Desafiando a Morte

One of producer / director Roger Cormans' exploitation-subculture flicks, "The Young Racers" is intended to take a look at the lives and personalities of those who make their living racing cars. Mark Damon plays Steve Children, a former racer turned writer who learns that champion driver Joe Machin (William Campbell) has used and discarded Steves' fiancee Monique (Beatrice Altariba). Aiming to get back at Joe (a flamboyantly arrogant, cocky type) somehow, Steve works his way into Joes' life, pretending that he's penning a novel and needs inspiration. But as time goes by, he learns more about Joe, realizing that this man who's come off as such a conceited pig is actually more sensitive and troubled than it appears.

Although there is some fairly intense, well-edited, and exciting racing action, "The Young Racers" is one of those racing dramas that spends more time off the track. It functions more as a character study. As written by Campbells' younger brother / fellow actor Robert (R. Wright) Campbell, it includes some good and interesting insight, if perhaps some overly grandiose dialogue. The main reason to watch "The Young Racers" is to watch an engaging cast fill out these roles. Damon (who's actually looped by none other than Bill Shatner!) and Campbell do a fine job, receiving strong support from a very attractive bunch of actresses. Luana Anders is front and centre as Steves' loyal secretary Henny, while Marie Versini makes the most of a compelling role as Joes' equally loyal wife Sesia. The great Patrick Magee pops up in the final quarter of the film to play a pivotal role.

As was often the case with Corman films, he paces it well enough so that it clocks in at roughly 80 minutes or so (although in his case it was always an economical decision). It's good entertainment with a jazzy score by Les Baxter, the prolific composer who contributed to a large number of A.I.P. exploitation features.

Among the technical crew: Francis Ford Coppola as the sound man, Menahem Golan as the property master, and longtime Corman colleague Charles Griffith as the assistant director.

Seven out of 10.

Early 1960's newfangled, fast, agile, sleek, clean-lined, independent suspension formula one racers streak across the screen in glorious color. High-pitched, hi-revving engines scream DANGER HERE! This film delivers the typical 1960s male adolescent fantasy desire for a fast beautiful car, fast high-living, and the same kind of woman. At film's beginning, the characters are presented as mere stereotypes. In movie westerns, William Campbell was often typecast as a somewhat erratic bad guy, and in this movie he starts off in type as a bad guy 20th century playboy driver. He is egotistical, ruthless, detestable, married to a beautiful woman but still enjoys controlling, using, then callously discarding woman after woman (as he says, "the kind I get"). Mark Damon plays a writer who is also a driver and fiancée of one of the discards. But Damon's revenge is complicated by a growing friendship with Campbell as they compete on the racing circuit. Without being too obscure or complicated, the movie allows the excitement, danger, conflict, and searing emotions to cut thru the drivers' facades and expose their inner drives and fears, like a Bowie knife can carve up a tin of Boston baked beans. The characters become more than and different from what we thought. We increasingly understand and sympathize with the "bad" guy as he struggles with his fears and tries to become his better self. The plot climaxes, then accelerates promptly to a plausible resolution that leaves you with a good feeling. Enough fast action for any classic auto fan. Enough human element to get past the action into hearts and minds of the drivers "and the women who love them" (sorry, could not avoid inserting that cliché). Fans wanting more dwelltime should see James Garner's thrilling 1966 film "Gran Prix."

In this Roger Corman's movie we follow the tribulations and various romantic entanglements of Joe Machin ( you see, at first, he is cold-hearted , like a Machine ) but really the whole story is just an excuse to take the viewer through a nice tour of Europe ( or for the production team to take a vacation…). When the characters are not driving their F1s they do the cheapest thing a director can fill a movie with : talk, talk and talk some more. I guess Corman wanted The Young Racers to be classified as a full length movie so he had to fill it with something but I guarantee you that as soon as the 80 minutes are done with you will forget all the blah blah in a few heartbeats. In the first part of the film you can see a nice selection of vintage 60's bikinis. That's a plus ! And you can witness some typical 60's drinking and driving…with champagne no less ! Also, I think our friend Roger didn't want to bother with a boom operator in the busy streets of Europe so I guess the sound man FF Coppola hadn't much to do in the actual shooting of the film but what a nice goatee on his young face !

On IMDb, an average film actually has a rating of about 6.0-6.5, this this movie's current 3.5 would seem to indicate that it's a terrible film. However, I was surprised that aside from some poor writing here and there, the film was easy to watch and surprisingly good considering its minuscule budget.

Let's talk about budget for a moment. Despite having a budget of about $150,000 and coming from the king of cheapies, Roger Corman, you'd think it would look bad--like his earlier low-budget films "Wasp Women" and "The Last Woman on Earth". But, the film crew clearly spent money in particular places. First, the film is made in color--really nice looking color on the DVD. Second, the movie was filmed in several locations throughout Europe. And, finally, they used Formula One cars and instead of using the usual stock clips, they filmed the drivers very, very realistically. Clearly the movie looks great.

When it came to budget, you can soon see that one way they cut costs was by using no-name actors. William Campbell is a face you might recognize if you are a Trekkie, as he played a couple prominent guest spots in the original series (The Squire of Gothos and a Klingon captain). Handsome, yes....but also a rather obscure actor--particularly when this film was made. The other lead is Mark Damon--and it really threw me when he entered the movie. Why? Well, because evidently someone hated his voice and all his dialog was dubbed by William Shatner! So, once again, for Trek fans, this is an interesting film.

Another way they cut back was on the writing. While the script had bright moments, it also had a decent number of clichés and was far from brilliant. Heck, with a few revisions, the movie could have really been very good. As is, the racing scenes are mostly great (except for the scene where Damon rolls out of his car--it was badly done), the actors competent and the locales lovely. I did not love this film but liked it and see it as a great example of getting a lot of bang for the buck. Too bad later films like "Le Mans" and "Grand Prix" had the big-name stars and polish--they clearly overwhelm what is still a pretty decent film.

Maybe it was because that day I had gotten my first COVID-19 shot. Maybe it was because I was tired. But, I found this movie quite boring. What you never get with a Roger Corman movie is boredom, but unfortunately that is exactly what I was swallowed into about 5-10 minutes into the film.

Stephen Children (Mark Damon) wants to write a book about hot shot race driver Joe Machin (William Campbell) to expose him for the horrible person that he is. Yet he is drawn to him and begins to befriend him.

I found the film super talky, but the racing scenes were interesting. In the end though this oldie might be one worth missing. Does also star Patrick Magee and Francis Ford Coppola did 2nd unit directing and sound.