Review: Checkered Flag or Crash (1977)
The poster AND trailer for Checkered Flag or Crash proudly announces it as "The First Movie About Off-Road Racing!" Hailing from the glory days of the seventies redneck revolution that catapulted CB and trucksploitation movies like Smokey and the Bandit, White Line Fever, High-Ballin', and The Great Smokey Roadblock onto screens and into the hearts of millions of gasoline-thirsty road dogs, Checkered Flag or Crash serves up 95 minutes of high speed thrills and a veritable demolition derby of destruction. Cutting through the layers of exhaust fumes and mud splatter reveals a pretty thin concept, made more interesting by the cast and some of the crew behind the scenes. The premise of the film finds a down-on-his-luck promoter (played by Larry Hagman from I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas ) putting together a massive race in The Philippines--The Manilla 1000: a one-thousand mile off-road competition that will see motorcycles, dune buggies, and off-road vehicle...
