Thunder in Carolina (1960)

High octane track action makes up for a bit of a stall in the plot department.

We are in the early days of NASCAR and top racer Mitch (Rory Calhoun) is out of action for awhile following a bad crash in a race. 

Mitch takes young hotshot Les (Race Gentry) under his wing, unfortunately he also takes a shine to Les' wife Rene (Connie Hines) though this only one way. Success on track goes to Les' head and he begins to make some risky choices...

This film will be a bit more enjoyable if you like watching motor racing as these scenes are pretty good, the rest of the film could do with being in a higher gear. Not that bad but could have been more.

Fighting Ace (1979)

A generic revenge kung fu story is enlivened by some top notch action.

As a boy Kao Che (John Liu) witnesses a madman kill his father (for a book), and then rape and kill his mother (just because). 

Twenty years later he learns kung fu from a number of teachers including Kwan Yeung Moon who does an incredible action set piece, and accompanied by a comedy sidekick (of course) he sets out for revenge...

Well the story isn't very original but that doesn't really matter. People watch films like this for the action and that is very good. A great film for kicks for sure and some innovative fights.

Show of Shows (1929)

It is 1929, sound films have quickly revolutionised the cinema industry and there is a hunger by audiences to hear as well as see the stars of the silver screen...

Warner Brothers created this film as a showcase of it's stars which isn't a film as such but a musical-comedy revue hosted by Frank Fay. We see top stars of the day like John Barrymore, also performances from Broadway acts and even Rin Tin Tin!

It is a lavish period piece, the comedy often falls a bit flat but the large scake spectacle is very impressive. It is worth watching for the historic value alone, but it is also pretty entertaining at times.

Deadline Auto Theft (1983)

A bit of a mess of a film, although good fun to watch as long as you don't think about it too much.

A gang of criminals led by Maindrian Pace (HB Halicki) is stealing valuable cars. After the gang steal the car of police captain Gibbs' (Hoyt Axton) fiancé, Gibbs is out to get the gang. Meanwhile, Pace has been contracted by a drug lord to steal dozens of cars for him...

This film frequently doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is actually an older film (1974's Gone in 60 Seconds) which has been edited quite heavily and has a whole new opening scene (quite a good action set piece as well although cars are crashed for no apparently logical reason apart from it looks cool). The jarring fashions of the two sources of this film are quite noticeable at times, it is all a lot of nonsense really but fun to watch.

Bad Georgia Road (1977)

A very amiable tale of moon shine running and culture shocks.

Bored New Yorker Molly (Carol Lynley) finds she has inherited a farm from a distant relative in Alabama. When she gets there she finds her fantasies of a fancy farmstead are a bit off base as her farm is very run down and the only thing that makes money is the moon shine still. 

Leroy (Gary Lockwood) takes the illegal booze to customers in his hot rod and he immediately takes a dislike to Molly, though you know that won't last long...

This is a fun film although not very original. The culture shock of the NY city slicker ending up in the middle of nowhere is amusing, though the best parts of the film are the various car chases between Leroy and the law.