Pit Stop (USA, 1969) 92 min B&W DIR-SCR: Jack Hill. PROD: Lee Strosnider. MUSIC: The Daily Flash, John Fridge. DOP: Austin McKinney. CAST: Brian Donlevy, Richard Davalos, Ellen McRae (aka- Ellen Burstyn), Sid Haig, Beverly Washburn, George Washburn.
This is a curious picture- a drive-in movie shot in black and white at a time when everything was in psychedelic colour; a flick that has all the ingredients of sex, violence, and hot rods yet isn’t quite an exploitation picture. In between his best-remembered films, the bizarre Spider Baby and Coffy (which launched Pam Grier’s career), Jack Hill wrote and directed this gritty picture, which was largely ignored amidst other racing films of the day. Today it stands apart, for exploring more than the familiar structure of the guy winning the trophy and the girl. It is also a look at the big business behind the race, and drivers risking their own lives over a golden cup.
Richard Davalos (whose big moment of fame was James Dean’s brother in East of Eden) is humourless punk Rick Bowman, who is thrown in the slammer after a drag race which ends up in mass destruction. He is sprung by the shifty Grant Willard (Brian Donlevy in his final role), who sponsors young hopefuls in car rallies. Under his wing, Rick becomes hip to the insane tournaments, in which a bunch of cars drive in figure-eight patterns, and the winner is the driver who doesn’t get smashed up. Rick sets his sights on stealing the spotlight from the Figure 8 champion Hawk Sidney (played by Sid Haig– with hair!!) and even Hawk’s girlfriend, Jolene (played by the spunky Beverly Washburn). This film is less about the good guy beating the bad guy, rather the good guy becomes de-humanized- not that his moral standards are much in the first place.
The picture has been praised for its realism, largely thanks to the wise (albeit financially suicidal) idea to shoot it in black and white- Austin McKinney’s cinematography is very crisp. Still, it loses a bit in close-up interior shots where drivers are obviously in front of rear-screen projections. Arguably, Pit Stop is more interesting for the exploitative business and personal matters behind the scenes. Once the legendary circuit driver Ed McLeod (played by George Washburn) and his ever-suffering wife (Ellen McRae, soon to be Ellen Burstyn) are introduced, he see a moving glimpse of how this enterprise can devour a person’s soul. With minimal advancements, endlessly travelling from one strip motel to another, the drivers are trapped in a lonely, minimal world.
Also surprising is how the characters change as reels unspool. People once considered as nasty end up having a heart after all, and the most humane are revealed as back-stabbing opportunists. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Rick’s character. First, his dubious reaction to Willard’s enterprise is replaced by his total resignation to the dog-eat-dog circuit; he even rivals Willard in suggesting ways to win more money! After getting into a racing venture with Ed, Rick then sleeps with his wife! This guy becomes so hardened and so obsessed with being number one (the film’s original title was The Winner), that reading “Hot Rod” magazine in bed becomes more interesting than having sex with his girlfriend! Richard Davalos’ one-note acting is actually an asset here– his stiff-jawed morose delivery perfectly captures the humourless anti-hero. And in a surprisingly downbeat, tragic finale, he has become number one- the number one heel who has proven he can survive in the corporate world of the racetrack.
Pit Stop was made in a time when racing films such as The Speed Lovers and The Wild Racers were in vogue. All Roger Corman wanted was a movie no doubt along the lines of his own The Young Racers, but while Hill researched the racing world, he became fascinated with the sacrifices conducted by hopefuls in the circuit, and decided to make a striking picture on the sordid lives and practices in the scene. Plus, the characterizations are much stronger than we’re used to seeing in such pictures. There is a great three-dimensional role for Sid Haig (who acted for Jack Hill several times): he may be the “bad guy”, but we sympathize with him. This is a film that was somewhat displaced from its own era, but today is worthy of rediscovery. Anchor Bay originally released it to VHS (in those neato clamshells with reversible covers) and DVD; Arrow now distributes it for Blu-ray.
