DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY

US, 1974, 92 minutes, Colour.
Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Kenneth Toby, Roddy Mc Dowell.
Directed by John Hough.

It will be interesting to look at this film in 10 years time and compare the use and status of the car then and now. and its presentation in films. While this is a robbery and chase film, the robbery sequences well done, the chase is the most important aspect. There is speed, pursuit, collisions, crashes and man driving his favourite machine to the utmost. But the film calls the man driving it Crazy Larry and the girl who goes along for the ride, Dirty Mary. Their escapades are portrayed with zest but with final irony. Vic Morrow and Roddy Mc Dowell support Peter Fonda and Susan George in an oddly fascinating film.

1. Was this a successful action film. and thriller? For what audience primarily was it made? What audience would it appeal to? How violent a film was it? There were no deaths except at the end and very little blood, even though many crashes.

2. How well did the film stand up as a robbery and chase? Its use of the conventions of the genre? As a crime film and its use of cars? Was this most of the appeal for the audience? Or were there better values and exploration of character?

3. What was the basic point of the film? Ultimately their lives were pointless? They achieved nothing except the adventure. Was the pointlessness of the escapade the point of the film?

4. Could the audience identify with Larry? How crazy was he? The explanation of his background as a driver and his recklessness? His playing games with cars during the film? His relationship with Deke and his dependence on him? His spending the night with Mary? His taking her along? The purpose of the robbery and his criminal intentions? His cool handling of the robbery and the bank manager? The importance of the chase for the film and its affect on him? The changing interactions between himself and Mary and Deke? Admiration for his skill and driving ability? His exhibitionism? Was he a hero and did he elicit audience sympathy? Was he typical of the aimless young man of modern times?

5. What was the meaning of Dirty Mary? Her parole background and her life for kicks? Her relationship with Larry? Her deciding to go along for the ride? Her change of mind? what was her response to Larry? Why did she help him? What did she want from him? Her relationship to Deke and trying to understand what was going on? Her role in the escape and her use of the microphone for directing the police? Could audiences sympathise with her?

6. How did Deke contrast with Larry? Our first impressions of his tenseness and his role in the robbery? The background of his drinking and his needing to make up to Larry? The fact that he was dependent and always a second? His mechanical skill and his role in the robbery? The effect of the robbery and the chase on him? His response to Larry, his response to Mary?

7. How effective was the filming of the robbery? How real did it seem in ordinary life? The threatening of wife and child? The threatening of the manager and his fears? The action of the assistant? The role of the record?

8. What was being said about American police in this film? Their skill in detection and chase? The limitations of organization? The limitations of the cars? The interaction between Franklin and Donaghue? Franklin's intensity in finding the criminals? The helicopter scenes and their impact? Donahue and the road blocks? The ineffectiveness of the road blocks? The souped-up car and the policeman and his attitudes? How interesting for the audience was the eluding of the police by the criminals?

9. What insight into the policeman's job was given by Franklin and his intensity? His obsession with catching the criminals?

10. How important was the filming of the car chases and the police cars and the criminals? Why do audiences respond so vividly to cars?

11. The irony of the ending? Franklin's victory in tricking the criminals by his radio messages? The criminals tricking Franklin by their realisation and their escape? The dramatic impact of the ending and the meaning of its futility?

12. What was the basic meaning of this escapade - about peoples' lives, exist~ ance and thrills today, sudden endings and death? Futility?

13. How interesting was the film just as a narrative? How interesting was the message communicated solely by narrative rather than by explicit preaching?