Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on June 21, 2005, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Those who believe that the toning down of theatrical horror films to achieve softer ratings is only a recent phenomenon should take note of the sacrifice scene that jumpstarts the plot of 1975’s Race With the Devil. The victim is a nude woman whose naughty bits are fogged out, an obscuration that helped the movie win a PG 30 years ago. It’s interesting to see this kind of reticence in a genre film from the ’70s, and particularly in Race, in which nudity is pretty much the only exploitation ingredient not present. You’ve got your Satanist horror, you’ve got your nasty rednecks, you’ve got your nature-amok setpiece (a rattlesnake attack), you’ve got your gratuitous motorcycle-riding scenes that allow star Peter Fonda to get on a hog again.
And most of all, you’ve got your car chases. The 70 minutes of buildup—in which Fonda, Warren Oates and their wives Lara Parker and Loretta Swit are stalked across the Southwest by devil worshippers whose rite they’ve witnessed—leads to a final reel packed with some of the best car-stunt work of the drive-in era. The late director Jack Starrett demonstrates a nice touch with unease in that first hour or so, milking the desolate Texas locations and an assortment of threatening-looking bit players (including Paul A. Partain, Texas Chainsaw’s Franklin) for all they’re worth. But he really shows his chops when the bad guys take off after the protagonists’ motor home in an assortment of vehicles, and Fonda proves his own mettle by climbing atop the speeding RV—no stunt doubles here—in an attempt to take them out. Anyone tired of today’s reliance on CGI-created artifice should check out Race to see how much more exciting old-school auto action can be.
Next to the soon-to-arrive release of Freaked (and running a very close second), Race With the Devil stands as Anchor Bay’s most welcome raiding of the 20th Century Fox vaults. The 1.85:1 transfer is very sharp and detailed, with fine naturalistic colors in the attractive locations offsetting the horror, and moody blacks when night falls. The sound is mono, but delivers the appropriate punch in the many moments of mayhem. This may have been a “program picture,” as producer Paul Maslansky refers to it on the DVD’s audio commentary, but this presentation is a tribute to the hard work that, as Maslansky notes more than once, everyone involved put into it.
Maslansky shares the commentary with Parker and moderator Perry Martin, who does a good job guiding the talk while allowing the producer and actress the bulk of the speaking time. Maslansky’s recollections are largely nuts-and-bolts—from his taking over of the initially troubled production and tsuris with the Teamsters to details of how the many driving scenes were shot—but his comments are never dry and are shot through with moments of good humor. He also reveals that—once again presaging today’s cinematic climate—the studio had already set a release date while the film was in production, and that he scheduled a few key scenes early in the shoot so the suits would have exciting dailies to look at. Parker shares a number of choice, entertaining anecdotes of her own, most notably an encounter between Swit and a literally pushy fan and memories of working with Fonda and Oates, old friends whose ad-libbing threw her off at first.
Fonda himself appears in an interview featurette titled Hell on Wheels, a good amount of which is devoted to his personal and professional relationship with Oates (complete with clips from their two previous collaborations, The Hired Hand and 92 in the Shade). While he avoids disparaging Race, he emphasizes that he took the movie mostly for the paycheck (and promise of a healthy back-end) and to reteam and have fun with his co-star. Starrett and Oates may not be alive today to have participated in this DVD, but the enthusiastic reminiscences about the two in the commentary and featurette give them a presence here nonetheless. The disc also includes a trailer and radio spots, a poster/promo gallery (love the first British quad!) and a great selection of black-and-white behind-the-scenes photos, which document both the production’s most harrowing moments (the stunt setpieces) and its lighter ones (the aftermath of a pie and water-balloon fight at the shoot’s end).
