SnoopyStyle
Kenny Dantley Jr. (Mark Hamill) is on a school trip to the junkyard when he rescues a trashed Corvette. He brings it back to his L.A. school. The students fix it up and trick it out with the help of shop teacher Ed McGrath (Eugene Roche). The class takes it out for a ride when it gets stolen. Everybody including the cops write it off and then a traveling salesman tells him about seeing it in Las Vegas. He hitches a ride from Vanessa (Annie Potts) who is going to Vegas to go pro as a hooker.This is a fun little film with plenty of 70s kitsch, car-obsession, and an early Annie Potts. She's the fun that keeps the movie interesting and more than a flat B-movie. It's Hamill's first film after his unexpected stardom from Star Wars and probably filmed before that. He's a cute leading man but he's a bit overshadowed by the outrageous Potts. She's cute, funny, and a compelling character. At least, I care about her much more than the car.
ducatimatz28
Being a corvette owner at the time this movie came out in 1978;I had to see what it was going to be about.The movie is OK but a little far fetched plot wise.The Mark Hamill character was a little too infatuated with a car that in essence was a project for a whole class of Auto shop students.The film was entertaining though and I have watched it a number of times over the years...One fact that has been disputed over the years is the Car itself.More than one source has credited Custom car Godfather "George Barris" as the builder of the custom 73 stingray;when in fact it was a custom car business called "KORKY's.They specialized in corvettes and custom fiberglass parts.The vette is pretty dated by today's standards but looked pretty sweet back in 1978.The one part that I personally loathed on the car was that Hood...It made me think it was something that belonged in the old David Carradine film "Death Race"....s.m.
smatysia
This is a pretty bad movie. The plot is sentimental mush. I suppose the production values are OK, decent photography, unobtrusive direction and all that. Mark Hamill was terrible. I've never cared much for him, and this movie validates that perception. It's no wonder that he never really had any sort of career aside from his "Star Wars" films. I'll just say "Buh-bye, Mark" as he sinks into well-deserved obscurity. On the other hand, a very young Annie Potts utterly stole the show. She showed charm, beauty, and acting chops all in one performance. I remember seeing her in "Texasville" recently and taking note of her beauty. It's interesting seeing her from ten years earlier. Anyway, unless you are interested in Miss Potts, run away from this film screaming for the hills.
KDWms
Less than a dozen comments, none in the past couple of months: meets my criteria for throwing in my two cents... I found this to be an okay movie: not dreadful; but not great, either. I'm not a car fanatic, so, I suppose that THAT decreases one's rating right there. Mark Hamill's physique also failed to convince me that, as the film asks us to believe, he is a just-graduated high schooler. I did the math and concluded that, at the time, he was at least 26! Otherwise, it's fairly interest-holding and inoffensive. The premise is that the auto-body-class's project was the restoration of a Sting Ray, which gets stolen. Hamill's passion is to recover it. Eventually he tracks down the thieves, and, along the way, he develops a relationship with a gal who attempts a number of careers, including the world's oldest profession. Also central to the storyline is Hamill's teacher, who he looks up to. All in all, it's an okay expenditure of time and/or (a reasonable amount of) money.
AD
