Roadracers (1994)

Am I Missing Something?

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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

Roadracers is a little movie that Robert Rodriguez did as part of a series of short movies for Showtime for their Rebel Highway series. The movie is about a bunch of 1950's era rock n' roll rebels, who doesn't love that? David Arquette in one of the few roles of his where he's not pretty cool for once, I would say that this is probably Arquett's best performance of his career. You have Salma Hayek making her U.S. film debut in this movie and not what is popularly believed to be Desperado. If you're a fan of greaser fare like Cry-Baby, Grease and the TV show Happy Days then this is most definitely a movie for you. The movie has a great surf rock score.

A hip satire of 50's teenage drive-in movies. Dude Delaney(David Arquette)slicks his hair with two hands full of "grease", smokes when he's got 'em, plays a pretty mean rock 'n' roll guitar and hot rods his car with a beautiful Hispanic girlfriend Donna(Salma Hayek). Dude loves his rockabilly style rock 'n' roll as much as he hates his rival Teddy Leather(Jason Wiles). Teddy's dad just also happens to be the son of the small Texas town's corrupt mightier-than-thou sheriff(Willliam Sadler).Wild and head strong music provided by the likes of: Link Wray, Charlie Feathers, Glen Glenn, Charlie Sexton and Johnny Reno. I'm not an Arquette fan, but thought he played the role well. What can you say about Hayek...humma, humma, humma. Damn that girl is NICE. Also in the cast: O'Neal Compton, John Hawkes, Lance LaGault and Johnny Reno. A cup of coffee, a cigarette, a cheeseburger, fast wheels and rock 'n' roll...what else does a guy need? Maybe Salma Hayek!!

This has to be one of the coolest greaser movies I've ever seen. I know, you think David Arquette and you can't get Deputy Dewey out of your head. I'm tellin' ya, the man pulled off rockabilly sexy like you wouldn't believe. William Sadler is great as the bad cop/town jerk's dad. The music was out of this world. This is definitely not a serious look at life in the fifties, but c'mon! The roller rink scene, the hair catching on fire, it's classic. Make sure you see this movie, and make sure you stick around for the outtakes after the credits start to roll.