User reviews

Ostensibly a mindless, flashy car-chase-&-crash B-flick has all the usual drive-in elements, but there's more going on here than at first appears. Two NASCAR enthusiasts, needing to buy a new entry vehicle, concoct an elaborate plan to rob a grocery store; Larry is the talent behind the wheel, Deke is the contemplative brains of the outfit. Soon they're saddled with good-time girl Mary, stubborn and sassy, who proves her mettle on a wild ride getting out of town. From Richard Unekis' book "The Chase", with a plot that is exactly that, yet the script by Leigh Chapman and Antonio Santean is surprisingly funny and literate and John Hough's direction is exceptionally tight with very little nonsense. Peter Fonda is appropriately manic, loose and shaggy, and Susan George has fun playing low-class (she has a tough time camouflaging her British accent, but it passes); every time Mary uses her brains, it provides more shading and substance in the character. Adam Roarke is a revelation as accomplice Deke, a sensitive, complicated man with heart and soul; he's not above larceny--he even masterminds it--but he's a thinker, and a realist. This film should have broken Roarke as a star in Hollywood, he is incredibly good. Vic Morrow has the standard role of the lawman on the trio's trail (he plays cat-and-mouse with them, and vice-versa, which is routine) and it's nice to see Roddy McDowall in a non-hysterical role as the supermarket manager. The chases are terrifically charged with adrenaline and excitement, and while the character animosities are trivial, the movie is stylish and wire-drawn. Apparently a big hit with Quentin Tarantino, who used a film-clip in his "Jackie Brown" (and adopted this picture's violent, jokey tone as well). Good show: *** from ****

Okay, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is basically a car chase movie. However, this movie is nicely paced and well crafted for the this genre. Peter Fonda is the focal point as Larry, and he alternates between manic and gloomy, punctuating the action with humorous comments and a devil may care attitude. Adam Roarke as his mechanic/sidekick is the anti-Larry, a guy who is dealing with his own demons and is ready to step in when Fonda's character goes too far. Susan George is the wildcard in this movie. She latches on to Fonda and proves that she is not to be underestimated. The scene-stealer of the movie is Vic Morrow as the sheriff, who produces some of the best lines in this movie. When he gets in the chopper, the pilot says, "I just take orders" and Vic replies "Good, cause I give lots of 'em...let's go!". If this sounds like nothing special, check out this movie and you will see the other element which stands out, the atmosphere. Drawbridges, apple orchards, a small town flea market, dusty roads, big trucks etc. This is no "Dukes of Hazzard" mindless kind of car chase movie. There is a lot of intelligence and humor in the script, and it is well-paced and directed. An enjoyable movie to kill a couple of hours. I never said it was Citizen Kane!

If you're an aspiring writer/director or just a fan of the cinema? Then you have to watch, "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry". The movie isn't just another 70's Drive-In exploitation car chase flick. It's the 70's Drive-In exploitation car chase flick to end all other 70's Drive-In exploitation car chase flicks that came before it. Movies like Vanishing Point, White Lightening and The Seven Ups.

While films like 'Bullet' and 'The French Connection' set the standard for car chase scenes in urban jungles. It was Vanishing Point that took the car chase across country, and established a brand new 70's genre called the "Car Chase Movie". Like B monster movies from decades past, they were short on plot and even shorter on character development, but long in action packed car chases. It was an entire new genre of its own creation starting in the late 60's with Steve McQueen's 'Bullit', and eventually going out with a bang in the late 70's with films like 'Smokey and the Bandit', followed by early 80's blockbusters like 'The Blues Brothers' and 'Cannonball Run'. The Blues Brothers being probably the best of all the Car Chase movies that combined musical comedy with exciting urban and cross country high octane action car chases and crashes.

While, 'Smokey and the Bandit' and 'The Blues Brothers' were overall far superior movies to the Drive-In exploitation car chase flicks of the early and mid 70's, it's easy to spot that a lot of the great car chase scenes in those later movies were directly inspired by "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry", which were themselves inspired by earlier films like Vanishing Point and Bullet, but later expanded upon in 'Dirty Mary,Crazy Larry'.

That's really the main reason why I believe "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" is a must see flick. It serves as a transitional film from earlier movies that first established the new 70' genre, with some bold improvisation of stunt coordination using the established genre as its foundation, that made 'DMCL' a source of inspiration for later and greater movies. Check it out and see if you agree with this review.

Yes, DMCL is shot well. Yes, the car chases are great. And yes, if '70's kitch is what you seek, you'll find plenty of it here. But that's not why I love the movie.

The reason I love the movie is this : the characters. I've read other users comments regarding the lack of writing or character motivation, and there is validity to that. But hey, the selling point of the film wasn't an in-depth look at people, the selling point was watching Peter Fonda and Susan George ram their car into several other cars.

But I digress, what I love about the characters (and what I hate about the characters in most action movies today) is that they are totally unlikeable. They even hate each other. Fonda is a complete jerk to everyone. Susan George rhymes with rich and Rorke is weak and ineffectual. Hey, most the time the characters don't like each other. And it's my opinion that these characters are unlikeable by design. Think about it: when was the last time you went to the movies and the main characters were people you were suppose to dislike? Rare is it that modern filmmakers will take that chance, Even more impressive, somehow you end up routing for these people.

Bottom line, it's a good chase movie, with solid performances by two 70's icons in thier prime. If you manage to catch it, you'll probably have a good time.

with a little senseless fun? I love movies like this, where you don't have to think too hard and try and figure out what's going on, just sit back and enjoy!

i'd say this kicks Smokey & the Bandit's tail!

I saw it on DVD one hour ago, i really enjoy it as I did 40 years ago, these kind of movies are totally awesomes, nostalgics, I would never get tired to watch it again, it was a great rest time for me

Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) wants nothing more than to race pro for a living. He drives like a maniac but never can seem to get the doe needed for a car to get him into the majors. He and his mechanic Deke (Adam Roarke) hatch a harebrain scheme to kidnap a grocer's daughter (a cool cameo by Roddy McDowell) and hold her for ransom. Larry's rubber band girlfriend Mary (Susan George) tags along on the getaway and then things go south for them there. Vic Marrow is the down-home cop that won't rest until they are behind bars.

"DMCL" is not a horrible film by any means but for a film that passes itself off as a high octane road flick it sure slows up a lot. The actors keep the one liners flowing like wine and most of them are funny but horrendously bad and terribly dated. More stunts could have been helpful to offset things but in the end I was a bit disappointed. Some of it may very well be the fact that someone ruined the "twist" ending which would have been better if I had no prior knowledge. An OK but a bit below average for me.

There isn't a lot of plot to this movie.Larry & Deke rob a grocery store to further their racing careers.Along the way Mary a ditzy blonde (Susan George in a great performance)deals herself in. The police give chase led by Vic Morrow as a foul mouthed unconventional, pain in the arse officer.

Larry, Mary & Deke are morons.Their dialogue is a hoot as they probably have one brain between the three of them. There are the usual squabbles and expositions along the way.You can't help but like them even if they are cretinous.you want them to get away and speed off into the sunset.

This is a great chase film with the required car crashes to take your mind off of the plot holes and idiotic dialogue.Great twist ending!A very guilty pleasure!

I had very fond memories of DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY after seeing it many years ago . The ending is very memorable and featured in the title sequence of the popular Lee Majors show THE FALL GUY and every teenage boy can can remember a Susan George movie

I saw the movie again a few nights ago and I was very disappointed with it . The central plot of carrying out a heist is a sound one but doesn't seem very well developed and seems more of an excuse to kick start the movie into a road chase . I've always thought that if Peter Fonda had a birth name of Jones and was related to a bunch of factory workers then there would have been no way that he'd have become a movie star and seeing him in DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY does nothing to change my opinion . The role of Deke seems to have been written for Jack Nicholson therefore Adam Roarke does a very bad impression of Jack Nicholson while it's obvious that in many scenes Susan George's voice is dubbed which is very distracting . Yeah I know a lot of women will confirm that their husbands get distracted by an on screen appearance from Ms George but that's not what I meant

But perhaps the worst aspect to the movie is the dialogue which tries to be very clever and ends up being very unnatural and forced . Take this example :

" Every bone in her crotch . That's what I'm gonna break "

Does that sound witty or just plain silly ? I could have used countless other examples too

Mind you this movie did make a fairly large profit in relation to its production costs but it is rather obvious here that the road movie is a very self limiting genre and if you can't remember the 1970s you probably won't think much of DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY

Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) is an aspiring NASCAR driver, Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke) his mechanic. As they feel they collectively are the best, the only thing that is holding them back is money to build the best vehicle possible. As such, they decide to rob a supermarket's office of the money in its safe to pursue their dream.

Roddy McDowall appears in an uncredited cameo, presumably as a favor to director John Hough who had him starring the year before in "Legend of Hell House". (Indeed, Hough's career is largely built on horror films and this is a bit outside of the norm.) I expected this film to be a lot of fun, especially now that Quentin Tarantino has championed it and Shout Factory felt the need to give it a Blu-ray release. Indeed, it is fun, but I am not sure if it was everything I hoped it would be.

I saw this "film" the first time when I was a teenager, late at night, on broadcast television. Wow, wow, wow!! Susan George was the ideal older woman to a 70s-era kid: sun-bleached blonde, jiggling halter top, and loose! Peter Fonda was uber-cool, and we all aspired to his élan. The ending was an object lesson on the upper limit of "too cool", so we tempered our stride.

But then a funny thing happened. I grew older. I learned to appreciate dialogue in movies. I learned that "cool" doesn't pay bills, and that there's a lot of women whose entire net worth is bottled up inside their jiggling halter top.

I saw this again a few weeks ago on a satellite movie station, on a Sunday afternoon.

Teenagers are idiots. I can say this unequivocally because I liked this movie when I was a teenager. The only reason I'm grading this 4/10 is because I'm taking the average of my two ratings. It got 10 stars a few decades ago. Do the math.

I too watched DMCL again last month after a period of many years, and I have to say that I love it, even though it's truly crap. The dialogue's hackneyed, the plot's over-simplistic and filled with randomly-inserted chunks of juvenile self-indulgence and Susan George's performance tends to make me claw at my ears like a mangy dog but if, like me, you hate what the computer age has done to the car chase, you can't help but enjoy it.

The fact is, you've got a bright yellow '69 Charger at full pelt, outrunning a bunch of genuine Mopar pursuit cars and being rammed by a helicopter - filmed on a road, with a camera. What more do you want? In terms of real action, with no digital effects, speeded-up film or dodgy miniatures, it's up there with The Gumball Rally. And yes, the scene with Vic Morrow standing at that crossroads as the helicopter swoops down to meet him does have a certain resonance.

This film is pretty poor, make no mistake, but as an example of how cars were crashed in the good old days I reckon it should be in a museum...

I saw this when it came out in 74, I was 19, an appropriate age to best appreciate car chase movies. Also believe I saw it at a drive-in, best place for these flicks. It was a bit strange seeing Peter Fonda, going from the ultimate counter-culture drug hippie in "Easy Rider" to playing a NASCAR driver gone a bit bad, more of a working class hero. Fonda is likeable in the role, Adam Rourke is sympathetic as his mechanic and Susan George plays an obnoxious tramp pretty well. Plus nobody could play a rotten and evil cop as well as Vic Morrow did in this and few other movies. It's fun to catch every few years. And a good lesson at the end-always pay attention to railroad crossings!

Driver Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) and mechanic Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke) rob a grocery store by kidnapping the manager (Roddy McDowall)'s family. Larry's one night stand wildcat Mary Coombs (Susan George) pushes her way into the criminal duo.

This is a fine car chase movie. It's got the two prerequisites. It's got the big personalities and it's got the car stunts. Peter Fonda is a given. Susan George has the unpredictability of her character. There is real instability within the volatile chemistry. The action starts with what is probably a mistake in the stunt. The windshield took a real hit as the car slams into oncoming traffic. It's always shocking when unexpected danger comes out of the screen. This is not necessarily a high class affair but it has some fun stunts and charismatic actors.

Although not being born until the tail-end of the 1970s, I none-the-less consider it "my" decade. I love all the great films to have come from the era, particularly those many "Good Ol' Boy" chase movies. My favourite of which is probably 'Smokey And The Bandit' - okay, it's maybe not got the strongest of plots, but it's brought to life by Burt Reynolds and a likeable cast. Which is probably one of the reasons that I took a little time to warm to 'Dirty Mary Crazy Larry'.

The premise and characters for this movie are good ones, for the simplistic genre at which they're aimed. But I found it took me quite a while to really warm to any of the characters, and felt that if one thing the film did suffer from, it was a little mis-casting here and there.

Peter Fonda's Crazy Larry SHOULD be an interesting character. A sort of deranged would-be race-car driver. Sadly, while Fonda is a more than credible actor, he doesn't quite pull it of for most of the film. His Crazy Larry to me didn't quite seem crazy enough. In a number of places he actually felt to be routinely trotting off the lines, and not really giving that much thought to the actual character and the things that (excuse the pun) would drive him. The character needed to be more unpredictable, more hell-bent on what he's doing. Well, I suppose all of those things WERE there in his character, just not all that convincingly.

I probably found the hardest character to, well. to LIKE, was Susan George as Mary. A terrific actress given the right material, but something about her character really didn't work for much of this movie. Actually, maybe I'm being a little fair - I'm not so sure that it was less George's fault, more just the way here character is written. It's great that the character isn't written as some super-babe, she's basically trailer trash, but even so... it took some effort from me to even get used to her. Technically, both Larry and Mary as characters should have been great; Sadly, it was quite late on into the film before I really started to care about either of them.

Adam Roarke's character, mechanic Deke, is possibly the best of the trio brought to life on-screen, as he came across as a little more 3-dimensional. It's a shame that he doesn't really get as much change to shine as he could have done.

The only other character that I can say I did particularly like was Vic Morrow as moody law-man Everett Franklin, sticking a finger up to proper Police procedures and determined to catch the unknown robbers at any cost.

I think that one of the main reasons it took me some time to really get into this film was down to the actual reasoning behind the robbery in the first place. In movies such as (sorry to have to use it as an example again) 'Smokey And The Bandit', the Bandit has a REASON for doing what he's doing. He's a folk hero, he's always got a twinkle in his eye and never seriously hurts anybody. Now I'm not saying that all anti-heroes in this type of film should be all very heroic and with 'justifiable' reasons for their actions, but one of the reasons I found it hard to warm to any of the three leads in this movie, was that - unless I missed something - there was no real reason why Larry and co. did what they did. Sure, they wanted the money, which is reasonable enough in any chase movie, but why pick the store-owner that they did? If the store-owner was portrayed as more obnoxious, or if he'd somehow previously aggravated Larry in some way, it would have felt much better. Then we'd have more reason to cheer the anti-heroes of the picture on as they raced on their way.

But wait... reading all that, you might thing I'm over-criticising; that I think it's a BAD movie. No no, not in the least.

Well, one of the many things I DID like about it was the '69 Dodge Charger. Belovedly identified to myself and a whole generation as being the 'General Lee', from the cult (and, for the simplistic silliness that it was, much underrated) series 'The Dukes Of Hazzard'. Actually, when I heard that there was a Dodger in this film when it was coming up on TV, it was one of the main things that pulled me in! The '69 Charger, what a classic car. I'm no car expert in the least, but you don't have to be an expert on something just to know when it LOOKS good. Just to look at it, those cars have character, and you know they can really shift even without hearing the engine roar.

In fact, I'd say that the film pretty much picks up as soon as they acquire the Dodge. Not for the car itself (don't get me wrong - I'm hardly a car fanatic), it's just from about that point that the story really starts settling down, as do the characters.

One of the strong points of this film is that it's filmed very well, in fact, I have to say, show much better than the great majority of it's similar counterparts ('Smokey And The Bandit' et al). The natural scenery is used to great effect, really giving the feeling of racing along all those dirt roads. There are many fantastic shots, including numerous sequences shot from a following film car of the Dodger (and the Chevy before it) tearing along the roads, and the several shots at the cross-roads where the Police hope to entrap the trio. Many critics say that we only watch movies like this for the big car chases and crashes, and, let's face it, that IS the big pull, but it being well-shot, making good use of the natural countryside such as in this movie really helps bring things to life.

But shots of the cars racing along, and particularly in the terrific helicopter sequence towards the end, now THEY'RE well done. I'd go as far as to say they're definitely amongst the best I've seen in any film of the era that falls into this genre.

For all that I've slated the actors / characters above, it must be said that none of them are outstandingly bad - far, FAR worse acting has been seen on the screen in many other films. As the film went on, I did find myself warming to the anti-heroes a little bit more. There's a good scene between Mary and Deke where, while Larry is fixing the damaged Charger, they sit down and talk about their circumstances. Now I'm not really one for deep "character development" (not in such a simplistic genre), but I found that it did help me identify and care about the characters just a little bit more. It's just a shame that this scene is used so late on in the story - it could have been used to much better effect earlier in the film, when we were still trying to actually care about any of them.

And the ending. What a great ending. Without giving too much away. it's totally unexpected, really packs a punch, and actually finishes the story off very well.

So, to summarise, while I wouldn't class it amongst the very best of the many 70s redneck chase movies, and it does suffer from some poor casting, if you like this style of film and have seen it's better counterparts, then you can do far worse than look here for some late-night escapism.

The excellently shot chase sequences (and the terrific ending) defiantly make up for the shakier bits earlier on.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry isn't a deep film. You aren't going to learn a lot about people watching this. The dialog is sophomoric and simple and the first 30 minutes tend to crawl. However, as the film progress' there is an anticipation, a desire to see it to the end.

In my opinion the film wouldn't be much if it hadn't been for Susan George. By her own admission one doesn't have to dig too deep to perform in this role but she gave it all she had and she did indeed dig deep to fill out her character to the fullest. And it shows. And she's robust enough to handle anything Peter Fonda could dish out while driving on these open roads.

The interesting fact is that the film is directed a British man who captured the American heartland perfectly. The film is beautifully shot and the abrupt ending will leave you stunned and speechless, sitting in your seat staring at the screen.

Nothing profound here but it was good to see this again after so many years.

Dirty Mary/ Crazy Larry is not great cinema, so why do I rate it a 10? In a word, History, Never before, or since has there been a movie which consisted almost entirely of a car chase, The dialog may be a bit silly in places, and the plot may seem weak even though the concept is quite interesting, but, the fun factor,(although morbid at times) is high. The characters though, are real, By the movies shocking conclusion, I feel like I actually know them, every time I watch it. I Saw this movie when I was five years old, perhaps a bit to young, but it sparked my love of fast cars and action movies. Some may say Bullit is the greatest car chase on film, but in my opinion, Nothing even came close to Dirty Mary/Crazy Larry!

This is one of my favorites but mostly cuz I am from this area of filming and it fun to see how it looked back then. That said, acting is terrible and the dialog is just as bad. Stupid quips and fake laughing. Ugg. Still a must watch.

This is an excellent, fun, fast moving cops 'n robbers car chase movie. Susan George is great (she's done a few car chases hasn't she, I'm thinking Eyewitness?) I do wonder why she hasn't done too many movies. Adam Roarke is good too as Peter Fonda's sidekick.

If you like fast cars and surprise endings, this is a good movie to watch. The surprise ending to this is so unexpected, nobody could've seen it coming. the most surprisingest surprise ending.

i give this movie 10 out of 10

Larry (Peter Fonda) is a wannabee Nascar driver, he has the potential but not the finance to get in to it professionally, along with his friend and mechanic Deke Sommers, they decide the only way to get the money is to steal it, their plan to rob a large convenience store on pay day, is worked out to the Nth degree but they hadn't counted on Mary,(Susan George) Larry's one night stand from the previous night getting involved, her presence changes their fate and thus begins a high speed chase across the state. British Horror maestro John Hough, was perhaps a strange choice for this all American film, but you'd never know as he succeeds in being faithful to its roots. Low budget it might be, but all the stunts are real, and this adds a wonderful realistic energy to proceedings, the pace never lets up, it's a film of its time that puts dreck like Death Proof to shame, its high octane agenda doesn't however for one moment ignore character development, we get to know the three main characters very well in such a short space of time that we do actually care what happens to them, their ultimate fate providing the ultimate irony.Fans of Vanishing Point and Race with the Devil should love this equally.

The Dialog of this movie is so Bad.....It will drop your IQ 100 points if you watch it.........!!

The best line on the movie is the Helicopter Pilot's......... when the Sheriff asked him "Why didn't you Fill Up the Chopper..?" He says ..."You told me to drop everything and come immediately!" Perhaps it should be watched with the Sound Off as a Protection of Yourself.

I gave it 2 stars for the sexy Susan George; but she is wasted in this film.

The film would be better if she got involved with both of the guys at different times in the action......But no...we don't even get that.....!