Burnout (1979)

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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

There is a good film below the surface in this Crown International release. But alas Burnout fails to deliver ultimately. Its main problem I would say is that there is so little material that the run-time has been padded out with an awful lot of real footage from the racing circuit. This stuff lends the film a bit of atmosphere to a certain extent but it definitely is over-used. The main feeling is that Crown cobbled this one together quickly and cheaply with a minimum of film-making and a considerable amount of stock footage to bring it up to an acceptable running time.The story focuses on a teenager who looks to be not a day under thirty, as he tries to become a drag racing driver. Add in some drama pertaining to his rich, disappointed father and you have the bare bones of a narrative. There's just not really enough on screen to get involved with here and it probably works best as a nuts and bolts look at the goings on at a drag racing circuit in the 70's; beyond that its honestly slim pickings at best.

The core idea of "Burnout" - focusing on a young wannabe who wants to participate and succeed in the drag race circuit - had a lot of potential. But the end results fail in any way you can think of. As I said in the subject heading of this comment, I don't think this qualifies as a movie. That's because there is a TON of padding coming from the filmmakers filming a great deal of footage of drag racers performing in front of a live audience. That's right - the races we see for the most part are more or less stock footage! I wouldn't be surprised if the screenplay was written after the writer watched all the stock footage, because the little staged scenes that there are add up to so little of the running time that I'm sure even the principle actors only worked for a few days. And this limited footage is not very endearing, since the central youth character in the movie comes across as very selfish and not appreciative of the opportunities and investments his father gave him. I'm sure even drag race fans who saw this in the drive-in circuit felt bored, frustrated, and ripped off long before the movie came to an end.

Troubled teenager Scott (a solid and likable performance by Mark Schneider) aspires to be a professional drag race car driver. Scott makes several faltering attempts to break into the world of drag racing with the help of his affluent businessman father Jeff (well played by Bob Louden). Undaunted, Scott decides to spurn Jeff's advice by branching out on his own by going on the road as a gopher for a successful drag race car driver. Director Graham Meech-Burkestone, working from a thoughtful script by Martin J. Rosen, adroitly tells a simple and straightforward story about following your dreams and realizing your potential with engaging sincerity and an admirable dearth of mawkish sentiment. Moreover, the cool documentary-style footage of drag race strips all over America not only give this picture an extra nifty authenticity, but also provide an illuminating look into this sport and the people who participate in it. Pretty blonde Crystal Ramar makes a favorable impression with her sweet and appealing portrayal of Scott's supportive girlfriend Debbie. H. Paul Savage's intimate cinematography puts the viewer right in the car with the driver. The nicely varied score by Peter Dobson and Jack Miller alternates between funky syncopated soul and twangy harmonic country. An unjustly obscure sleeper.

Formula story about a man who wants to make it on his own without his dad's help. Productions values are one step above home movie. Considering it's a movie about drag racing, there is very little racing in the movie, although there is a never ending string of blue grass music to keep you from falling asleep.