Really Surprised!

Brilliant and touching

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

At one solitary moment in this droning yabba-jabba kitsch flicker one of the supporting actors, John Hawkes' lonely and latent Nixer speaks to O'Neal Compton playing a lowly diner cook and imparts a highly perceptive philosophically existential observation using a single French fried potato for illustration: "Looky here, J.T. From here to eternity is the time before I was born, and from here to eternity is the time after I die. "And this... is the only chance I get... to do it." The moment stops the forward lumbering motion of the story cold, and brings up the question of the mind at work behind this film.In some nebulous 1950s Southern California town, Dude Delaney (David Arquette) spends a lot of time tooling around in his 55 Chevy out-running the Police and going up against the cop's protected kids. His girl Donna (Salma Hayek) is Mexican, adopted by a white couple and the two are constantly terrorized by the local Police Chief Sarge (William Sadler) who uses his own son Teddy Leather (Jason Wiles) to goad Dude into breaking the law so he can arrest him. As Teddy rises to his father's demands he resorts to extreme measures that bring him and Dude into confrontation and causes the sacrifice of many of those close to dude and what he holds dear.Shot entirely in 13 days after Wes Craven dropped out to direct the New Nightmare flick, the million-dollar feature Roadracers is a jokey testament to the integrity and determination that marked the early B-films of the studio period, and if you start to wonder just why you are wasting time with it, think about the intentions behind the project.Director Robert Rodriguez has built a reputation with film school grads and dropouts alike because he touts his disdain for big-budget film productions, claiming that he can make a decent movie for a fraction of what someone like Brian DePalma makes a movie for. He's right because Rodriguez has a down-to-earth attitude in both his tastes and his abilities… but his films all exhibit this baseness, and if you are looking for polish and pizazz, you probably won't find it with this director.This movie is loud, flat-footed, obvious, and subversive. You may find yourself getting ahead of the flick on nearly every plot point- if you do it means that you're far too sophisticated for this kind of retro throw-back. That's okay because in the words of Pauline Kael "Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them." You may find yourself repeating this to yourself after the screen fades, thinking about near fetishistic moments in the film like the way David Arquette's Dude Delaney applies grease to his hair from a nearby can, or the way that William Sadler's Sarge fondles the hot-dog lunch his mother has made for him and proudly shares with his cop partner, or the way a girl's beehive hairdo destructs during a car race. I guess there a better ways to waste 90 minutes

David Arquette must be the most focused guitar player on the planet. How anyone could have Salma Hayek crawling all over his lap and STILL focus on playing guitar is beyond me. If Salma ever got that close to me I'd have trouble remembering how to breathe. This movie was a surprise to me in many ways. 1. I didn't even know it existed until a few months ago. 2. It was filmed almost entirely in my home town of Whittier, CA 3. Robert Rodriguez shows us yet again how a master can do almost anything with a minimal budget as long as everyone gets out of his way. Rodriguez and Tom Nix wrote the script in 10 days, shot it in 13, and edited it in 15. How does anyone outside of TV even do that? Plus Rodriguez, unlike TV, delivers something that's enjoyable to watch. And the big plus with the DVD is Rodriguez' commentary, complimentary to his 10 minute film school. That alone is worth the price of admission.

and if anyone can source on DVD please let me know, as I have been trying for years since I saw it on UK TV. Then my wife wiped the tape! It was re shown last Sunday, so now I have a VHS copy, but would love on DVD.Any film with Hasil Adkins in the soundtrack (and even worked into the plot when Nixer laughs at the rink HA HA HA)... and the little bit of Link Wray dialogue "Is he popular" "No, that's why he's cool..." has to be up there for me. But it is more than that, is just a great film....All the characters are well formed and played, from the diner owner to the police. Some really funny moments, and some really threatening ones (the Rumble) scene in the diner...

Wild, cool and funky, "Road Racers" is a gem of a movie. The quintessential "wild-assing" picture, and I disagree with Maltin that there was too much violence. Only five minutes right at the end? The rest of the violence was mainly verbal, and I felt for all the characters, including "Teddy Leather. The real crook in the movie was his father, the police chief, and in the end there were really no victims. Life Happens, and in the end Dude gets it together and does NOT end up like his father. Hidden plot complexities make this film watchable well over one time.Nicely done! Rent it on video some night if you like wild, crazy, unpredictable and humorous. This movie is "Grease" for grownups. If you're a smoker, make sure you can smoke wherever you see the movie, everyone is smoking constantly throughout the picture.Hurt only by its low budget... some of the cuts in the car chase scenes really bite. But you could tell David Arquette really had some fun with this role. 8/10.