The Devil's Hairpin (1957)

Simply A Masterpiece

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I give this one a five out of ten. A) Because it has cool race cars, and B) Jean Wallace while over acting is definitely hot in that white dress. With Edith Head as costume designer, you could expect as much.Oh, I desperately would love to give this one a glowing review. It took years and years and years to track down a copy to watch.The fact of the matter is... this is a film for race car fans, and vintage sports car racing fans at this point. With that in mind.... there are a whooping 6 minutes of race action...all at the very end of the movie. Seventy-five minute race movie with 6 minutes of racing.The race course is vintage grass roots early 50's California sports car racing, complete with checkered flag pylons at the turns. It gets 10 out of ten for that. The speeded up race action is pure vintage Hollywood and expected for the period.The plot.... is as stereotypical as any race film possibly could be. Gruff racer guy, pleading girl friend tries to get him to quit.. or in this case stay retired (about the only real plot twist from the usual race movie scenario).The preamble of this guy getting back behind the wheel goes on and on and on and on.... If you came for the race action you'll be going back for a second box of pop corn here. Jean Wallace is about the only thing keeping you from staying at the concession stand until it's mercifully over.Of this vintage... Green Helmet probably remains the best of what I've been able to see so far. Some of these old B-movie race movies are all but extinct at this point. Some are terribly difficult to get a look at in any format, anywhere. There are a few left I've yet to see, but they're all in that rare air category.Devil's Hairpin at this point is for the vintage race fan who has to see everything ever made no matter how bad it is. For those of us in that category... it could be worse, but it also could be a whole lot better."Johnny Dark" is like "Gone with the Wind" compared to "the Devil's Hairpin". "On the Beach" has about as much race action... set inside a real movie.

That includes an extra point or two because I've met several of the auto racers who helped stage the 'competition" scenes, heard their stories about the production, and enjoyed tramping around almost all of what's left of the old Paramount Ranch racetrack. The track is still accessible as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, inland from Malibu, north and west from Los Angeles.Both the movie and the experiences with the racers and the track were enjoyable; the racers are stellar, the movie, not so much.Wilde and Wallace were kind of a prototypical pair of capable actors, and in this outing the material doesn't inhibit their natural inclinations. The story gets told, the action moves right along, for the most part, and the ending follows the beginning and middle.As a theatrical film, I'd probably not have gone to see it if I weren't a racing fan and it hadn't been 25 cents at the base theater.

The Devil's Hairpin was one of the more exciting racing movies from the 50's. It is also a compelling story of the conflict within the main character, played by Cornel Wilde.Wilde (who also directed) plays retired race car champion Nick Jargin. Jargin owns a nightclub and lives on past glory, never missing an opportunity to boast that he could still beat anyone on the track. What his legion of fans doesn't know is that he is, in fact, afraid to race again. In his last race he caused an accident which severely injured his younger brother. He had a decision to make between backing off at "The Devil's Hairpin" which might have allowed his brother to win, or jeopardizing his brother's life by not letting him pass. He chose the latter, and although his brother doesn't blame him for the resulting accident, he has always blamed himself.A local columnist finally goads him into racing again, and together with some cronies, he builds a race car. In the final race, he is faced with the same circumstance that caused his brother's accident.Wilde knew a great deal about how to tell a story. There is personal conflict, romance (his wife Jean Wallace plays Jargin's girlfriend) and of course the inevitable showdown both on the track and with his own past. The story is told in flashback, beginning on the starting grid for this final, defining race.It ain't "Grand Prix" as far as racing realism is concerned, but still solid entertainment. I have often wished this film were available on video or DVD. It is one of my favorites from the 50's.

This is a story of an ex-racing driver, played by Cornel Wilde, who is not a very likeable person. As the story develops and this driver must run a final race, I found myself cheering for him to win. The final racing scenes makeup for an otherwise uneventful movie. Cornel Wilde did a very good job in the lead role. I would purchase this movie if it were available.