The Horror Returns - THR Quick Reviews: The Car (1977)

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

This episode Nez gives a quick one on the 1977 horror/thriller THE CAR. The Horror Returns Website: https://thehorrorreturns.com THR Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehorrorreturns/ Join THR Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1056143707851246 THR X: https://twitter.com/horror_returns?s=21&t=XKcrrOBZ7mzjwJY0ZJWrGA THR Instagram: https://instagram.com/thehorrorreturns?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= THR Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thehorrorreturns?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== THR YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thehorrorreturnspodcast3277 THR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thehorrorreturns THR TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-horror-returns SK8ER Nez Podcast Network: https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-p3n57-c4166 E Society Spotify For Podcasters: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eso  

Wade, there's something I want to tell you about last night. Well, the old lady, well, Chaz, he didn't translate everything that she said. What do you mean? Well, she said there was no driver in the car. What's up, everybody, Nez here for THR Quick Review. Tonight, I'm going to come at you with the 1977 film, The Car. Is it a phantom, a demon, or the devil himself? There's nowhere to turn.

Nowhere to hide. No way to stop the car. There was no driver in the car. Universal presents the car. Two bicyclists are run down by a strange black car in the desert near a small town in Utah. But this is just the first in the series of hit and run murders. Sheriff Wade

uh, parents way, oh Sheriff Wade parents is called to investigate. Who wilt this? To, called in to investigate

and his deputy Everett is killed by the black sedan, which some witnesses say has no one behind the wheel when the car threatens a local school parade. The lives of the town's children and Wade's teacher girlfriend

Lauren are endangered. I... I was Google. Let me see what IMDB has to say. A small desert town is terrorized by a powerful, seemingly possessed car, and the local sheriff may be the only one who can stop it.

It's directed by Elliot Silverstein. Written by Dennis Cheriak, I think as I see it, Michael Butler and Lane Slopler. late and this stars James Brolin as Wade Parent Kathleen Lloyd as Lauren

Humphreys John Marley is Everett Peck R.G. Armstrong as Amos Clements John Rubinstein is John Morris Elizabeth Thompson is Maggie Roy Jensen

is Ray Mott Eddie Little Sky has Denison Henry O'Brien is chas and what's her nuts where's her name uh geraldine keems as Donna really quick uh Brian and I did this show years back on the the Magnus podcast whenever that is Geraldine Keems was a guest on that that in that episode and she told us some some background stuff on what she did during this production.

She is Native American. She is the same tribe I am. She's from the Navajo Nation. So it was really cool to talk to her real quick about the car. This is also stars Kim Richards and her younger sister, Kyle Richards, which I love. Kim Richards is Lynn Marie Parent and Kyle Richards is Debbie Parent. She is, they are Wade Parent. Josh Brolin's daughters in this film.

All right, the car. This was a film that my parents took us to go see back when it came out in 77. Star Wars had already been out. No, wait a minute. This came out before Star Wars. So this came out in May

a week or so early before Star Wars came out. The original Star Wars. Before it was a episode four before was a new hope for you for your new jacks it was star wars that was it anyway so we saw this when it came out um my mom my dad no my mom took us to see this my brother and i older brother and i there is a sequel to this somewhat of a sequel it's called uh the car road to revenge maybe i'll do that one it was yeah the car

With this one This one was really good I loved what was going on in this film I believe they filmed it out in Utah And for you collectors out there There was a die cast Model of the black sedan

I seen it once In the store at Toys Rust During the Toyser Rest day I'll get this another time Gone Now it's like $2,300

depending on who you're buying it from. But this film, yes, it was just a car that just seemed to come out of nowhere. And it just started running people off the road. So people, like in the very beginning of the film, two cyclists, they're just kind of doing their thing, having a good time, boyfriend and girlfriend riding. And then all of a sudden we just see this car coming. We're seeing the inside of the car.

We're seeing through the windshield. And the windshield's kind of like have an orange haze. So we're seeing that. And it kind of rolls up onto the to the bikers and just starts chasing them and knocks the girl off the cliff, then knocks the boy off this bridge. And then from here on the story, the cops are trying to figure out what's happening. At this point, they just figure it was just a hit and run. They didn't really dig into what was going on. So as they start to do this other things start.

to happen. Next thing you know, we see this young guy. He's hitchhiking. He's kind of just hanging out. And the car is driving down the road. He thinks he's, he's a hitchhacker. So he's just thinking, I'll just get a ride, but the car almost runs him off the road. But then he flips off the car and cusses at it. It slams on the brake. And then it just backs up. And then runs him over, repeatedly over and over. So by this time, they finally got a witness that, those gentlemen that was sitting there was in his house he was kind of arguing with his uh with his wife r g armstrong he played amos he looked out the out the window just in time to see that car

kind of going back and forth over that guy so they're like oh no so he they know that there is um well they now they know what the car looks like so they're like okay cool now we know now we know this is what we're looking for so everyone's kind of on on the alert we we kind of get to know the sheriff uh sheriff waid and his his deputies and his girlfriend lauren she's a teacher and and his two daughters but so they're trying to figure out who who's this car and and whether so they're out there searching for it and everything but along the way things start to happen and then the car just kind of springs into action and starts uh taking people out

there is a scene where the children are practicing a parade band rehearsal at the rodeo grounds and then the car comes they kind of have cops hanging out just in case because they know this killer car is out there and they just kind of look the kids are out in the open let's let's let's keep some police or some sheriff's deputies out there so lo and behold here comes the car chasing and trying to chase everybody trying to run the kids over end up kind of taking out some of the sheriff deputies and everything and then they kind of get it the kids and the teachers all go running and they hide in this cemetery um and uh the car is kind of just driving around the edge of the cemetery it won't actually come in and this is when we kind of realize something something some kind of

force is keeping the car out of out of the cemetery Lauren she kind of gets up and she starts talking mad shit to the car and everything and then tells it I'm ah you son of a bitch you're just big and bad in your car

and all this and they're kind of like the cars and it's got this awesome horn that sounds like a like a semi like a truck horn it sounds like that And the car just looks and sounds tough. This car was made for the film.

It was a highly customized 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark 3. It was framed designed by famed Hollywood car customizer George Barris. So they kind of called the Barris car. There's a few documentaries out there on what they did. They just took this car and then it had chopped it all up and lowered the roof and made it look all sinister and evil. So from here on, I know some of you have seen this film. I won't really give away the ending because there's just some other stuff that starts to happen. And they're starting to figure out what's going on.

there is a scene when the who's amos rg armstrong since he's seen what the car looked like that car kind of starts to go after him there's a scene with amos he's um he's an abusive asshole because all the the few times we see him in the film he's arguing with his wife and we see that he's abusive to her because she's got marks on her face and So They were kind of in the sheriff's office And the sheriff was trying to like Look man just tell me he did this to you

And we'll lock him up But she just didn't want to say anything So Amos kind of just gets his wife and leaves He goes outside and he's arguing with her And so I'm going to go to the club You go home So as he's starting to walk across street We see the car off in the distance

The sheriff he comes out and he sees it, Everett, and then the car just hauls ass at him. We hear a lady, older we see an older lady off on the side. She kind of screams and gets out of the way, and the car zooms by, and then boom, hits Everett. Amos, he jumped out of the way before it ran over Everett. So then the car just disappears into the night. They're back in the Sheriff's, in the Sheriff's Department, and they're just trying to figure out what happened. They're screaming and yelling. Amos

is yelling back at them and they're like, just tell me what you see. And Amos is like the car came. It swerved. I jumped out of the way. It hit Everett and that's all I know. So they're kind of like just like, uh, so because Amos

he's hot. He's like, look, if you guys aren't going to do something, I'll do something about this thing because they all, they know what the car looks like now. So they're kind of just figuring out. And then we see Donna and Chaz. No, Donna's kind of just hanging out on the side.

We see Chaz. He's another Native American. He's talking to the old woman. In this area, it was in Utah. There's some of the Navajo tribe are in that area. So the lady, she is, if you don't know the language, she's supposed to be speaking Navajo,

but she's not. She, from what we, from what Geraldine Keems was telling me that the lady, I think, I believe she was a Lakota Sioux. And they just took her to be in this movie. And back in these days, they just figured all our languages were the same. So they, Geraldine was kind of trying to teach her some words in Navajo. But she, Navajo language is hard to learn. I can understand it more than I could speak it. But so she taught her what she could.

and what she was saying, it's, it's just mumbling jumble. So, but in the movie, and if you don't understand Navajo or whatever, it's, you're like, okay, you just assume she's speaking it. But anyway, in the film, what she was, she was telling, uh, chas, uh, what she had saw. And then, uh, Wade is kind of like, well, what would she say? And he's like, ah, just old, she's an old woman, just Indian talk. And he's like, well, what would he say? and then he kind of just said, well, he was saying that there were, the people were going to go back up high into the, in the cany because bad things come with the wind.

And then they're kind of like, wait, what does that mean? So they kind of like just, all right, nothing. But when Chaz is telling Wade this, we see the old lady, she's like shaking her head, like, so she understands English. And they're kind of like, ah, all right, well, take her home and everything. The next day, Dono, they were talking about it. And then Donna kind of pulled Wade aside and said, hey, what Chaz said last night, he didn't tell you everything. He was like, well, what do you mean? And he's like, the old lady said that there wasn't a driver in the car.

And then they're just like, all this and the eerie music and everything. So they're kind of like, they don't know how to take it. said this before a million times when we tell you something bad's going to happen damn it listen to us Hollywood and movies have proven it over and over I go back to the latest film sinners

they tried to warn you guys didn't listen and look what happened I always say this everybody but yeah I'll stop right there because for those of you that haven't seen this film it's an awesome film I love it it is it streaming anywhere i know it was on amazon i know it used to be on shutter um it's i guess you can you can rent it was streaming out on all these places um but it doesn't look like it's streaming

anywhere now let me go to trusty youtube sometimes people uh put it up and you can rent it And I don't see anyone put it up there. Wait a minute. What's this? No, this ain't this ain't it. But yeah, the car, 1977. It is an awesome film. I've seen it numerous times over and over in the theater.

I've seen it at the drive-in. If you guys listen to our last frightful old reflections episode, I mentioned that I saw a double feature with this and 1975's Jaws, which was an awesome double feature. Kind of the same thing. You got a killer shark running around, swimming around, killing everyone. Now you've got a killer car out in the roads of Utah, running fools over. But this movie is amazing.

If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. Again, it doesn't look like it is streaming anywhere that I can see. Let me go over to Trust. to be because 2b seems to have everything cross your fingers while I looked this up everyone

but for those of you that have seen it you know sometimes this is one of those movies that nobody has heard of and I if you're a horror watcher I don't know how you didn't hear of this film it is not

over on 2B so 2B usually has everything because Tooby has a lot And I know Brian and I talked about doing some shark movies And if you have Amazon or Tooby There's one that I want to do I gotta get Brian to watch it

It is called Ninja versus Shark I couldn't tell you What it's about But yeah ninja versus shark You guys want to watch that Yeah go over and watch that Brian and I are going to cover it

on something but yeah it doesn't look like it's streaming anywhere I mean I have pretty much every form of physical media I got the V I got it on VHS I have it on DVD and Blu-ray so I love this film it's an amazing film and to see the Richard sisters this is Kyle Richards this is before she was a Lindsey Wagner because Halloween was what 78? Yeah, 78. So okay, so she did this first and then she did she was Lindsay Wallace and Halloween

the next year. So but anyway the car, awesome awesome film. Go seek it out. If you're a physical media collector I say buy it. There's a cool nice clean copy through Scream Factory. I believe there there is some extra, some making of an interview

so definitely check that. out but all right everyone I'm out of here and I'll find some other movie to come on here to review for you but all right until next time everyone be safe out there and party on