Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry

In 1974 I was 7 years old and my aunt…who was watching me for the night took me to see Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, and Gone in Sixty Seconds (the original of course). Car chase movies were popular at the time and this was a good one. The cast includes Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Roddy McDowall, and Vic Morrow. Kenneth Tobey was in the movie also…not a huge part but really good.

This movie always stuck with me because it is so real. It took a British director named John Hough to film this Americana car movie and he used the low budget to great effect – no studio sets, no process shots, no fakery…

It is a B movie but a fun B movie. Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) is an aspiring NASCAR driver, Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke) is a mechanic. As they feel they collectively are the best, the only thing that is holding them back is money to build the best vehicle possible. They decide to rob a supermarket and are successful as they steal 150,000 dollars.

Larry’s one-night stand, Mary Coombs (Susan George) talks them into letting her go with them. The best part for me is when they steal a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T from a Flea Market. Fonda lives up to his name in this movie for the most part. Susan George’s character starts to realize this and starts to think that Adam Roarke is the one she should have liked.

Vic Morrow is fantastic in this movie as he always is in his films. A very tangible character that seems real. He was one actor who seemed completely natural in his roles. It was like he wasn’t acting at all.

I love cars and this was a time when cars actually looked different. They used three cars in this movie for the Charger. Two for the stunts and the main one for the normal shots. The color of them was Citron Yellow. A yellow car with a green tint. In the original movie, the car looked banana-yellow because of someone doing a wrong color correction. In the blue ray version, the car is like it was…Citron Yellow.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry car yellow
This is one I found of the color of the car with the original movie after the “color correction.”
The car's original color
The car’s original color before color correction

A lot of the stunts were done by Peter Fonda. Susan George and Fonda both said that in the chase scenes, Fonda would be going over 100 mph with cars bumping into them. George has said that many of her screams were in fact real. The other stunts were done by stunt driver Carey Loftin. All without the aid of CGI, adding to the film’s excitement. That is why it looks so real…because it is.

The budget was 1.4 million and made over 28 million dollars (178 million today) back in 1974. When it was released, the film received mixed reviews from critics. However, it has since gained a cult following, particularly among fans of car chase films and 1970s cinema. It does have a great car chase. My favorite car chase in a movie is a 40-minute one in Gone in Sixty Seconds also released in 1974.

If you are bored and want to watch an entertaining car chase movie, you might like this one. Citizen Kane, it’s not but it’s a fun movie in which Peter Fonda made a fortune from a percentage deal he made. It really caught fire with Drive-In Theaters. If you have seen the movie and want to see a really good film locations video…watch this.

The filming locations were around Stockton California.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

45 thoughts on “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry”

    1. Hopefully….as history repeats itself…someone will “push” the boundries again.
      Whats cool Deke is everything chase and wreck is real.

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    1. Yea it’s not Citizen Kane by any measure but I do love those chase movies….no telling how many cars they scrapped. A stunt man back then really earned his living.

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  5. I really havent seen this since the 70’s! It never gets shown anywhere, which is a shame. The greatest car chase films are the comedies I think, and vintage: The Great Race, Monte Carlo Or Bust, Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and The Cannonball Run all have great casts.

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    1. They do have great casts…the one to me that stands above the rest in pure chase is the original Gone in Sixty Seconds…they used real policemen and sometimes real…uh…ladies of the night….but the big car chase was something else.
      PS…I’m happy you remembered it!

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  6. Seems like it was one my dad went to see and liked. I remember the poster or picture – remember when newspapers had big ads for all the current movies with the picture of the poster and listings for all the theaters showing it?
    Cool car – it looked better in the ‘real’ lime tone.

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    1. Yes…I love that color! I liked the movie as a 7 year old and still do! I watched it again last night. It’s fun and Dave…what I really like about it is everything you see is real…of course no cgi…what stunt people they had at that time!

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    1. Yes! I remember seeing him in some older shows as I watched it the other night. I knew I had seen Tobey before and I looked him up and remembered.
      Vic Morrow…he melts into his character. Not Citizen Kane by any means CB but a fun car chase Drive Inn movie.
      That would be a cool feature CB…Drive Inn Movies

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      1. I stayed away from this because of Fonda but my mind has opened up (a little) since my teenage years. Some good support cast like Vic.
        Funny how these English directors came over and made these films. Case in point ‘Bullitt’ with Yates doing the car chase thing.
        Yes “Drive- Inn Movies’ I touched on that when I was doing the film thing. I can see some “Max” takes in the future.

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      2. I couldn’t believe a British director did this… yea I love those drive inn movies…movies. The first one I saw while being taken along on my sister’s date (moms demand) was “Cheerleaders” when I was 8 years old…I was confused but happy!
        Yea Fonda plays a jerk in this one…

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      3. Yes lots of those “Drive Inn” movies. “Vanishing Point’, ‘Macon County Line’ etc. Which are good. I’m also into a lot of the cheese from those days.
        “Confused but happy” Thats funny. I got that way with Hammer Horrors.
        First big screen movies i saw were at the drive Inn. Man that was cool.

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      4. This one is a mix between good and cheese but I love those cars CB…I like the feel of it. I love both of those movies you mentioned.
        Jen and I went to a drive inn around 8 years ago…we loved it and we want to go back.

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      8. That would be cool seeing that movie there. Lets go man! My sister put me in the trunk until we got in…so she wouldn’t have to pay for me.

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      10. I know I ask you enough…but please do shoot some drive inn movies to me if they come to you.
        Some movies like It’s Alive, Gone in Sixty Seconds, and Macon Country Line were popular because of Drive Inns I think anyway.

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      11. The whole experience just added to the film. I watched a lot of shit but when your from a small town it didn’t matter. Didn’t take much to entertain me.
        All those 70 movies with McQeen, Bronson etc were perfect. You het my button on this stuff.

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      12. It did…with the side speaker or a clear station on the radio. It shows you a movie in a different way.
        Oh yea…Death Wish and The Towering Inferno.

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      14. I do remember a drive inn,,, my sister and I went to alone and yea…you are right…the horror movie would be on first and then the main movie…I forgot about that… there is one of those British horror movies I’m still looking for that I saw.
        This is awesome…

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      15. Drive-in movie two-flicks -or-one deals have well and truly gone the way of Studebaker.. Back then some producer would throw a coupla million, tops, at an upcoming director, get a Fonda or a Weaver, or a budget Steve McQueen, a hot car, a pretty hot gal to ride shotgun and drop the clutch and (hopefully) pick up a small fortune on the drive-in circuit.

        Some of the muscle cars of the 70s cars and almost all the motorcycles had some eye-popping colour schemes. I recall even the sportier FIATS from the day had some real retina shredding colours.

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      16. Oh I know….we went to a drive inn a few years ago and it was higher than a theater…plus yea those cheaper (sometimes better) movies are mostly gone to indie…they are good but usually not as fun.
        I loved those colors obbverse…and the cars actaully looked different!

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    1. I saw that…and part of me thought…that never happens but thanks…yes it does. That would be very scary…especially at a high rate of speed.

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  10. I like movies with care chases as well. “Dirty Mary Crazy Larry” doesn’t look familiar, based on the trailer).

    I think two of my favorite car chases are in “Bullitt” with Steve McQueen (love that Mustang Fastback!) and “The French Connection” starring Gene Hackman (chase scene in Chicago where he’s in this car going after a bad guy who is in the overhead subway).

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      1. I think like Peter Fonda, McQueen did all or most of the stunts himself including that epic car chase.

        I understand the picture also increased sales of that ‘68 Mustang GT Fastback. It’s one cool looking car I’d take any day over present muscle cars.

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      3. They had soul. While in general today’s cars are more efficient and more comfortable, most have boring generic designs to the point where it’s sometimes hard to even distinguish them from one another!

        For example, I would never buy a present day Corvette. It looks like a bad copy of the Batmobile. A late ‘60s Corvette, by comparison, is another story.

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      4. Thats me also…I would happily buy a car from the 70s, 80s, or 90s….I really would if it was in good shape. Much easier to work on and less to go wrong.

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