I love sports movies. I am not necessarily a sports fan, but I love sports movies. I know enough about sports to follow the movies. I am just not into watching sports. I used to be. I loved nothing more than sitting quietly watching baseball on television. I used love watching football. It was all there was where I lived in middle school. You had Thursday nights from JV football games. Friday night was Varsity football. Saturday we were watching college football, or more likely playing football. Then Sundays were pro football. Even after I moved sophomore year pro football was a huge thing where I lived. My aunt would every tv in the house tuned to a different network. FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL. No escape. Me I just do not really care for sports, but I do love a good sports movie. All the best action happens in these movies. I love racing movies. Most racing is so safe anymore that rarely do we see anything major happen. Yes, you get the wrecks but usually everything is alright, and thank goodness for the innovations that make this possible. But a good racing movie is going to have those high intensity crashes and close calls. So much of cars hitting each other that even I know they would not allow that on the track. And the stories are all so wonderful to be told in this format. So, without any more waiting let’s drop the green flag and talk about five racing movies you need to see.
This one did not age well. That is not to say it is bad, it just does not hold up. Stroker Ace was borderline back when it came out. This is the old local boy makes good story. Stroker is a race driver from down south, and driving is all he knows. Well driving and looking good as it were. We open with young Stroker and his pal Doc walking their wrecked bike home. They get a ride from doc’s dad who is, yep you guessed it, running a batch of shine. This will definitely be a recurring theme in this episode. Long standing tradition of Bootlegging and Race car driving. Anyway this scene goes on we get chased by the cops and there is young stroker constantly checking his hair in the rearview mirror. We cut to the present with Burt Reynolds checking his hair in the car mirror. Hard up for a sponsor Stroker takes on the sponsor of Chicken pit restaurants. Now the sponsor is running Stroker down. The only way to resolve this is for Stroker to be fired. There are several half-baked schemes to this end.
Our title character is played by Burt Reynolds. I believe in this time period he was not acting. all the interviews I have seen of him, and he seems like he was this guy, or bandit or even the guy from deliverance. You know a man’s man. Outdoors tough, a true man. What else do you know him from? Well, he was excellent in Boogie Nights, Striptease and Without a Paddle. Burt Reynolds was always a favorite of mine. Many of his roles had such a childlike appeal to them then when you watch again, a little older a little wiser, and you get the joke and realize there was more there than you knew. A wonderful actor who worked to help others in the profession as well. Here we see him playing this stubborn star trying to get his way which leads to a lot of just juvenile antics. I mean the real draw here is the racing and the driving.
This is one of the wonderful Hal Needham movies that were so popular in the late seventies and early eighties. Hal Needham was the John Woo of that time. Most of his movies were really nothing more than a series of stunts with a story woven around it. great movies like Hooper, Smokey and the Bandit, and Canon Ball Run. Nonstop fight scenes, car chases and spectacular crashes. These movies are always full of energy and fun.
Jim Nabors plays Lugs the crew chief for Stroker Ace. Jim Nabors well you know him from Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle: USMC, a spin off from the Andy Griffith show. An accomplished singer as well. He is the conscience that Stroker seems to lack. Stroker always has his foot on the gas, and it is lugs who pulls him back to reality, as much as he can. These two are good friends and you can see it here.
Loni Anderson pays the love interest of Pembrooke Fenney. She is a Sunday school teacher who does not drink and is saving herself for marriage. You know Loni Anderson from WKRP in Cincinnati, Night at the Roxbury, and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. I love how on WKRP she was presented as the Hot Receptionist, but she is the one who runs that station, the only one who does not back down from Mrs. Carlson, the owner. Here she is the quiet mousey girl who is drooled over and pawed at like something to be owned or conquered. Parts of this do not age well. Her boss is the one really putting the pressure on her.
Ned Beaty plays Clyde Torkle the Chicken pit owner. He is the one also pursuing Miss Fenney. When she refuses his advances and quits, he tells everyone he fired her. Now you know Ned Beaty from literally everything released from about 1975 until about 1985. You would be hard pressed to find a movie without him in it. just for the record her was in Deliverance, Superman, The Toy, and Incredible Shrinking Woman. I feel like everything I watched had Ned Beaty in it for a lot of years.
As is true with this movie, and many of Hal Needham’s movies, you had this cast of pop culture people. We get John Byner who you may know from Transylvania 6-5000, Black Cauldron and Bizarre. Bizarre was a sketch comedy show on showtime I think. It was Saturday Night live but on cable. So, the sketches were way more over the top than what you got on network. This movie also features Bubba Smith, who was in a ton of stuff at the time as well. You may remember he was in those miller light commercials as well as the Police Academy Movies. He also did guest spots on a lot of shows like Who’s the Boss, Mr. Belvedere, and coach.
We also get Parker Stevens as the rival driver. You know young, good looking, and a solid driver looking for the title. You know parker stevens from The Hardy Boys and Nancy drew Mysteries, Falcon Crest and Bay Watch. Of course, at the end we discover we are all on the same team and just love to race.
this watch threw I think my favorite part was the credits. I know that sounds bad, but I am talking about all the outtakes and goofing around that they show during the credits. Surprise appearance from Jerry Reed, Conversations with the monkey on set and of course Burt Reynolds intentionally blowing a scene with a vacuum cleaner. I have always loved these in the credits all the way back to Smokey and the Bandit. I am sure this is where marvel got the idea of the end credit scenes.
If you want to see this, you are going to have to buy or wait for it to pop up somewhere. You can buy it at VUDU and all the other regular suspects, but honestly, I would wait for it to just pop up for you. I honestly liked this when I was younger but at this point it really does not age well. It is only rated PG so not too out there just the shift in society has left some of the jokes as being a little out of date.
Remember back in the late seventies early eighties when we had this crossover of country stars to the mainstream? We the Mandrel sisters on television, the Oak Ridge Boys had a hit with Elvira and Kenny Rogers was everywhere, pre chicken of course. This movie slides right into that sweet spot. Yes, it is a racing movie, but with very little actual racing in it, but it does have the wonderful hit from Kenny Rogers Love Will Turn You Around. I loved that song!
So, we have Brewster Baker Attempting a comeback after being off of the circuit for two years after a major crash. He stops into a local diner for a bite to eat and while he is inside, he race car is stripped of all its parts. Turns out it is a group of kids working for the local corrupt sheriff stripping car parts and selling them. There is a fun car chase, well truck chase really, where Kenny is chasing the thieves in his RV, and they are driving this box truck. The truck runs off the road into the water where now learn it is a group of kids that are stealing the parts. He learns the kids are orphans and agrees to take them to the next town so they can get away from the sheriff.
A couple of things. Back in the eighties apparently there were nothing but corrupt sheriff all over the country. I mean with number of movies and tv shows dedicated to this topic I got to wonder if there were any good cops at all back then. Also, of note young people had more autonomy than today. Yes, I watch this and think dear god how you just dump some kids off at a bus station or whatever, but I can tell you it happened. Adults would listen to you, once you were olde enough and that changed from person to person really. So yes, shocking to see today not at all surprising for those of us who lived it.
Kenny Rogers plays Brewster the stock car driver. You know Kenny from his music career mostly. He also turned a few of his songs into television movies like The Gambler. He gives a good performance here. It seems in every town he has waitress at the local bar who is happy to see him, if you know what I mean.
One of these waitresses is played by Erin Grey, you know here from Buck Rogers, Silver Spoons, and Jason Goes to Hell. She is his love interest, well the one waitress he likes more than the rest, I guess. She works with him and the kids as they are now Brewster’s pit crew.
The corrupt Sheriff is played by nonother than Barry Corbin. You know him from Northern Exposure, Dallas, and the one season Jim Carry show Duck factory. Ten-year-old me was not shocked when that got cancelled; if anything, I am still trying to figure out how it got on the air. He tracks the car thieves/ pit crew down and tries bringing them home to Texas.
The car thieves have a Young Diane Lane as the oldest child. You know her from Unfaithful, the Outsiders, and Knight Moves. She is the mom of this group, even though she is the big sister. She does her best to take care of them and seems to be in charge. The other thief of note is Doc played by Anthony Michael Hall who you know from Vacation, Weird Science and Out of Bounds. The car thieves turn pit crew. Brewster starts winning races and gets a national sponsor and a shot at the big race. I am not going to give anymore away. This movie does not change the genre or push the limits. It is just a good movie. It is not too heavy or dark also not too sappy, I mean it is a little sappy but not too sappy. This is just a fun walk down memory lane and you will grin ear to ear watching this and remembering where you were when you saw this or when it was out there. You are going to have to already own this as it is not streaming anywhere. Maybe you can find a physical copy of this. If it is not too much, I would say grab it. you will only watch it once or twice more, but the good warm fuzzy feeling is worth the price.
As a kid I loved this movie. It had Richard Pryor in it so I saw most of it through a comedic lens, nothing could be further from the truth. Greased Lightning is about the first African American to win an upper tier NASCAR race. The movie itself covers a long-time frame. We start in the mid forties and run through to the seventies. At times it feels little off and jarring as we try to make out where we are time wise. Most of these transitions are made with a song that will tell you when you are, so that helps. My other concern here was the blatant racism. This was hard for me on the watch. The movie is made in the seventies. Seventies movies would take an unflinching look at any topic, stare straight down the barrel of it and then splash it on the screen proclaiming here it is this is reality. Probably why all those seventies horror movies are so great. Now take that sensibility and set your sights on the south in the forties and you have some idea what you are in for. Even some of the nicer characters have this undercurrent, by undercurrent I mean right out in the open, of racism. I did like how Richard Pryor’s character seemed to ignore it. just paid no attention to the world around him and all he did was prove himself time and again on the track. He was who he was and was not going to let anyone stand in his way on that.
First up we have our lead character played wonderfully by Richard Pryor. Always associated with comedy but here he is in a very dramatic role. He only had a handful of serious roles that I can think of. In addition to Greased lightning, he also had a dramatic run in Some Kind of Hero. In that one he plays a Viet Nam vet returning home from a pow camp. I saw it when I was really young. very powerful. Many of his movies seem to tackle the idea of race relations in America. Many of his movies were also very funny and fun. Some even did both. You may remember him from several movies with Gene Wilder, Stir Crazy, See No Evil. I always loved seeing Richard Prior on screen. I knew it was always going to be interesting and you might even learn something along the way.
Beau Bridges with his first appearance on this list. He plays Hutch. Also, a driver, also blatantly racist like the other drivers and somehow these two end up being pretty good friends. They bond when Prior’s character comes in fourth and receives a coupon for two steak dinners at a local restaurant. Hutch informs him they won’t serve him he does not go along. We get a scene of segregationist south with an African American trying to eat in a restaurant. The two leave, with their food, and it seems from then on, they are pretty good friends.
Cleavon Little plays Peewee a lifelong friend of Pryor’s Character. You know Cleavon Little from Blazing Saddles, Once Bitten, and one of my favorites FM. FM centered around a local radio station in the seventies. It came out around the same time as WKRP. Peewee is the support Wendell Scott needs. Peewee is the one who gets Pryor the job running moonshine. I love that this is part of the racing mystique down south. I know NASCAR was started by all those bootleggers back in the day. I know racing down south has a long history of racing and bootlegging. I mean bootlegging is why we associate fast cars with having those jacked up back ends. They would reinforce the suspension, so it did not drag with a load of shine it. of course, we get some great scenes of these two out running, outsmarting, local authorities.
Pam Grier is Wendell Scott’s wife Mary. I absolutely love Pam Grier. She first came on the scene with all those women in prison exploitation movies, Big Bird Cage, Big Doll House, and Women in Cages. She then moved up to the blaxploitation movies like Coffee, Foxy Brown and Scream Blackula Scream. Then took to more mainstream projects like this one and something wicked this way comes. Also moving into television with episodes of Love Boat and Night Court. My favorite for her is Jackie Brown from Tarantino. I love that movie. I feel like she is underutilized in Greased Lighting. She is such a talent and that does not get fully exposed here.
Like most racing movies we get a bevy of track scenes, car chases and car wrecks. What else are you looking for in a race movie really? I feel like a lot of the racetrack scenes they are using actual footage. The quality is different is all I am really saying here. And of course, it is the seventies, so the stunt sequences destroy a lot of cars. You got the car in the water, the roadblock in the wrong place, and then the trap in town. We also get the final race with our hero on the track with only two lug nuts holding the wheel on. This adds so much tension to the end, even though I am pretty sure there is no way that two lugs would hold that wheel on under those forces. Of course, what do I know really. This is a good afternoon film based on a true story and wonderfully acted. I would recommend this movie so if you are interested you are going to have to buy. It is available at VUDU Amazon, and all the usual suspects.
It seems like Heart Like a Wheel was one of those movies that was always on HBO in the early days, well early days for me anyway. You could count on seeing Beast Master, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and Red Dawn also. Loved those early days. Heart Like a Wheel focus tells the tale of Shirley Muldowney the first time female NHRA Champion. Women in racing always seems to be a thing. The sport is most definitely male dominated and one of the few, if not the only, that does not have a separate league. The movie does well covering the life of Shirley Muldowney from her beginnings as a street racer and her climb up to the big leagues. Much of the racing footage feels more like archival or stock footage, which is kind of cool considering. Yes, the quality is not the same as the film but if they are using archival footage of her actual races, and why wouldn’t you, then I think it is really a nice touch.
Bonnie Bedelia plays our Shirley Muldowney. I never recognize her unless it is Die Hard, but once my brain makes the connection it is almost embarrassing as to how obvious it was. Bonnie Bedelia was also on Parenthood, the show, as well as Needful Things, as well as so many other performances as well. She nails the tough as nails woman in a mans world character so well. She is not taking anything off of these guys. There is a great scene towards the start. They will not let her race simply because she is a woman. She needs three drivers, hear men, to say she is okay to race. None of these guys will give her the time of day. She goes to each of them, and none are willing to help, and some are actually just flat out rude about it. she wins over one driver, Connie Kalitta, and he is able to help her in getting other signatures that she needs.
Connie Kalitta, played by Beau Bridges a second appearance for him on this list, helps Shirley get her signatures and into her first local race. You know Beau Bridges from so many things. First off, he was also in Greased lighting, sort of playing a similar character, he was also in the Fabulous Baker Boys, and Without Warning the James Brady Story and again so many more credits. I always love seeing him on screen. He always plays these characters that feel lived in. he is one of those who does not appear to be acting. its like we just see Beau Bridges and start filming. Very natural
Shirley’s husband is played by Leo Rossi. This is perfect casting. He is a mechanic by trade and learns early on Shirley is the driver and he is the mechanic. After while this does not sit well with him and they split, rather violently as he has destroyed her car, that he built. It seems as though she has left this relationship just in time. You know Rossi from Hill Street Blues, Halloween 2 and a couple of episodes of Tour of Duty. I guarantee when you see him you will instantly recognize him, he did episodes of just about everything. Wonderful character actor.
I always appreciate seeing Anthony Edwards in this one. you know him as Goose in top Gun as well as Dr. Green on Er and my favorite is Gotcha. A young American on vacation in Europe gets sucked into a plot of spies and intrigue. So far fetched but so wonderful. Love that as a concept. He plays Shirley’s son and now mechanic on her crew. He travels with her and helps with the car. He delivers a wonderful performance. The young son who is always there for the dad who rarely seems to be there for him. Very relatable in my generation and just sends this one out of the park.
I like this one. the acting is excellent the writing is wonderful, and the racing is fun to see. Drag strip racing, fastest quarter mile wins. So, exhilarating. for a little while in the early eighties my dad would take me over to the local racetrack, they mostly ran outlaw sprint cars but sometimes there was drag racing going on as well. That always got the heart pumping. The roar of the engine going all out for roughly ten seconds. I know it does not sound like much, but it is everything. I also saw a live appearance for Evel Knievel there with his son Robbie. They did the Criss cross jump over the infield. So cool one bike went over the other. You had to see. Find a clip of them doing that on you tube, it won’t be the same, but suffice it to say it was awesome to see in person.
If you want, see this wonderful film I say good luck I could not find it anywhere. I am guessing someone may have posted to YouTube, if you do that sort of thing. If you can find I say watch it. it is fun afternoon film.
I loved this one when it came out, I actually saw it in the theater, as I did with most things back then. This is an excellent cast of characters. Everybody is definitely giving their all in this one. the way this thing is shot really puts you in the middle of the action. The story is far more dramatic and deeper than you’d expect from this sort of popcorn action movie. The nostalgia factor was definitely there for me watching this again for the first time in I don’t know how long.
I got to say I think this is probably the first place I saw John C. Reilly. You know him from all those Will Farrell movies like Legend of Ricky Bobby and Stepbrothers, but he also has a lot of very serious roles to draw from as well. He was in Boogie Nights alongside of Mark Wahlberg, he was again with Tom Cruise in Magnolias. Many will know him from his role in Guardians of the Galaxy. In Days of Thunder Reilly plays Bucky Bretherton son of Bobby Bretherton who died racing at Daytona the previous season. Reilly is sprinkled in here in small doses but where he is seen is wonderful, whether comical like when he sees the car door has no dent and remarks that there is something he doesn’t have to fix or when he tells the difference between the two driving styles and reveals how his father died. Just a wonderful performance, as always.
I really dislike type casting. That being said when it comes to Fred Thompson, I can watch him play the wise old powerful southerner all day long. Thompson came to acting from politics and you know him from a ton of stuff, and yes usually playing the old southerner who is in charge. He did a season of Law and Order as well as Hunt for the Red October, Thunder Heart, and Feds. He does comedy and he does drama, and he is almost always the same character, and delivers. Days of Thunder is no different. Here he is the head of NASCAR. If ever there was need for an old south power broker this is the place. He shows up for just a short amount of time. I think he has two scenes. One where he explains how Tom Cruise and Michael Rooker are not going to kill each other on one of his racetracks, and then of course a dinner scene where we actually get the joke of it. maybe five minutes of screen time but he nails his five minutes, like he always does!
Carey Elwes is the driver who fills in for Tom Cruise and then gets his own ride. Cocky and arrogant as only Carey Elwes can play it. Here is another amazing talent that I almost always like seeing on screen. You know him from Princess Bride, Kiss the Girls, Robinhood Men in Tights, and I think it was season three of stranger things. Tom Cruise and all the others seem to ignore him. Now this character did not stand a chance. He comes in mid movie he takes over for our hero and then he is hired by our owner to drive another car. The tension is here between him and Tom Cruise’s character and that transfers to the audience very well also. Love him in this.
You need a small-town car dealership owner, maybe he has two locations in town, who are you going to get? Yep, Randy Quaid is an excellent casting choice. You know he can do the full-blown country redneck, see Cousin Eddie in the vacation franchise for that. Can I just say I think Cousin Eddie is about my favorite movie character ever, at least on the list of top five for me? You also Know Randy Quaid from Independence Day, King Pin, and Broke Back Mountain. Another one who has some range but most only remember him form his comedy work. Here he is the owner of dealership who wants to make that next step by owning a race Car team. Really a sort of status thing. This is an expensive side hustle, and really the dealership would be the side hustle to supplement the race team. A wonderfully believable performance here.
Another performer who I have been seeing since I was a kid is Michael Rooker. Talk about an actor’s actor. This guy has some serious range. I think the first place I saw him was on the box for Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. Never seen it, never rented it, and I have absolutely no desire to see what I have heard is a masterpiece of acting. The box for this movie freaked me out as kid. Yes, even in my teen years this thing looked like something you just should not even see. I was not sure how this was on the shelve. It had such a realism vibe to it. you will also know Michael Rooker from the walking dead as Merl, he is also Yandu in guardians of the galaxy, and who can forget him in Mall Rats. Kevin Smith so nails “mall” culture in that movie. Yes, it is set a little past my days of hanging at the mall, but it definitely tells that story very well. In days of thunder Michael Rooker Plays Roddy Piper. This is Tom Cruise’s characters rival. This is established in the very beginning when Cruise uses Roddy’s car to sort of audition to be the driver for randy quad’s character. I love this scene. The arrogance cruise displays is wonderful, and the way Rooker just sets back and lets it happen. Then we learn that Cruise has not only beaten Roddy’s time but would have taken the pole position in the last race at that track. To which we hear Duval say, “might have been better if he wrecked the car”. There is a bond of respect between Rooker and cruises characters, but they are clearly rivals. Just wonderful
For me this is the movie that really Put Nicole Kidman on the map. Yes, she was an accomplished actress from down under with several credits. I think before this she was in Dead Calm and BMX bandits, two very different movies, but nothing really stand out. I mean Dead Calm really does show her talent, but Days of Thunder really thrust her into the spotlight. After that her career just goes through the stratosphere. She does Far and Away about the land grab in Oklahoma. Wonderful movie! Also, she does Malice, Batman Forever, and Eyes Wide Shut just to name a few. In Days of Thunder, she plays Cruise’s doctor. She evaluates him after a really bad accident on the track and of course develops a relationship with Cruises Character. She delivers a wonderful performance here.
Robert Duval plays the head mechanic of this race team. He was the head mechanic of Bobby Bretherton who crashed and died the year before our movie takes place. He is an old-timer and plays it so well. You Know Duvall from Apocalypse Now, the God Father, and The Paper, to name three. If I do not stop this will turn into a Duvall episode. Just a wonderful actor. Here he is calm cool and collected. He is the only one who has scenes with the actual star of the movie. Many scenes we see Duvall talking to the car. He tells the car frame how he is going to build him up. He explains to the car how cruises character is going to need a little help. Find me another actor who has such heartfelt scenes with an inanimate object. These scenes initially present as crazy man talks to car, but you really see his connection to the car. You can feel this connection.
Tom Cruise plays our lead role of Cole Trickle. This is a guy who lost his ride mid-season and is looking for work. He starts off by beating Roddy’s time on the track. Then we learn he knows nothing about cars, he can drive and that is it. of course, we get a scene of him and Duvall working out a vocabulary. Of course, this is a bonding moment and lead us to now winning races. Do I need to tell you where you know tome cruise from here? May be let me change it up a little. Have you seen him in Taps? Did you catch him in Losing’ It? I think we may have all seen him The Outsiders. He has always done pretty good about doing a movie or two to pay the bills and then grabbing something a little more character driven, and of course because of him that is a bigger movie too. I am thinking of like Rain Man and Born on the fourth of July. Yes he is an action star but he definitely has some acting skills as well.
If you do not leave this movie wanting to b a race driver, or at least attend an actual race in person, then did you even watch this movie? I mean you sit there leaning into the turns as you are watching it. you are in the middle of the action. You feel every nudge, bump, and slam. You come away from this one with that winning feeling. Almost like a Rocky movie that way. I really do enjoy this one. I love how they use the montage as a device in this movie. You get that first set where they can not win. All the crashes and mis steps, everything you’d expect from in experienced driver. This is then followed by a series of wins. Every shift and pass are shown. Then we get the third set of Tom Cruises character not able to race due to the accident. It really is top gun with race cars when you think about.
I think you can see this over at hbo max or you can buy it on VUDU, if you don’t already have it. This is it my five favorite racing movies. Did I get yours? Let me know what racing movie I missed on social media using the hashtag that and a dollar podcast. Please be sure to check out my twitter at @thatandadollar. Also, we have a Facebook group, that and a dollar podcast. If you like what you are hearing, please leave a donation to keep this one man show running. You can do that at buymeacoffee.com/thatandadollar I am a guy named chuck and as always that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.
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