The Wild Racers
| The Wild Racers | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
Daniel Haller Roger Corman (uncredited) |
| Produced by |
Joel Rapp Roger Corman (uncredited) associate Tamara Asseyev Pierre Cottrell |
| Written by | Max House |
| Starring |
Fabian Mimsy Farmer Judy Cornwell |
| Music by |
Mike Curb Sidewalk Productions |
| Cinematography |
Néstor Almendros camera operator Daniel Lacambre |
| Edited by |
Verna Fields Dennis Jakob Ron Silkosky |
|
Production
company |
The Filmmakers
|
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Wild Racers is a 1968 American feature film about a Grand Prix racing car driver.
Stock car racer Jo Jo Quillico goes to Europe after an accident. He is hired by a race car tycoon to be runner up for a more experienced racer on the European circuit, working with his mechanic Charlie. However in his first race, Jo Jo can't help winning.
He has a series of love affairs, including with a shallow Englishwoman, but cannot see himself in a long term relationship - until he meets Katherine. He falls in love and begins to support his racing car partner. When his partner is injured, Jo Jo takes his chance and scores several victories. However, he breaks up with Katherine.
The movie was partly funded by Roger Corman. Tamara Asseyev was working as Corman's assistant when assigned to help produce the film.
Haller later said, "That movie began when Roger asked me to develop the script with Chuck Griffith. That meant I drove Chuck to Santa Barbara in my car and wouldn’t let him out of the hotel room until he had a certain amount of pages done. Then we went to Palm Springs and he’d dry out there. We finally ended up in La Jolla writing for a day or so there. After a week, we came back with the finished script."
Haller said the original play was to go to Europe. Corman would direct the first unit and Haller would direct second unit - namely, filming all the races on Sunday. However when he got to Europe, Corman had already shot one of the races and told Haller since that Haller knew the script better than Corman did, Haller should direct first unit while Corman did second unit. Eventually Corman went home for portions of the shoot. Asseyev says Daniel Haller only agreed to direct it if Roger Corman agreed to also finance Haller's pet project, Paddy (1970).
The Wild Racers was shot in six countries in five and a half weeks with two weeks preparation. Most of the movie was filmed on locations without permission. "We were one step ahead of the law the whole time," says Haller. This was a method which had been used by Corman on The Young Racers (1963). Talia Coppola played the second lead, scouted locations and did the set dressings. During production the film was known as Hell's Racers.
Mimsy Farmer was working in a hospital in Canada when director Dan Haller called asking if she wanted to be in the film. "I jumped at the chance to go to Europe and also to see my brother Philip, who was living in London at the time," she later recalled. "It was the best move I’d made up to then and I loved traveling in France, Spain, and Holland."
The racing advisers were Peter Theobald (English), Jan Pieter Visser (Dutch), Jean Pierre Arlet (French) and Carlos Diego (Spanish).
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