Dirty Mary Crazy Larry *** (1974, Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Kenneth Tobey and Roddy McDowall) – Classic Movie Review 11,182

PETER FONDA drivin’ hard!! SUSAN GEORGE ridin’ easy!!…

Director John Hough’s 1974 non-stop action thriller Dirty Mary Crazy Larry stars Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Kenneth Tobey and Roddy McDowall, and is written by Leigh Chapman and Antonio Santean, based on Richard Unekis’s novel The Chase.

Racing driver Larry (Peter Fonda), buddy Deke (Adam Roarke) and wacky parolee Mary (Susan George) hold up George Stanton (Roddy McDowall)’s supermarket for $150,000 and are then chased across California by sheriff Captain Everett Franklin (Vic Morrow) and the cops.

Richard Unekis’s car racing novel The Chase is used as an excuse for rip-snorting chases, smashes and stunts. Great as it is for the action and stunts; this is however less compelling as a human-interest melodrama. The good actors have a moderate appeal, but they used as cyphers anyway and director John Hough doesn’t let up his fast-moving grip for a moment. The Seventies-style ending is a damper though, and they wouldn’t try this now.

Also in the cast are Eugene Daniels, Lynn Borden, Adrianne Herman, Elizabeth James, T J Castronovo, James W Gavin, Al Rossi, Ben Niems, George Westcott, Tom O’Neill, Al Wyatt Sr and Janear Hines.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is directed by John Hough, runs 93 minutes, is made by Academy Pictures, is released by Twentieth Century Fox (1974) (US) and Fox-Rank (1974) (UK), is written by Leigh Chapman and Antonio Santean, based on Richard Unekis’s novel The Chase, is shot by Mike Margulies, is produced by Norman H Herman and scored by Jimmy Haskell.

Vic Morrow insisted on a $1 million life insurance policy before filming any scenes involving the helicopter. When asked why he wanted the policy, Morrow replied: ‘I have always had a premonition that I’ll be killed in a helicopter crash!” On 23 July 1982, Morrow was killed, along with two children, when a helicopter was brought down on them while they were filming Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Stunt coordinator Gary McLarty, one of the passengers in the helicopter that killed Morrow, also appears in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry as a State Trooper.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,182

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