Movie Review: Race With the Devil

Race with the Devil (1975)


MY MOVIE REVIEW - "RACE WITH THE DEVIL" (1975)
* Spoiler Alert! (Don't read this review if you TiVo'd the race and don't want to know who won!) *
"Race With the Devil" is a 1975 action/horror film starring Peter Fonda, a relative unknown at the time who went on to do little else beyond this movie. Along for the ride is Warren Oates, Lara Parker and Loretta Swit. You may remember Warren Oates as the lovable Sgt. Hulka in "Stripes". Well, rest assured, he's just as lovable in this movie. Lara Parker is probably best remembered as Angelique Bouchard Collins DuVal Rumson on the TV series "Dark Shadows". And of course, Loretta Swit played "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the TV series "M*A*S*H".

To say "Race With the Devil" gives you the most minimal of backstory is an understatement. You get a vague sense that Frank (Oates) owns and operates a motorcycle repair shop (or something) and that he is friends with Roger (Fonda) who, quite possibly, races those sporty looking motorcycles where the guy gets so close to the ground on every turn that he almost scrapes his side on the concrete. It's of no real importance anyway since after about the first five minutes they all take off on vacation together in an RV and little is mentioned about anything else other than how cool the RV is, which, we're made privvy to the fact, cost $36,000. I don't want to give away too much, but we also find out later that the wood-grain finish of the cupboards is actually vinyl because it's easier to clean than real wood.

They drive for what seems like a good three minutes until they come upon their destination. A beautiful rock and broken tree limb filled desert, which appears to be completely desserted (or is it the dessert is deserted???). Fortunately, Frank and Roger brought along their dirt bikes and aren't forced to sit around and actually communicate. They immediately begin riding through the desert at breakneck speeds. They hold the obligatory race with some kind of stupid bet that I believe included wife-swapping, but I could be wrong. When Frank tries an almost laughable-in-it's-certainty-for-failure jump over a small pond and lands in said pond, Roger pulls up, laughs at him, and makes a sufficiently smart aleck comment (as any friend would).

In the evening Frank and Roger sit around outside the RV and drink themselves silly, while their wives sit inside, more than likely discussing all the great features of the RV. When they begin to hear chanting off in the distance they grab the binoculars and move in for a closer look. If you guessed that it's a cult of devil worshippers preparing to sacrifice a virgin to lucifer, you're correct. Frank and Roger leer at the numerous naked women for a while until the actual sacrifice significantly harshes their buzz. At this point Frank's wife, Alice (Swit), decides now would be a good time to turn a garishly bright light on and begin calling the guys rather loudly. All I can say is, what a nit Swit! The cult is alerted to their presence and a chase ensues.

They manage to get away and go to the police, but the police are no help at all. In fact, nobody in this movie is of any help to them. We're led to believe that the entire population of Texas may in fact be devil worshipping murderers (even the librarians!), which I'm assuming is not the case in real life (though I've never been to Texas, so I can't say for sure). At this point though, it's safe to say that the "race" is on. Which brings me to my biggest problem with this movie.

The introduction of motorcycles would lead one to expect any "racing with the devil" to be fast and action-packed. Well, I'm sorry to say that the motorcycles get trashed early on and the only "racing with the devil" is done via RV, and believe me, it's more of a marathon than a sprint. They're even able to make numerous stops along the way in which the "devil" has ample opportunity to catch them, but somehow allows them to continue on mostly unharmed. Satan certainly loses his share of minions though when they get in the way of Roger's shotgun during a few low speed chases.

The thing I loved most about this movie is how the two couples openly discuss their plans at every stop along the way, being just loud enough for someone to overhear and alert the rest of the cult to their entire agenda. The satanists always have the necessary people in place at the next stop to throw menacing looks at Roger's wife, Kelly (Parker), who it's insinuated, may be psychic - but probably isn't. You gotta hand it to the devil, he can network with the best of them!

In the end, the foursome manage to make it about five minutes without being chased and they naturally assume they're out of the woods, so to speak. The RV is pretty messed up, but as luck would have it the liquor is unharmed so they decide to camp for the night and celebrate the fact that they've won the race. I won't tell you the ending, but suffice it to say, they never get to enjoy the dry martinis that Roger promises to make.

"Race With the Devil" is one of those movies where the filmmakers want you to wonder about the motivations of each character that is introduced. Are they a cult member or are they just strange and quirky? We, of course, are way ahead of them all the way. Clearly EVERYONE is a cult member and the devil is a heck of a recruiter. In closing, let me say that for the most part I actually enjoyed this movie. It's decent 70's fun all the way. As an action/horror film it doesn't always work, but as a promotional video for the RV industry it's spectacular!

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Note: This review was written by me and though I link to IMDB for information purposes, the review does not reflect the opinions of IMDB or any other letters of the alphabet