Fireball 500/Thunder Alley (MGM)

 

                                 Picture:     Sound:     Extras:     Film:

 

Fireball 500 (1966)      C+           C              C-           C

Thunder Alley (1967)   B-            C+           C-           C+

 

 

When the beach movie cycle was only going to go so far, American International decided to cast Annette Funicello and Fabian in a couple of stock car films.  Fireball 500 even had Frankie Avalon, but not much of a script, while Thunder Alley (1967) had a novel twist with Annette as a driver and more humor.  Both stories involve showing the “wild lives” those “kids” are leading “these days” in an “if only their parents knew” way.  Both also have bad fistfights, amusingly bad process photography and lots of trick photography to show the “excitement” of the sport.

 

Of course, when the often dull stock cars are no on the screen, lots of semi-nude actors and better street-legal cars are.  These are formulaic films that did make some money and tried to continue the careers of their stars.  It is especially nice to see Funicello in her prime before the devastating effects of multiple sclerosis took effect.  But MGM knew what kind of films these were and paired them cleverly as they have been for years in their ‘Midnite Movies” series.  These have become some of the hottest collectible discs on the market.  If you have not seen these films, give them a try.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 images on each side are not bad, though Fireball has disappointing detail.  It does have good Pathécolor to help make up for that.  Both films were shot in real Panavision, but Alley has better detail and is also Pathécolor, so the differences are a bit odd.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is poor on Fireball, and more like what it should be on Alley.  Trailers for each are included on their respective DVD sides, both as amusing as expected.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo