Snake & Mongoose (2013)

Waste of time

Awesome Movie

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I disagree with Netflixry. My dad used to drag race, so I grew up at the race track. I majored in Broadcasting in college, so I'd like to think I also have a decent grasp of film making. Is this film on the level of Forest Gump or Titanic? No, it's not. But Snake and Mongoose didn't have their budget either. Does it have a 'made-for-TV' feel to it? Yes it does. But I wouldn't call the film horrible. In fact, my dad and I were talking after watching it, and we agreed that it's probably one of the best racing movies ever made. Will a die hard drag racing fan notice a few minor inaccuracies? Yes. But on a whole, this film was still a lot more true to the historical and technical aspects of racing than Heart Like a Wheel, Days of Thunder, or Driven. So if you're a motor sports fan who doesn't realistically expect the production value to be on the same level as Jurassic Park, I'd say it's a good watch, worth your 90 minutes of time.

I was a teen and really into drag racing back then so I certainly remember the Snake and Mongoose. With that being said I really enjoyed this movie even though it's obviously pretty low budget. As a race fan I really liked seeing how hard of a struggle it was for even the guys who were doing all the winning in those days like the Snake. And the way it was the Mongoose who pushed all the business deals and how the ideas came about was very interesting as well. And who knew McEwen was into making safety innovations as well! Of course every second of the vintage racing films (which make up a good portion of the movie!) was a delight and spotting shots of Linda Vaughn and Jungle Pam an added bonus. The shots of the kids in real '70s clothes brought back lots of memories too.So if you are at all into motorsports, or even if you simply bought the Snake and Mongoose matchboxes back then, it's certainly worth a guilty pleasure movie night!

If you're looking for award winning caliber acting or writing here then this is probably not the movie for you , as it has a definite B-movie stamp on it. However, I found myself engaged enough in the story, based on true events, to be quite interested throughout.It chronicles the 20 year drag racing rivalry between Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, culminating at the NHRA U.S. National Championships, in 1978 at Indianapolis, Indiana. This was rather a friendly rivalry even culminating in a business partnership at one point.The two men were polar opposites in personality with McEwen, portrayed by Richard Blake, being outgoing, gregarious, and always looking at innovations and the big picture, while Prudhomme. played by Jesse Williams, being a "nose-to-the-grindstone" type who was completely focused on winning races.Led by McEwen's excellent marketing skills, they eventually landed the large toy manufacturer Mattel as a sponsor, and it proved to be a highly beneficial partnership for all concerned, with the Hot Wheels toy promotions. This also helped bring drag racing onto the national scene and brought a whole new wave of fans on board.With a good supporting cast including Ashley Hinshaw, Tim Blake Nelson, Fred Dryer, Noah Wylie, and Kim Shaw the movie was also enhanced by its' interspersion of actual drag races and the national TV coverage at times. There's also a short but funny interview clip with the real Prudhomme and McEwen which was valuable to see.Having watched drag racing on TV years ago, I found this film overall to be interesting, despite, as mentioned, the wooden dialog and acting.

Let me first start by saying I am a huge drag racing fan, and have been my entire life. Drag racing is in fact the only sport I follow. I'm also a movie fanatic, and know a good film when I see one. I couldn't wait to see this movie. I grew up watching a lot of their story unfold, so the old footage used in the film was a real treat. Unfortunately, that was the only treat in this God awful excuse for a movie. It was literally one of the worst movies I've ever seen. How it is currently rating over a 3 on IMDb, is as perplexing as how this fiasco ever made it to print in the first place. It was poorly written, poorly directed, and horribly acted. I've read the other reviews on here, and it's clear the reviewers are drag racing fans, and writing their glowing reviews based solely on nostalgia, and some sense of loyalty to the sport of drag racing, rather than on the actual merits of the film.Yes, this film made me nostalgic for the old school rails and funny cars, but that doesn't make up for such a failed attempt at entertainment. I couldn't be more disappointed, mostly because the stories of these heroes of drag racing were horribly represented. Watching this movie was a lot like watching an old episode of the Threes Company. Yes, it's cool to see what use to be, but still painfully un-entertaining to watch. The only other redeeming quality was watching Ron Capps' cameo, with him awkwardly standing by as a statue of Lou Baney, and Alexis DeJoria's two second speaking cameo, actually not too bad as the ancillary character Paula.If you love drag racing, then see the movie for the cool old footage, but be warned, you'll probably end up as disappointed as I was. If you're not a die hard drag racing fan, you'll probably just skip straight to the disappointment part.