BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
thatmaninblack
I don't usually give 10 / 10 for a movie, but this one deserves it. I watched it so many times with my brother, we literally memorized every single line.
The car chases, the action, the music, the acting, all great. I loved it when I was 10, and I love it when I first seen it as a kid, and I love it now too, yet, 30 years passed.As far as I see, many people are fan of this movie, maybe there is some nostalgia to it, I don't know. But I know that every time I watch this movie, I get pumped because of the non-stop car-chasing action and the music.
wes-connors
In New Zealand, Cliff Robertson (as Judd Pierson) is an semi-unemployed daredevil race-car driver. Mr. Robertson advertises Budweiser beer on his race-car. His traveling companion is mechanic Leif Garrett (as Casey Lee). Mr. Garrett drinks Budweiser beer when he goes out to pick up women. While Robertson and Garrett are trying to make ends meet, Doctor Lisa Harrow (as Christine Ruben) learns a deadly virus has been discovered by some suspicious characters she works with at a laboratory. Ms. Harrow hires Robertson as her driver then, she steals the virus. Robertson, Garrett, and Harrow take off with the virus, in Robertson's "Helldrivers Auto Circus" car. Bad guys like Shane Briant (as Paul Thoreau) will do almost anything to get the virus back
Interestingly, the virus stolen by Harrow destroys the body's immune system, like AIDS. It was discovered accidentally, and Harrow seems correct in her assumption about how her government would use the virus; she doesn't trust New Zealand's military. Why she decides to, instead, deliver the virus to the United States CIA has even co-star Robertson baffled! Despite some warming up, there isn't much characterization. The ending gives the film a lift. *** Shaker Run (1985) Bruce Morrison ~ Cliff Robertson, Leif Garrett, Lisa Harrow, Shane Briant
Jonnie Comet
This is one of my favourite films, just because it's fun. Cliff Robertson and Leif Garrett might have been down-and-out as actors at the time, but they play a down-and-out race team and as Americans in a country noted for a very tough films industry they are a treat. The interplay between what they expect and what Lisa Harrow's character knows better is a big part of the fun. In the end there really is no bad or good guy-- both NZ and the US are guilty of underestimating the heroes and each other; and the heroes have underestimated everyone but themselves.As a car-oriented film it will please the car-chase fans, but there is more to it than that. First of all you may never see more of the South Island's intense countryside than here, with scenes of wide-open landscape being covered at greater than highway speeds. As a scientific thriller the plot centring round an AIDS-type virus provides food for thought-- just what DO you do with a strain that deadly anyway? Thus the boy-racer speed-thrills and the taut intelligence-vs-science conflict aptly convey the clueless desperation of these three characters as they search for the truth about each other and the next hint of truth about what's going to happen next.
Some observations:1. Too much gunfire! I can't imagine NZ cops using automatic weapons in the middle of a neighbourhood.2. I find it hard to believe Robertson shifts the TH-400 automatic gearbox into top at over 100 MPH! Yet the Chevy-powered Trans Am's speedo appears to be in MPH, not KPH.3. With driving like this the heroes never seem to stop for petrol. And although it's cold season in Queenstown they also never seem to slip on ice.4. Shona Laing and her band are wonderful in the pub scene. (Whatever happened to her?)
Order in pizza, watch it again and look closer.
jaywalker
This film is a fairly original piece of budget wonder. Not to be watched by casual film goers as it won't exactly amaze them. This film has a great mixture of tastes, for starters it has a scientific edge;2 the boy racers out there will love it's realistic(well maybe not) stunts. The acting is awful but this adds to the 80's nostalgia. If you don't see it you will live and if you do nothing will change it's that sort of film