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Released by: Code Red
Released on: June 23rd, 2015.
Director: Jack Hill
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Richard Davalos, Ellen Burstyn, Sig Haig
Year: 1969
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The Movie:
Jack Hill's 1969 directorial offering for producer Roger Corman was made hot on the heels of his earlier Spider Baby, a bonafide cult horror classic if ever there was one. This time though? Race cars. Was Hill selling out or softening with this film? Was he losing his edge and pandering to the mainstream? Nope. While he may have been cashing in on a fad and delivering a 'product' to Corman, Pit Stop features a lot of the exploitative elements and strange artsy style that Hill fans have come to appreciate about his work.
The story, on the surface at least, is a fairly simple one. Rick Bowman (Richard Davalos) is a street racer, a seriously tough and hard sonofabitch who will do whatever it takes to eliminate the competition and win that checkered flag. When one of his races goes disastrously wrong, Rick winds up in the slammer doing hard time. Shortly after, however, he's approached by a race promoter named Grant Willard (Brian Donlevy) and before you know it, Rick's a free man. Of course, there's a catch. Grant runs some pretty dangerous racing, the kind in which cars travel on a figure 8 track. Rick's going to have to get used to this style and go head to head against the reigning champion, Hawk Sideny (Sid Haig) to win not only the day, but to steal his girlfriend, Jolene (Beverly Washburn), as well!
Before you know it, it's Rick against the world until he befriends a more experience driver named Ed McLeod (George Washburn). But once Rick sets his eyes on Ed's lovely wife Ellen (Ellen Burnstyn) loyalties will be not only tested but strained and Rick will have to figure out what he really wants out of all of this.
Shot using a real figure 8 track long before CGI made things like this sterile and safe, there's a very real element of danger to much of the driving that we see in Pit Stop. This helps immensely in adding tension and excitement to a fairly simple story of a man finding his conscience, as the crashes and moments where death seems almost inevitable for the drivers are surprisingly legitimate. Of course, this would only allow for fleeting, superficial kicks if there weren't a decent story to back it all up, and we get that too. While it isn't a particularly complex work, the script gives us enough to like and not like about Rick's character to keep him interesting and therefore make his transformation relevant. The movie makes some interesting points, as it draws to a close, about the value of victory and the lengths to which some people will go to achieve it. This manifests itself most obviously in Rick's character traits but we see it with Hawk too and then in many ways it reflects back at the two men by the ways in which the supporting characters respond to them.
Davalos, who will be recognizable to many for his work opposite James Dean in East Of Eden does well with this part. He pulls off the tough guy aspect quite convincingly and has enough of a hardened edge to him that we have no trouble paying attention even if we don't always find him sympathetic. Beverly Washburn and Sid Haig, both carried over from Spider Baby, are also great here with Haig really going for it a few times and delivering some memorable work. Brian Donlevy, instantly identifiable as Hammer's Quatermass, makes his final appearance in this movie and he's quite good as the older, seasoned promoter even if he's showing his age in a few scenes. His character knows exactly what he's asking of Rick and there's an interesting dynamic that plays out there. Burnstyn is also very good here in this early role, showing an impressive confidence and very much owning the character she's cast as.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Code Red presents Pit Stop on Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. The disc was previously released both domestically and in the UK by Arrow Video but credit where credit is due, this disc is the better looking one. Contrast is noticeably more stable here and while there are a few nicks, scratches and white specks, for the most part the picture is very clean and very clear. Detail is typically nice and strong and compression and noise reduction filtering are never a problem.
The only audio option is provided in English language DTS-HD Mono, there are no alternate language options or subtitles provided. There's a little bit of hiss during the opening music but nothing too distracting and as the movie starts up it becomes a lot less noticeable. Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to follow and the levels are properly balanced.
The supplements on the disc start off with an interview with the film's producer, Roger Corman, who speaks for five minutes about how and why they made Pit Stop when he became interested in making a racing film. Hill came to him and offered to make the picture for a modest budget and how he decided to back it. He then shares some thoughts on Hill's directing, his faith in the man, the authenticity of the race scenes, his appreciation of what the cast brought to the film and why the movie was shot in black and white.
Sid Haig also shows up here and speaks for sixteen minutes about his work on the film. This seems to have been shot at a convention appearance and there's a lot of background noise in the interview, but the content is good as he talks about how Hill brought him onboard to play the role, what it was like working with Dick Davalos and Brian Donlevy, and how Hill is a dream director to work for. He also talks about what it was like on set, how Donlevy was out of place in some ways while Davalos was a 'give and take kind of actor' and that he loved the part. Haig's always an interesting guy and as he finishes up by talking about working with Hill and Corman on Blood Bath and shares a few more anecdotes that becomes readily apparent here.
The disc also allows you to watch the movie in Drive-In Theater Mode which gets Katarina Lee Waters in front of the camera for a four minute intro to the movie where she offers up some trivia and anecdotes on the picture. When the movie finishes, she pops up for another minute and a half to send us off.
The Final Word:
Pit Stop is lean, mean and way smarter than it probably seems on the surface. It's a film that has aged surprisingly well and which feature some impressively stark black and white photography, some great stunt driving and a few memorable and well-crafted characters. Code Red's Blu-ray looks great and sounds pretty good too. Throw in a couple of cool interviews and this one turns out to be a really solid release.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
