I Watch Films: Red Line 7000

Red Line 7000

It’s a film about three race car drivers who drive for Pat Kazarian and three women who get tangled up with them. Jim Loomis (a driver but not one of the three) arrives late for a race, telling fellow driver Mike Marsh (one of the three) he’s in love with Holly, and promptly gets killed. Two of Holly’s previous beaus have died, so she decides she’s bad luck and swears off men, becoming a part-owner of the diner the film spends nearly as much time at as the race track. (The other owner Lindy, not one of the three women, had a race driver boyfriend die on her and is now married to a bank clerk).

After spending some time on that story Pat Kazarian brings in a new driver Ned Arp at the suggestion of his sister Julie. Ned and Julie hit it off.

And then, quite some time into the film, the third driver Dan Macall turns up from Europe, where he’s been winning races and he brings his French girlfriend Gabrielle. They split up shortly after.

None of the stories is bad, but they feel very episodic. The film lingers on each relationship for a while, then cuts swiftly to another, or to a race. Anyway, nothing wrong with it, just a bit awkward; for example Kato (George Takei) the mechanic is in a lot of early scenes doing a bit of character work, then for some reason gets relegated to the background, dancing in the diner and holding up the board in the pits during a race. Did they need him in those scenes to make them work, but cut him later when they really dialled into the romantic plots?

Watch This: A stylish 60s racing/romance film
Don’t Watch This: Awkwardly paced and two of the drivers are giant dicks really, Julie and Holly can do so much better