Search - Speed Lovers/Thunder in Dixie on DVD

Larry N. from BEALETON, VA
Reviewed on 10/9/2015...

Thunder in Dixie - On-track, off-track rivalry between former racing partners Mickey and Ticker is about who is the better racer... or who is the better lover. Mickey had seduced Ticker's wife and they were in a car accident in which she died. Ticker wants nothing more to do with Mickey. Filmed in black & white, a good script and good acting are wrapped around some good vintage NASCAR racing filmed at Atlanta International Raceway circa 1963. I rate this one a 3.5 out of 5.

Speed Lovers - Bad acting and a poor script don't do this movie any favors. A braggart hot shot, who happens to be the son of racer Fred Lorenzon's crew chief, desperately wants to be a racer, but nobody will give him the chance. He gets conned into trying to get his dad and Fred to join a rival team with the promise that he'll get his chance at a ride. It turns out that this rival team is just a bunch of gangsters trying to fix a race. Filmed in color, there is lots of vintage NASCAR footage in this movie from Daytona and Atlanta circa 1965 plus Fred Lorenzon plays himself. I rate this one a 2.5 out of 5 because of all the vintage footage.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Pit Pork

Dennis Matthews | Portland OR | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up in North Carolina & spent a good part of my childhood in the mid 60s at racetracks. I once saw Richard Petty eating a bar-b-q sandwich before a race, something these movies brought back memories of.



These two films are great examples of Speedsploitation (part of the Hicksploitation family.) The first, Speed Lovers, is a hilarious ham-bone excursion into big hair, go-go music, and overgrown racetrack "kids" well into their 30s. The star (who also wrote, produced & directed the picture) is someone I wish I knew. The scene where he pushes the "bad guys" into a pool and grabs a last-minute kiss from one of the poolside molls before his escape sums up the spirit of this movie in living color. What a guy.



The second picture, Thunder in Dixie, is the polar opposite of the first, the Yang to its Yin. In black & white with a top-notch story of hurt, anger, revenge, betrayal, and finally resolution, this story really packs a punch. Although betrayed by a floozy who dies & seems a saint to racetrack driver Ticker, it's really his former partner & racer Mickey that you feel the most for. He's really sexy, yet his best friend turns on him, & his wife is the illegitimate lovechild of Clark Gable & Loretta Young. I like to think that after the conclusion of the movie, Ticker & Mickey realize that they love each other & run over Mickey's wife at the next race.



High octane recommendations for both movies, each for different reasons."