Scruffy, nonconformist loose cannon private eye Pete Novick (burly, bullfrog-faced 70's action movie icon Joe Don Baker at his most breezy and ingratiating) and sassy, spirited rookie police lady Nifty Nolan (played to pert'n'perky perfection by Tyne Daly, who tackled a similar role in "The Enforcer" and eventually found greater fame as a gutsy, feminist-minded detective on "Cagney and Lacey") join forces to capture an evasive, enigmatic hi-tech car thief known as the Road Runner, a crafty, crackerjack driver with a taste for fancy expensive automobiles.
This witty, lively, easygoing, fairly tongue-in-cheek and highly entertaining cops'n'crooks crime/action thriller qualifies as frisky, first-rate, free-wheeling straight-up-with-no-chaser 70's drive-in fun at its most unpretentious and to-the-point best. Director Earl Bellamy keeps the characterizations and plot exposition to an absolute minimum, placing a marked emphasis on frequent stirring outbursts of fast'n'furious excitement: blazing shoot-outs, knock-down, drag-out fist fights, and, best of all, more tire-squealing, rubber-burning, gear-grinding, dust and dirt flying car chases than you can shake an oily dipstick at. Dennis Dalzell's slick, animated cinematography also delivers the goods, notably some tasty freeze frames and spiffy use of heart-pounding slow motion. The lowdown funky, heavy on the brassy horns and wicked wah-wah guitars score by Anthony Harris hits a blistering righteous groove that's further enhanced by several seriously groovy songs which sporadically blare away on the soulful soundtrack.
The top-drawer supporting cast really hits the spot as well: Robert Loggia in his sole 70's B-picture as a classy, business-like drug kingpin whose Rolls Royce with $1 million worth of smack in the trunk gets stolen by the Roadrunner, the always creepy and unnerving Timothy Carey as Loggia's brutish right-hand man, a total lout who wears loud Hawaiian shirts; Richard Jaeckel as a helpful mechanic, Morgan Woodard as a shady, on the take police captain, Natalie Wood's busty sister Lana as a flaky psychic, and longtime favorite 70's exploitation flick regular Roberta Collins as a ditsy, klutzy student driver who keeps crashing her car. Co-screenwriter Stuart A. Segall also directed the so-awful-it's-weirdly-awesome cheesy gimmick slice'n'dice item "Drive-In Massacre." Producer Howard Pine later gave us the spectacular "Straight Time." Joe Don Baker made his name in the first "Walking Tall" movie; Earl Bellamy directed that film's first sequel! Quickly paced and efficiently done all around, "Speedtrap" never once runs out of gas, keeping the pedal to the metal for 98 brisk, vibrantly right-on minutes of pure 70's grindhouse pleasure.
This witty, lively, easygoing, fairly tongue-in-cheek and highly entertaining cops'n'crooks crime/action thriller qualifies as frisky, first-rate, free-wheeling straight-up-with-no-chaser 70's drive-in fun at its most unpretentious and to-the-point best. Director Earl Bellamy keeps the characterizations and plot exposition to an absolute minimum, placing a marked emphasis on frequent stirring outbursts of fast'n'furious excitement: blazing shoot-outs, knock-down, drag-out fist fights, and, best of all, more tire-squealing, rubber-burning, gear-grinding, dust and dirt flying car chases than you can shake an oily dipstick at. Dennis Dalzell's slick, animated cinematography also delivers the goods, notably some tasty freeze frames and spiffy use of heart-pounding slow motion. The lowdown funky, heavy on the brassy horns and wicked wah-wah guitars score by Anthony Harris hits a blistering righteous groove that's further enhanced by several seriously groovy songs which sporadically blare away on the soulful soundtrack.
The top-drawer supporting cast really hits the spot as well: Robert Loggia in his sole 70's B-picture as a classy, business-like drug kingpin whose Rolls Royce with $1 million worth of smack in the trunk gets stolen by the Roadrunner, the always creepy and unnerving Timothy Carey as Loggia's brutish right-hand man, a total lout who wears loud Hawaiian shirts; Richard Jaeckel as a helpful mechanic, Morgan Woodard as a shady, on the take police captain, Natalie Wood's busty sister Lana as a flaky psychic, and longtime favorite 70's exploitation flick regular Roberta Collins as a ditsy, klutzy student driver who keeps crashing her car. Co-screenwriter Stuart A. Segall also directed the so-awful-it's-weirdly-awesome cheesy gimmick slice'n'dice item "Drive-In Massacre." Producer Howard Pine later gave us the spectacular "Straight Time." Joe Don Baker made his name in the first "Walking Tall" movie; Earl Bellamy directed that film's first sequel! Quickly paced and efficiently done all around, "Speedtrap" never once runs out of gas, keeping the pedal to the metal for 98 brisk, vibrantly right-on minutes of pure 70's grindhouse pleasure.