Red Line 7000

Red Line 7000 is a 1965 American action sports film released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Howard Hawks, who also wrote the story. It stars James Caan, Laura Devon and Marianna Hill in a story about young stock-car racers trying to establish themselves and about the complicated romantic relationships in their lives. The title is from the RPM an engine could make on a tachometer before crossing the red line beyond the safety margin.

Red Line 7000
Directed byHoward Hawks
Produced byHoward Hawks
Written byGeorge Kirgo (screenplay)
Howard Hawks (story)
StarringJames Caan
Laura Devon
Gail Hire
Charlene Holt
John Robert Crawford
Marianna Hill
Music byNelson Riddle
CinematographyMilton R. Krasner
Edited byStuart Gilmore
Bill Brame
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 9, 1965 (1965-11-09)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,500,000[1]

Plot

A racing team run by Pat Kazarian starts out with two drivers, Mike Marsh and Jim Loomis, but a crash at Daytona results in Jim's death. His girlfriend Holly McGregor arrives too late for the race and feels guilty for not being there.

A young driver, Ned Arp, joins the team and also makes a play for Kazarian's sister, Julie. A third driver, Dan McCall, arrives from France and brings along girlfriend Gabrielle Queneau, but soon he develops a romantic interest in Holly.

Arp is seriously hurt in a crash, losing a hand. Mike, meanwhile, doesn't care for Dan's ways with women and tries to run him off the track in a race, but Dan survives. He and Holly end up together, but Mike is consoled by Gabrielle.

The movie is distinguished by the appearance of a 1965 Shelby GT-350 racing on the track, and one of the characters drives a 1965 Cobra Daytona Coupe as his street car. For Shelby enthusiasts, this is one of the few movies they appeared in.

Production

Howard Hawks considered casting Paul Mantee, who had done Paramount's Robinson Crusoe on Mars, in the lead role, but chose another Paramount star, James Caan.[2]

George Takei appears in a supporting role one year before his performance on Star Trek. Teri Garr appears uncredited as a go-go dancer in a nightclub.

NASCAR driver Larry Frank helped to film the movie by allowing the film crew to mount cameras on his car. Frank later drove the camera-car in a NASCAR race.

The film features tracks like Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and Atlanta Motor Speedway. In this film, it features many crashes from the season, including A. J. Foyt's violent crash at Riverside International Raceway earlier in the year.

Cast

Reception

Quentin Tarantino is a fan of the film:

If I were to direct a racing movie I would look to mimic a lot of that Sixties AIP flavour. I would probably draw inspiration from Howard Hawks' Red Line 7000 ... It's not pretentious, like Grand Prix and stuff, but the story isn't dissimilar. It's got soap opera with everyone trying to sleep with everyone else, but it's done in a fun way. It actually plays like a really great Elvis Presley movie. Elvis' racing movies were good but not this good. I like the way that Red Line 7000 has a community of characters all staying in this Holiday Inn together and hanging out. That's a cool platform.[3]

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See also

References
  1. Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 36
  2. p. 201 Weaver, Tom Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Flashbacks: Conversations with 24 Actors, Writers, Producers and Directors from the Golden Age McFarland, 1 Jan. 2004
  3. "QUENTIN TARANTINO: MY FAVOURITE RACING MOVIES" F1 Social Diary 21 August, 2013 Archived 2014-07-07 at Archive.today accessed 5 July 2014
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