The greatest drive-in flick of them all. Even that august organ of record, the Monthly Film Bulletin, was moved to describe The Great Texas Dynamite Chase as “a gem of the kind of movie-making one used to look for in the Hollywood Bs”. Produced for Roger Corman’s New World company, it contains all the classic Corman hallmarks – violence, nudity, action, car chases, explosions, and social comment, in a tight 90-minute package which fairly motors along. The late Claudia Jennings, ex-Playboy Playmate Of The Year, stars as prison escapee Candy Morgan, who specialises in robbing banks utilising a unique method – holding aloft a lit stick of dynamite, she threatens to ignite a second short-fused explosive unless the vaults are emptied. On her first job after breaking out, Candy is assisted by recently-fired, all-too-willing ex-bank teller Ellie Jo (the exciting and enthusiastic Jocelyn Jones), who, desperate for thrills, proposes that they team up as the ‘Dynamite Women’. Before long, every depository in the state is cowering at the prospect of a visit from the incendiary duo, but as the legend of their escapades begins to spread, the cops close in – can our heroines evade the law long enough to make it to the Mexican border?
Jennings and Jones form a torrid twosome – flowing blonde locks, cut-off jeans and revealingly skimpy tops turn them into the screen’s most delicious desperadoes, and in unabashed fashion the girls use their sexuality to manipulate the local rubes and rednecks, constantly keeping themselves one step ahead. Along the route, they pick up shoplifter Slim (former ‘Rifleman’ cast member Johnny Crawford), initially as a hostage but ultimately to join the gang, and continue their race toward the safety of Mexico – as the police track them, tragedy strikes when Slim is bloodily gunned down, but just as the Dynamite Women are cornered and we anticipate a Butch Cassidy-style showdown, Candy and Ellie Jo reveal one final diversionary tactic...
Energetic and absorbing from its frantic opening to the rousing closing shot, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase achieves the impossible and lives up to the stringent demands of its punter-grabbing title. Why crass and obvious junk such as Thelma & Louise gets all the attention, when truly spirited pro-female stories like this exist, I fail to understand. Kaboom!!
Display comments