User reviews

You sort of have to like these Hal Needham/Reynolds movies to like this.

The plot is weak. The dialog is mildly amusing. I found the whole chicken sponsor thing pretty funny though.

Loni Anderson fans might enjoy her ridiculous role as the naive PR person for the chicken chain

There's cleavage shown from time to time which some will appreciate

I have read the book, and the movie is quite different than the book. The book is a series of stories, possibly tall tales, loosely based on the experiences of the writers in racing. It's mostly about sex, heavy drinking and wrecking/racing cars. I enjoyed it a lot. The book is better than the movie IMO

I think Nabors and Reynolds have some funny interactions.

Auto racing is rather limited, probably due to cost. But you do get to see some vintage cars and racing footage

Just remember this is a silly pointless movie, in the spirit of movies like Smokey and the Bandit and maybe you will enjoy it like I do

Stroker Ace (Burt Reynolds) grew up with moonshining Seegles being chased by the cops in the backwoods. He is a reckless arrogant womanizing three-time NASCAR champ. Aubrey James (Parker Stevenson) is his ambitious young rival. Lugs (Jim Nabors) is his crew chief. He is taken with virginal Pembrook Feeney (Loni Anderson). She's Clyde Torkle (Ned Beatty)'s new employee. When Stroker loses his sponsor, he signs up with untrustworthy Fried Chicken king Torkle as The Fastest Chicken in the South. He grows to hate his contract and tries to get out of it.

This is Burt Reynolds at his most Burt Reynolds. As a kid, I didn't really mind the bad writing and didn't get some of the jokes. It wasn't my favorite racing movie but I didn't know the critical panning this received. I love Cannonball Run and I knew this is inferior. Watching it again recently gave me a few more problems. Loni is a big robotic problem. Her innocent act does not work. The writing is not that funny either. It's just a lot of camp from the cast. I don't actually hate this but it's not good.

NASCAR driver Burt Reynolds signs a contract with Ned Beatty to drive his car and hates it. He also courts nice girl Loni Anderson and has an on-track rivalry with Parker Stevenson.

Burt Reynolds was a fine actor, but you'd never know it from his career choices. He passed on the Jack Nicholson role in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT because he had a handshake agreement with director Hal Needham to make this; it seems it didn't occur to him to ask Needham to wait. Instead he made this lazy movie, with no dramatic tension and no energy in the comedy bits. It looks like Needham assembled all his friends, made a movie, and cut in some race-track sequences, with no one putting in much effort to learn their lines. If you want to see Reynolds in a chicken suit, or Loni Anderson lying on a bed in her clothes, her eyes shut, and looking like a Barbie doll, this is the movie for you. Not for me.

Ever notice how in his later movies Burt Reynolds' laugh sounds like screeching brakes?

Must have been hanging out with Hal Needham too much.

And from the looks of "Stroker Ace", WAY too much.

Can you believe this was based on a book? Neither could I, but it was. And probably not a best-seller, I'll wager.

Burt's another good-old-boy in the NASCAR circuit who hitches up with Beatty as a fried chicken magnate with designs on his team. Anderson provides what love interest there is and Nabors does his umpteenth Gomer Pyle impression as faithful mechanic/best friend Lugs.

A lot of people here are friends of Burt's or Hal's. Others must have needed the work. And even real NASCAR drivers get in on the act, and look to have more talent than those with SAG cards.

As far as laughs go, Bubba Smith (pre-"Police Academy") gets them as Beatty's chauffeur. And Petersen, in full Elvira mode, gets lots of appreciative leers as a lady who wants to get to know Lugs real well. REAL WELL.

It's a shame that Burt threw away as much time and effort in a film like "Stroker Ace" where it didn't matter whether he bothered to act or not. They didn't bother to write a character for him, why bother to act?

Two stars. Mostly for Petersen, and for the out-takes at the end. Now THEY'RE funny.

Normally I find myself defending Burt Reynolds' supposed lesser works but in this case I have to agree with the majority that this one's the pits. I want to like it much like I love the Cannonball Run and Smokey movies but this just isn't very funny. Jim Nabors has no comedic chemistry with Burt. Every line he utters I'm kind of annoyed. He actually makes me miss Dom Deluise which I never thought I'd say. Loni Anderson looks nice but brings nothing else to the table. I enjoyed her on WKRP so I know she's capable of better with a decent script. Ned Beatty is doing his best Charles Durning and failing miserably. As for Burt he's sleepwalking through this role, which he reportedly only took as a favor to director and friend Hal Needham. If true that he turned down Terms of Endearment for this then wow George Raft is no longer the actor with the worst decision-making skills in Hollywood history. If you like Burt's other 80s comedies then give it a shot but be warned it's not as much fun.

For racing movie fans, "Stroker Ace" is hard to beat. It's definitely better than Driven and far less effective than Days of Thunder. It offers a comical, honest view of the sport through the life of Stroker Ace, who has secured a ride from a novice car owner intent on leveraging every ounce of Stroker's fame to sell chicken. It's the only race film to cover sponsorship honestly. Few know, Burt Reynolds was a stunt man before making it as an actor. He has always had an affinity for stunt men and this is homage to these icons that entertain us at grave risk to themselves. Hooper is a stunt packed film that is entirely over-the-top in scope from Westerns to bar brawls to cars, you've never seen all of this in one flick. It's a solid movie after all.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Burt Reynolds goes through the motions as an absurdly-named stock car driver in this dull, deeply unfunny 'comedy' directed by long-time buddy Hal Needham. Nonsensical plot concerns Reynold's efforts to get out of a sponsorship contract (what, he doesn't want to be on a competitive team?) while trying to woo Loni Anderson's PR flack/Sunday school teacher, over the course of a seemingly endless racing season.

Big hair, cornpone accents and superficial performances abound, with particularly annoying turns from Jim Nabors (as Reynolds' crew chief) and Ned Beatty (as a fried chicken magnate). Only potential points of interest are the period racing scenes (including some of the top NASCAR drivers), and the vast cleavage displayed in the few female roles: Anderson, Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, Debbie Casperson and the legendary Linda Vaughn.

I was one of quite a few extras in this big bomb. I just happened to be in the right place working safety for the race scenes at A.I.R. as it was know as back then.Thank goodness my scene in in the first few minutes of the movie and I don't have to sit through the whole thing. It was more of a big party than a movie set but hey, the pay was good.Attention to detail was not a strong point for this one, but who was going to know.The funny thing was seeing the cars in the track at the really slow speed and then in the movie speeded up to the what was close to normal speed.A lot of the scenes were changed as they were filmed I suppose to shave cost and time.But every one was having such a good time who cared!

When Bewitched was running on television half of the plots involved Darrin's job where he and Larry Tate every week contended with yet another egotistical company president. The plot of Stroker Ace hearkens back to those days of Bewitched and it has Burt Reynolds as a NASCAR driver doing everything possible to get out from under a contract with a sponsor who's a blithering idiot.

Although Burt certainly gets in his innings in Stroker Ace, especially seeing him in a chicken suit and driving his car in a race in one, the best one in Stroker Ace by far is Ned Beatty. Beatty got an Academy Award nomination for playing the all powerful, malevolent media mogul in Network. Here he takes the same character and plays it for laughs and he's absolutely hysterical. Beatty owns a fried chicken company and he could easily have been one of McMahon&Tate's clients from Bewitched.

If outrageous overacting lead by Ned Beatty isn't reason enough to watch Stroker Ace, than certainly the curvaceous Loni Anderson should do. Loni is giving out with her best Marilyn Monroe imitation as Beatty's advertising person who thinks that what Beatty is asking of Reynolds is tasteless and stupid. Of course she falls for Burt on the screen and in real life.

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I don't think you have to be to watch Stroker Ace and enjoy it. I have however become a fan of the Professional Bull Riders in recent years and they have their sponsors set up in a similar fashion as does NASCAR for its various drivers. I don't think the PBR has any sponsors as outrageous as Ned Beatty. If this film was about the PBR I can just see Beatty insisting to Guilherme Marchi that he ride a bull in a chicken suit or something equally bizarre.

The film got bad reviews and I can't see why. It's not sophisticated comedy to be sure, but it's not all that bad. And Ned Beatty alone is worth seeing and appreciating Stroker Ace.

You got your black limo driver.

You got Loni Anderson being objectified.

You got Loni Anderson giving Burt Reynolds credit for resisting giving her the business while she was passed-out on the hotel bed.

You got the good ol' boy barfights.

You got the NASCAR race at Charlotte featuring Confederate flags and the playing of ''Dixie."

Other nice tidbits from a bygone era include pit crews whose entire safety gear consists of feathered bangs. Burt pulling into pit row and gargling bourbon. Parker Stevenson wearing science-glass lab goggles. Loni Anderson's magnificent bouffant.Glorifying horrific crashes. And a completely unfunny Burt Reynolds comedy.

Just rent Will Ferrell's Talladega Nights instead.

from the view of a NASCAR Maniac like I am, the movie is interesting. You can see many race cars from 1983. Even tough, the racing scenes are not that much realistic. But I have to admit, that I haven't seen any race before 1995, because before that time, they didn't show any NASCAR races in Germany)

from the view of a Burt Reynolds fan like I am, the movie basically is what we are used to see from Reynolds in the 80's: Burt behind the wheel of a fast car, like in his Bandit Movies.

If you love NASCAR and Burt Reynolds, this movie is a must-see. If you only love one of this 2 things, I also recommend to watch it. If you like neither NASCAR nor Burt Reynolds, you still should give it a chance, but remember, this movie was far away from winning an Oscar Academy Award.

It is the typical humor of the 80's. If you like movies like the Cannonball Movies, and Police Academy, you will also like that one.

This is a hilarious film. Burt Reynolds is a NASCAR star who signs a sponsorship contract with Ned Beatty's Chicken Pit restaurants. The contract has all sorts of humiliating clauses in it, such as forcing Burt to wear a chicken suit during the race! Jim Nabors is his (not quite convincing) chief mechanic. Loni Anderson (oh, yeah!) is assigned by Beatty to keep Reynolds honest and strictly adhering to the contract. This is a funny film in which Burt proves that he ain't too proud. I like it!

Burt Reynolds came to a point in his career where he appeared to just be going thru the motions. He'd show up, party with his friends on film, and take home a big paycheck. It didn't seem to matter to him that the product he was representing was pure crap.

No film epitomized this more than "Stroker Ace" which makes "Cannonball Run" look like a classic and "Cannonball Run II" look watchable. Save for a few race scenes there is absolutely NOTHING worth seeing here. Even the beautiful Loni Anderson hams it up so bad as a dumb blonde it's embarrassing.

If the thought of Burt hamming it up with Jim Nabors and dressing like a chicken sounds funny then this is your movie. Otherwise pick almost any other film comedy and it won't be any worse.

Stroker Ace,a film directed by Hal Needham (the same director of such souped-up hits,like Smokey and The Bandit and Hooper),is a real surprise for the audience!it offers a lot of fun and laughs,all of this accomplished by dangerous and incredible scenes of action,which make Speed look like a boring movie!the character was made for Burt Reynolds,and combines with his own personality and way of interpretation!it's a nice movie,that everybody should discover,specially because it symbolizes a time when what really counted in the box-offices was the protagonist's charisma,and not stupid special effects!good times,when Burt was the best...and this time is going to be back!

It occurs to me that some of the films that have been banned during the course of cinema history were actually very important and very good films. I'd like to argue that instead of banning challenging, controversial movies the censors should consider banning films that are so bad that they pose a threat to your IQ and your sanity. If they were to do so one of the first films to be quickly hidden away would undoubtedly be "Stroker Ace". This film is awful with a capital 'A'. It is the worst film Burt Reynolds ever starred in.... quite a feat for for a man with "Cannonball Run II", "Cop And A Half" and "Rent-A-Cop" on his CV!

The wafer-thin story introduces us to successful stock car racer Stroker Ace (Reynolds), a man who loves fast cars and fast women. He gets stuck in a demeaning contract with crooked promoter Clyde Torkle (Ned Beatty). The contract requires him to do some humiliating promotional work for a new chain of fast food restaurants, such as dressing up as a giant chicken. Thrown into the mix are Lugs (Jim Nabors), Ace's dim-witted pal, and Pembrook Feeney (Loni Anderson), a bimbo with a brain fractionally smaller than a pea who is wooed by Ace.

Hal Needham, the director of this low-grade garbage, was formerly a stuntman and he made numerous films that relied on his expertise in staging spectacular stunts and car chases/races. Some of these films were OK, like "Hooper" and "Stunts Unlimited", but with "Stroker Ace" he reaches a career nadir. The characters are so stupid that you actually feel pity for the actors playing them. Anderson especially is saddled with such a dumb role that it makes you grind your teeth with despair. The humour is weak and infantile throughout, and the stunts and race sequences are unremarkable. Even the out-takes during the closing credits (which can be found in all the Reynolds-Needham collaborations) are generally unfunny, which gives the impression that maybe the film wasn't much fun to make. "Stroker Ace" is a stinker of considerable magnitude.

Unfortunately, there was no turning back for Burt Reynolds and his buddy writer/director Hal Needham after "Stroker Ace". "Stroker Ace" is not as bad as its reputation. It does have some funny moments and there is a good story in there somewhere. It's just there is a bunch of pretty bad stuff in there too. The major problem is that Burt's supporting cast is surprisingly weak. Jim Nabors, Loni Anderson and Parker Stevenson are all in over their heads. Anderson is dreamy at times but she's also kind of annoying with that giant hair. The only cast member that did a good job was the always reliable Ned Beatty. I watch "Stroker Ace" every once in a while. As far as career killing movies go, it's an okay watch.

Stroker Ace, a bad idea executed without charm, energy or wit and yet somehow not as painfully disappointing as Smokey and the Bandit II. I guess that's something, but not much.

Reynolds is phoning it in and some of the scenes simply don't know when to stop (Loni Anderson's undressing in particular) but I can see where people signed on to do this based on the Reynolds-Needham track record. And even when he's sleepwalking through a role, he's still likable.

This is a one-and-done for me but I was able to hang with it til the end. Elvira shows up out of nowhere, that was nice. And I've gotta be honest, it could've used more chicken suit.

Stroker Ace was the last Burt Reynolds/Hal Needham car racing mash up that audiences could take. A commercial and critical failure that nearly killed Burt Reynolds career. Now having said that, it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. Stroker Ace is lewd, crude, crass entertainment, but it is actually funny. Burt is Stroker Ace(a NASCAR race car driver)and gets in a contract with a owner of a fried chicken chain (Ned Beatty) that puts our hero in some humiliating situations. He even makes Stroker Ace wear a chicken suit (which he would later drive wearing). Lonnie Anderson is Burt's big breasted, but very innocent romantic interest. Jim Nabors is Stoker's mechanic and good natured buddy. Bubba Smith is also memorable as Ned Beatty 's bodyguard and driver. Performances are good, and keep in mind this is a comedy so this crosses in the realm of ridiculous from the time the film begins..To enjoy Stoker Ace you don't have to be from the south(but it certainly helps). It is unapologetic in the fact that it's a redneck comedy. If you like NASCAR, bar fights, car crashes and (sometimes funny) low brow good ole' boy humor then Stoker Ace will be your favorite movie. Also, if you are a fan of the many other Hal Needham/Burt Reynolds collaborations like Smokey And The Bandit, Cannonball Run,etc then you should also enjoy this. The humor and the movie in general is very dated and probably would not be made in today's market. However, I enjoy Stoker Ace, but it's not something I can recommend to everyone.

The decline of Burt Reynolds was underway by 1983 when this racing comedy was released. He is simply playing the same character from "Smokey and the Bandit," "Hooper" and "The Cannonball Run." A racing car enthusiast who dreams of the big time. If you enjoy car rallies and such like, you might be able to stay awake some of the time. Otherwise, you shall only finished up being bored rigid. A highly talented character actor like Ned Beatty should have passed on this one.

Jesus if a movie makes you laugh and you have a good time .....this movie does it ....people over complicate a simple comedy movie

Stroker Ace (1983)

1/2 (out of 4)

I must admit that when people say Burt Reynolds I gladly call myself a fan since I love DELIVERANCE and enjoy both THE LONGEST YARD and SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. So far I've stayed away from his 80s output but decided to tackle my first one with this turkey and it's rather sad if you really think about how bad this thing is. In the film Reynolds plays Stroker Ace, a hot-shot Nascar driver who signs a contract with a chicken king (Ned Beatty) who soon has the star on the road making a fool of himself. With the help of his mechanic (Jim Nabors) and another associate (Loni Anderson), Ace must try and find a way to get fired and released from the contract. Earlier I said it was sad to watch something like this considering some of the great things Reynolds had done in his career so it's rather stupid of me to highly recommend this film due to how incredibly bad it is. I really wasn't expecting too much but it's rather shocking to see how unfunny this comedy is and the only reason it avoids a BOMB rating from me is simply because it remains entertaining simply so you can see how much worse it's going to get. The movie has no plot to think of and what little there is is just downright stupid. Do we really believe someone would sign this contract without reading it? The movie contains one bad joke after another and we get at least four with Reynolds looking in the mirror to comment on how good his hair looks. I honestly can't say he gives a bad performance because he plays that same Good Ol' Boy that he made a career out of. He's certainly going through the motions but he comes off looking as if he thinks he's doing a great job. Nabors is slightly charming in a few scenes but Beatty comes off pretty bad throughout. Anderson's entire character seems like something from another movie and the supporting cast includes various Nascar drivers, Bubba Smith and even Elvira pops up in perhaps the best gag of the film. I think the scariest thing is that this movie apparently did pretty well at the box office and this wasn't the film that would eventually kill Reynolds career. I plan on going through more of his output from this decade and I really hope nothing is worse than this here. Fingers crossed.

In the Nascar Fan Base there is a Curse associated with this movie. For all the Race care divers and how it affected their Carers after the movie. Even the Actors & Director seem to be affected also. Only 2 Drivers were able to contend for more championships and a lot of them have Died or been Killed, Race teams have been disbanded or not been competitive.

Most of the Actors have fallen off the charts from were they were before the movie came out. Both Hal Needems Movies (production co.) and Race team is no more.

It is a good movie to look to the older days of Nascar. But You might even consider that some of the Tracks that they were racing on then are not on the schedule now either so maybe that was another part of the curse?