Red Line 7000 (1965) User Reviews

A Hawks Challenge

[shino · 5/10 · 27 October 2005]

In Todd McCarthy's Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, the impetus behind RL7000 was a) Hawk's 10-year old son Gregg was into cars, or b) Hawks wanted to prove he could make a commercial film quickly for a million dollars. Too, Hawks loved cars, studied Mechanical Engineering at Cornell, raced cars after college, and made the racing film The Crowd Roars (1932) giving him the opportunity to work with Cagney (and wrangle a Deusenberg for himself from the Deusenberg company in exchange for product placement). In a sense, both films are indulgences which never translate into a coherent picture.

RL7000 comes off a bit more like a Roger Corman film than a Hawks film, probably due to budgetary constraints. We see lots of young unknowns, dancing, loud music, interludes of unevenly-acted drama interspersed with bouts of frenetic action. Caan is a good, brooding Bradoesque study, though he squints and smirks to distraction, Marianna Hill looks great, and seeing cars like Cobra Daytonas is pretty enjoyable for mid-60's sports car fans. Ultimately, the film has problems because Hawks doesn't get what he wants out of the actors. All of his other films have very strong acting; Hawks could always get great performances from Wayne, Grant, Bogart as well as the veteran character actors he used. He didn't have such luck with most of the primary cast of three men and three women. Their bonding as lovers and as male and female groups is integral to the credibility of the film, and it just doesn't happen.

Another possibility explaining the film's weakness is that this is the only one of Hawk's final six pictures (Rio Bravo to Rio Lobo) without writer Leigh Brackett on the team.

One also senses that Hawks tried too hard to be "hip," perhaps in reaction to the fact that some critics had complained that his previous picture "Man's Favorite Sport?" seemed old-fashioned. Thus the plot is periodically suspended for some truly bizarre song and dance numbers, even by mid-60's standards. It seems inconceivable that "Wildcat Jones" was given us by the same Hawks who gave us the immortal "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" number.

I want to like this movie, since I do subscribe to the school that a great director can never make a truly bad film. I also happen to love "Man's Favorite Sport?" which often critically lumped in with RL7000 as the two off-the-track films between a pair of Wayne/Hawks collaborations before and after. Furthermore, there are some vocal critics who love the film, such as Robin Wood. So I guess I need to watch it a few more times and hopefully can write a better review next go around.

Marianna Hill is in the Film. Need I say more?

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 14 March 2014]

Noted director Howard Hawks would make only two more films after "Red Line 7000" before calling it a day.

"Red Line" is a soap opera racing flick from 1965 that tries a bit too hard to be hip (no doubt on account of Hawks' previous film "Man's Favorite Sport?" being criticized as "old-fashioned"). It's corny at times and melodramatic at others, but it's fun and highlighted by some truly bizarre dance numbers, including clever usage of public domain music (be on the look out for the rockin' rendition of "The Old Gray Mare").

The picture is generally considered to be one of Hawks' worst films, if not THE worst, but it's redeemed by the dynamic chemistry between James Caan and Marianna Hill, who plays a French girl. Caan displays the intensity and talent that would make him one of the better actors of the early 70s. And Hill's performance, on par with other memorable Hawks discoveries Lauren Bacall and Angie Dickinson, makes you wonder why she didn't become a bigger star before fading into obscurity. Particularly notable are Hill's two lusty dancing sequences, at the nightclub and later at the Holiday Inn Pepsi machine, as Caan observes her from afar.

If you're not familiar with the incredibly gorgeous Marianna Hill, she played Dr. Helen Noel on the original Star Trek episode "Dagger of the Mind" from 1966 (1st season). Believe it or not, Hill was arguably the MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN to appear on the series (which is saying A LOT in light of the fact that Star Trek is highly noted for it's over-abundance of stunning beauties). She appeared in NUMEROUS television shows throughout the 60s and 70s (e.g. Batman, Kung Fu, Bonanza, Mayberry RFD, etc.) and also quite a few films like Elvis' "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (1966), Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" (1973) and even STARRED in the underrated atmospheric horror flick "Dead People" (aka "Messiah of Evil" 1973).

BOTTOM LINE: Hill and Caan redeem "Red Line 7000" and make it a mandatory purchase or viewing. The film should have focused exclusively on these two characters and gotten rid of everybody else (!), yet even with its weaknesses "Red Line" is still more intriguing than the more popular mid-60s race drama "Grand Prix."

Unfortunately the film is only available used on VHS for WAY too much money. Hopefully it will be released on DVD some time soon!

Allow me to close by repeating: MARIANNA HILL IS IN THE FILM!

The real stars...

[braybrian21 · 7/10 · 28 November 2017]

Just like any "gear head" film, the humans are always supporting cast. The real stars are the cars. Within the first 21 minutes, you will see plenty of classic race tracks, cars, motorcycles, trucks, socket wrenches, loud pipes, race posters, cool sunglasses, beautiful girls, and everything else that excites the average auto buff. Yes, the acting isn't great, but do you really care about Caan's love life more than that beautiful split-window '63? Of course not. This movie was made in the heart of the 1960s, the genesis of true sports cars. There are other gear films out there that are better, but 7000 is worthwhile.

Dirt tracks, redheads, bad music and big egos...

[Cari-8 · 20 July 1999]

Although well intended, this is a real melodrama, a tale of the daring, reckless, untamed men of stock car racing and the women who love them... oh, please. The racing sequences are good, but these guys are pulling stunts that would have made even early NASCAR officials nail them to the wall.

Caan's acting is good, but he's not yet the fantastic actor we know today. He does well with the often stilted dialogue, some of which has gaps you could drive a truck through. MST3k material. Gail Hire (Holly) has a voice that makes Lauren Bacall sound like Minnie Mouse...You haven't lived until you've heard her baritone song/rap "Wildcat Jones" and seen George "Mr. Sulu" Takei dancing the Pony. This film is funnier than it was ever meant to be... and in ways I doubt Howard Hawks ever intended.

For NASCAR Fans Not AFI Top 100 Fans

[wvbonds · 3/10 · 27 February 2011]

I have to agree with the comment about Ms Hire being a junior grade Paula Prentiss. I logged on to my account to write that Gail Hire (Holly) came across like Paula Prentiss, but it had already been noted. But, I also noticed that Marianna Hill (Gabby) seem like she was a substitute for Brigitte Bardot and Laura Devon (Julie) as Nancy Sinatra.

I like the movie, even though it was full of clichés and all too typical of most racing movies. I like looking at the race footage. I remember many of the races and knew the full background of the races and accidents shown in the movie. I like the movie because it showed real production based race cars racing. The same makes and models my neighbors owned. If you like NASCAR this is a movie worth seeing. If you are looking for AFI top 100 films, this is not the movie for you.

Exciting on the track, dull off the track

[vampire_hounddog · 6/10 · 15 December 2020]

After a Nascar driver (Anthony Rogers) is killed in a race at Daytona, fellow team racers gather round his mysterious new girlfriend (Gail Hire) and together they have trials and tribulations on and off the track.

Late Howard Hawks film is exciting on the track, but makes for dull drama off the track, but with little in the way of characterisation. This is unfortunate in that the action is well done and could have been an interesting time peace, but is instead dated. There were exploitation films made in the period that handle this subject matter better such as PIT STOP (1969).

A Mostly Forgettable Howard Hawks Film

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 23 May 2013]

The story of three racing drivers and three women, who constantly have to worry for the lives of their boyfriends.

You know, Howard Hawks makes a lot of great films. And this one has a darn fine cast: James Caan, Teri Garr, George Takei (in a small role). But it just is not one of his better films by a long shot. In fact, it is mostly forgettable.

We have a raspy voiced singer, which is typical of Hawks, but a terrible song and dance number to go with it. This makes the songs in Rio Bravo" look even better than they already are.

Also, if screwdrivers (the beverage) were a trademarked name, this would be an incredible advertisement for screwdrivers. Why is that the drink that gets repeatedly ordered? Why name a drink at all? Seemed very strange, and the French woman came off sounding more Russian than French at times (with all due respect to Marianna Hill).

Archie with amputation and death!

[billk0 · 7/10 · 24 October 2020]

Pure Archie Americana, fast cars, sexy girls, people drinking screwballs, dream world. Every now and then a dose of horrific reality enters this dream sphere, such as instant fiery death and amputation of limbs. Such is the universe this movie exists in. Enioy with mind turned off. Captures an America that may never have existed. The true American dream?

Rest in Peace James Caan

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 8 July 2022]

One of the strangest race car movies of all time is also the most grounded, deliberately mundane, and, directed by an old Howard Hawks starring a young James Caan, its worth both watching and re-watching since there's so much going on... yet barely on the racetrack...

In which Caan's one of several racers holed up at a Holiday Inn and partaking in various affairs while driving for Norman Aldan, whose tomboy sister Laura Devon winds up quickly bedded with the film's buried lead in muscular John Robert Crawford, whose rushed backstory of a farm boy wanting to be the fastest takes away from an against-the-odds story that should have been Caan's role...

Instead he's the most contented and dependable of the drivers, and often seems bored despite his natural screen presence, eventually winding up in the arms of his future brother's trophy wife, Marianna Hill from THE GODFATHER 2, a spurned foreign beauty who, like the other relationships mixed and matched throughout this sport genre melodrama, consists of mismatched couples bickering till they bang...

But what makes RED LINE 7000 shine despite the lack of plot and action is its colorful 1960's template, looking more 1967 than 1965, a two-fold time-piece showcasing that era's womanizing yet equally vulnerable playboy types and their reluctant-till-their-not dames, also including Gail Hire as a "widowed" co-owner of the kind of groovy nightclub that's neat to hang-around in within this mellow hangout vehicle.

Hang Out at the Racetrack

[davidmvining · 3/10 · 5 July 2021]

When talking about Red Line 7000, I think it's required to talk about both Rio Bravo and Hatari! Because the earlier two films point to what Hawks was surely trying to do in the latter. The two adventures with John Wayne were loose collections of character moments brought together by a central plot and premise that provided enough focus for everything to really feel of a piece. The throughline in Red Line 7000 barely exists, in contrast. Instead of creating a relatively small world like a border town in Texas with a jail problem or a tightknit group of men trapping animals in Africa, we have an entire subculture of stockcar racing. It becomes so dissociative that for the last forty minutes it feels like we're watching two different movies cut together that just happen to involve the same sets and locations.

It's the story of three racing men and the three women who end up loving them. There are echoes of some of Hawks' earlier work (surprise!) such as The Crowd Roars and Ceiling Zero, but where those were relatively tightly focused (Zero more than Crowd, for sure), Red Line 7000 loses it completely. There are simply too many characters to really track in this rather short two-hour runtime. This is another Hawks film that really feels like it was cut down. The six characters ends up dominating their own spaces for so long that it's really hard to figure out who's the actual main character. There are arguments to be made for all six, especially the three men.

Those three racers are James Caan's Mike, John Robert Crawford's Ned, and Skip Ward's Dan. Caan gets top billing, so we'll start with him. Mike is a bit of a cipher for a long period, creating little impression in his early conversations with his friend and fellow driver Jim (who dies in the movie's opening car race), leaving Mike in charge of the girl Jim had fallen in love with and brought out from California, Holly (Gail Hire). You might think that this setup would be ideal for getting Mike and Holly together in the end, but you'd be wrong. Mike's going to spend the first thirty minutes of the film, essentially, with Holly, but he simply stops interacting with her after a while. No, she's going to end up with Dan, who brought back the French beauty Gabrielle (Marianna Hill). Gabrielle ends up noting the infatuation Dan has with Holly, quickly letting him go and falling for Mike. Who's Ned ending up with? Well, Ned is going to end up with Julie (Laura Devon), his race team's manager's sister.

Describing all of this feels like describing the farce that is Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, but where that was light and fun in the end, the point of the film being the juggling of pairs, none of the romance in Red Line 7000 seems terribly important, especially in comparison to the racing.

The racing is...interesting. Mike is the chief racer for Pat (Norman Alden), Julie's brother (who looks old enough to be her father, but whatever), and he's a winner. Dan has won some big races in Europe before he joins the American circuit where he's prone to do well. Ned is an up and comer who manages to prove himself well to Pat after Jim's death, demonstrating his ability in Mike's car that is pulling to the right. The racing stuff is never particularly interesting from a character perspective. Mike and Dan simply race, while Ned has a pretty typical story about a young, talented kid getting too big too fast before falling hard. I have no problem with typical, but this movie gives almost no time to dedicate to any one thing in particular. It feels like we're skipping through the film instead of letting it play out.

So, the racing itself. Coming in a couple of movies after Hatari! Where it was obvious that John Wayne and his fellow actors were in Africa wrestling with a real rhino, it's odd to see the quality of the film stock of the actual races here plumet every time we see real cars only to have it return to the quality of the rest of the movie the second we see a closeup of a racer's face in front of rear projection. All of these sorts of movies use rear projection from time to time, but because it's the exclusive way we see the actual actors in the midst of this dangerous sport, and the racing ends up coming back again and again, it ends up feeling incredibly and obviously fake.

I think I can lay the majority of the blame of my problems with this movie on one thing, though. Holly, being the sole beneficiary on Jim's life insurance policy, buys into a racing bar where everyone hangs out, and we get a whole lot of time dedicated to this bar. There's a musical number and everything. This would be like in Ceiling Zero if we got a subplot about the bar owner's troubles instead of the bar owner simply being a bit part in someone else's story.

Much like I think with Land of the Pharaohs, I am all but convinced that there was a workprint of this film that lasted about three hours. There's no way that the sudden introduction, in the film's final twenty minutes, of several large new plot twists, like one of the racers losing a hand, would be planned to be introduced and moved on so quickly as it is in the final product here. This has to be Hawks bowing to studio pressure to turn in a film of a given length in order to get a certain number of showings per day. The end result is easily Hawks' worst film. It's very much of a piece with his body of work dealing with a dangerous profession, the men who love it, and the women who love them, but this is also the worst presentation of the ideas in his body of work. Thankfully, he never sank this low again.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

[waylonsmithers9 · 10/10 · 25 July 2002]

I first saw "Red Line 7000" in college. I was taking a class on the films of Howard Hawks, and the professor showed this the first week because it is considered by many to be Hawks' worst film, and the professor didn't want anyone who added the class during the "drop/add" period to miss one of the major Hawks films.

Well, all I can say is that by the time this film was over, it became one of my all-time favorites. Sure, it's corny at times, and melodramatic at others, but who cares? It's a delicious soap opera with fun performances, a strange musical number, and clever usage of public domain music (check out the rockin' version of "The Old Gray Mare"!).

Of the many cast members, the standouts are Marianna Hill as the French girl, Gaby, and the divine Gail Hire as Holly McGregor. Ms. Hire was described by one critic as a "junior-grade Paula Prentiss." I was going through a major Paula Prentiss phase at the time I saw the movie, so I was completely captivated by Ms. Hire's Prentissian performance (although her voice reminds me of Barbara Stanwyck's).

But, really, this film is just brilliant. I love the dialogue, the interactions of the characters, and that they all live at the Holiday Inn. The use of the Inn creates a sense of community and, along with the presence of the Prentissian Ms. Hire, links this film with "Where The Boys Are."

A must-see film!

Cars race a world apart of real life, boring contenders, easy gorgeous girls and an arid, shallow and poisoned environment for human connections!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 13 February 2023]

During his life Howard Hawks always used to attend automobile race, he already had its passion over it at tender age, also his son became a professional race driver sponsored by Hawkes, gathering all this stay clear what drove Howard Hawkes commonly knew as western director turns around to shot an unusual picture of racing car in middle of sixties, that was a reason, also Tarantino ensures it was somehow this flick is overlooked, then so sorry for both Howard Hawks and Tarantino, due the picture really never gets fire properly speaking (aside on the tracks in some stock footages sequences).

Putting this short briefing above, then "Red Line 7000" summarized is a heap of many stuff that often surround a cars race, outpouring of egos, when someone to assets himself he needs overcome his foe on tracks, an everlasting chase for glory, even that it put his life in danger mostly of time, actually this world living apart of the real life, they survive in a glass dome flanked of gorgeous girls only, drinking a lot, make sex with easy girls and so on, Howard Hawkes put a fake circle of sorrows, disagreements such romantic as interpersonal as well, always concerning troubles coming from race cars.

A movie absence of interest, apart for those who somewhat living in this fancy circle, where the money speak louder and all environment of contest speak by itself, arid and shallow human connections, also Hawks tries hard lay some feelings on the odd plot, nevertheless flopped in an overwhelming way.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / Source: DVD / How many: 1 / Rating: 6.

The Racing Footage is Good...

[silentmoviefan · 2/10 · 22 June 2012]

I saw this film several years ago. The racing footage is great. It starts out with the 1964 Daytona 500 and it was so neat to see the cars on the pace lap before starting the race, which in real life was rather dull unless you're a Richard Petty fan... The only problem is that the racing footage is far and away the strength. Most of the rest of it is garbage! The best part of the non-racing football is a young lady in a club singing a song about a racing driver, complete with the sound of a racing car at the beginning. To me, this movie was dull (between shots of the racing footage). One part I remember is one of the women, on top of a guy in bed saying "Tell me what a sexy woman is!" I find it rather odd that she doesn't know what one is... Like I said, the racing footage is good, but you can get films of races for that. Don't waste your time on this turkey. You have better things to do!

A Soap

[gilli · 13 May 1999]

This film is a collection of racing scenes interweaved with small love dramas involving drivers and their mates. Although the racing scenes are well done, the dramatic portions are extremely silly. Outside James Caan, acting is poor. The choice of a final scene is unconventional and intelligent.

"It's a helluva way to make a living...!"

[richardchatten · 4/10 · 12 November 2021]

"All the bubbles are gone", Laura Devon observes at one point; and Howard Hawks should really have quit when he was ahead with 'Rio Bravo', since his sixties films are a pretty sorry bunch.

Structurally and thematically 'Red Line 7000' bears many similarities to 'Only Angels Have Wings', but stock car racing hardly merits the heroic status it's accorded here, a bland young cast mouth banalities like "That's all you really care about, winning"; and James Caan and Marianna Hill are not - to put it mildly - Cary Grant and Jean Arthur.

The actual racing sequences are obviously intercut with studio shots of the ladies watching from the crowd, and there are some shockingly obvious soundstage exteriors.

This long, glossy, but disjointed production (which looks suspiciously as if a lot was left on the cutting room floor; but not enough) ends very abruptly; perhaps the most true to life feature of it.

The racing was great. The rest....eh....

[ARosser14 · 4/10 · 10 April 2013]

As a die-hard racing fan and a lover of the sport's history, not to mention early-mid 1960s vintage, I thoroughly looked forward to watching this film. And it first, it was quite good. The opening scenes at the Daytona International Speedway, highlighted by the kind of horrific, fiery accident that was all-too-commonplace during that era are well done. So are the rest of the racing scenes, save for one rather ridiculous bit of action at Daytona later in the film.

Unfortunately, once the characters get away from the track, the movie starts to go downhill. The dialogue is uncomfortable and often downright bad, and the whole soap opera plays out rather disappointingly. Like most racing films, it shows great promise, but winds up well off the pace.

I rate it 4 out of 10 thanks to the great racing scenes and the performance of James Caan. The rest, unfortunately, is all very forgettable.

One of Hawks' finest pictures

[mraukui-244-10185 · 10/10 · 27 January 2014]

This film is said to be minor, but the opposite is true. It is absolutely masterly how Hawks tells his story and paints an archetypal portrait of the U.S.A. in the sixties. The racetracks with the cars circling in endless rounds symbolize the circle of life: the drivers who die in a car crash are replaced by new drivers who get also in accidents, the girlfriends of the drivers are left by them just to find a new driver to cling to. The drivers look alike, the girls are all alike, nobody is sticking out. Everything in this world is superficial and on the outside. The brands are everywhere in the movie: Ford, Pepsi, Holiday Inn. The dialogs get to the point fast, there is not a word too much. It is an extreme economy of storytelling. The camera by Milton Krasner is fantastic. Howard Hawks loved car races, he drove races himself, even constructed a car. He absolutely knew what he was talking about.

(almost) the end of the line for Howard Hawks..

[dbdumonteil · 11 May 2003]

...two more westerns and he would call it a day.Considering the classics he made during a long and fruitful career which encompasses such classics as "Scarface(shame of the nation)" or "only angels have wings "or "land of the pharaos","red line 7000" is a mediocre offering.Although praised by the French cahiers du cinema ,it's little more than a soap opera in the motor races.Characters ,be they male or female ,are uninteresting and the scenes with the cars pale next to John Frankenheimer's "grand prix" .A sequence featuring James Caan and Gabrielle the FRench girl would make a nice ad for Pepsi Cola.Only the unexpected ending brings some originality.But it's too little too late.

Howard Hawks Race Car Film

[adventure-21903 · 8/10 · 18 March 2020]

Howard Hawks legendary director worked with the greatest stars in Hollywood: John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn Rock Hudson,, Barbara Stanwyck Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, etc. He must have decided to use a cadre of young actor and hoped that they would drive this race car film to the finish line of success. Hawks failed.

James Caan heads a cast of young actors. Hindsight is always 20/20 but Hawks should have taken this film to MGM which had the following under contract: Richard Cjhamberlain, George Peppad, Jim Hutton and 2 beauties Yvette Mimieux and Paula Prentiss who starred in Hawks Man's Favorite Sport on loan out to Universal. This would have been a stronger film.

I feel this film had potential to be a great movie.

Only James Caan and Marianna Hill are worth watching...

[floydsmoot · 19 July 2000]

Red Line 7000, one of Howard Hawks's later films, is generally considered one of his worst, thanks to fake-looking racing scenes, hilariously inappropriate dialogue and musical sequences, and ghastly performances from never-weres such as James Ward, Laura Devon, Gail Hire and particularly John Robert Crawford. But the film is redeemed by the dynamic chemistry between James Caan and the exciting Marianna Hill in their individual scenes together. Caan shows in this film the intensity and talent that would make him one of the best actors of the early-1970s, and Hill's performance, on-par with other memorable Howard Hawks discoveries as Lauren Bacall and Angie Dickinson, makes you wonder why she didn't become a bigger star before fading into obscurity. Particularly memorable are Hill's two lusty dancing sequences, at the nightclub and later in front of the Holiday Inn Pepsi machine, as James Caan observes her from afar. Caan and Hill redeem Red Line 7000 from being a total disaster--the movie should have focused only on their characters and gotten rid of everybody else--but, even with its many weaknesses, the film is still more intriguing than the overrated Grand Prix (1966) anyday.