career!) larry Hagman doing an early riff on JR Ewing as an unscrupulous Off Road Racing promoter, and Parnelli Jones - as himself.I always thought Ms. Sarandon had bought up all the prints of this movie - but if you get a chance to see it - definitely give it a look.

Good off road racing movie with shallow plot. Always a great rainy Sunday afternoon movie to have on when doing something else. Wish I could find a copy to watch again. Lots of big names when they were young. Still don't expect to find the meaning of life in this flick.