Movie Review: Fireball 500 (1966)
Synopsis: Up-and-coming stock car driver Dave Owens travels from California to South Carolina and establishes himself by beating the local hero, Leander Fox, for the first time. The wealthy and beautiful Martha Bryan tricks Dave into smuggling moonshine for her and while he doesn't want to make a career of it, is forced to do so by two revenuers who will send him to prison if he doesn't gather information for them.
When he is run off the road during one of his runs, Dave suspects Leander as being the person behind it, adding to their racing rivalry, even as Leander offers to partner with him to find the culprit.
Who's in it? The movie stars Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Annette Funicello, Chill Wills, Julie Parrish and Harvey Lembeck.
Review: I've had Fireball 500 in my library for a while and finally decided to watch it this morning. It wasn't quite what I was expecting based on who starred in it but that was something that actually worked in its favor.
The movie has a couple things going for it. For one, I liked how the film tied in stock car racing with its moonshining roots, with a bit of a modern twist. This led to added excitement, both from the crash-filled racing scenes and the excitement of Dave (Avalon) risking his life smuggling illegal alcohol along mountain roads at night.
The mystery surrounding who was running the moonshiners off the road was equally as interesting. I never believed for a second it was Leander (Fabian) but there were plenty of suspects. This included Martha (Parrish) because I couldn't tell if she had genuine feelings for Dave or if she was really the main villain and just seducing him to keep him under control.
I was also suspicious of the two revenuers (Douglas Henderson and Baynes Barron) because they just seemed like fakes to me. That, and their deal with Dave didn't make a whole lot of sense - why have him continue to smuggle moonshine when he could just as easily lead them to the supplier, Charlie (Lembeck) and be done with it.
While the movie is a musical, the songs are kept to a minimum and done in a way that still allows the plot to advance. I appreciated this compared to other musicals that get bogged down with song and dance numbers and seem longer as a result. I also liked how the songs didn't attempt to make the film too upbeat when the drama was working so well - though I can't say the same about the various "butt" shots of the female extras that were scattered throughout (someone had a fetish).
My only real complaint about the movie (butt shots aside) is Annette Funicello's character, Jane, really didn't bring much plot-wise. At first, I thought maybe there would be a love triangle angle but that got shot down when Dave and Martha became a couple and she instead was mostly just a love interest for Leander that gets to sing once, get jealous of other girls and decide if she wants to be with him. I would have loved to see her do more than that.
Final Opinion: The fact it was classified as a musical had me a bit worried, but it turned out to be a solid racing drama with a good mystery and believable rivalry. I'm glad I finally watched it.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies with auto racing:
Movie Review: Death Race (2008)
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