Smokey and the Bandit just had to be modeled after this movie. Contains all the same elements. Two partners looking to make that one big (illegal) score, a sexy transitory woman along for the ride, a tough sheriff hot on their tail, and a whole lot of crazy driving from the muscle car era.And like the Bandit, this isn't just a car chase movie. It was very well written and produced with an interesting story, excellent cast and character development, and imo, Peter Fonda's best film. Also excellent performances by Susan George and Vic Morrow.Take special note of the superb camera work for all the car chase scenes (very ground breaking). And the light green '69 Dodge Charger is just as eye-catching as the Bandit's Trans Am.This isn't the Shawshank Redemption...but it isn't as mindless as the Duke's of Hazzard either. A classic 70's Drive-In movie that should be on everyone's Watch List.

Released in 1974, "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" stars Susan George and Peter Fonda in the eponymous roles. Larry is a wannabe racer and Mary a promiscuous hippie chick he picks up in a town where Larry and his mechanic, Deke (Adam Roarke), rob a grocery store (where Roddy McDowall plays the manager in a glorified cameo). The chase is on as the police (led by Vic Morrow) try to apprehend the speed trio in the Big Valley of California.This is actually one of the best 70's car-chase flicks. It plays like a mishmash of 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde" and 1971's "Vanishing Point." It's almost as good as the former and more compelling than the latter. Larry and Deke only turn to thuggery because of their desperation for money, but that doesn't negate that the first act establishes them as criminal scum, which naturally makes it hard to root for them. The fact that you sorta start hoping they get away is testimony to the quality of the screenplay and actors. While Susan George has a cute face, her body is too thin and un-curvy for my tastes. The fact that she plays an amiable skank doesn't help. Nevertheless, the social dynamics of the trio are interesting.Leonard Maltin in his movie guide gave the film a positive review, but criticized the ending because it was too "downbeat." Actually it ends the way it had to, emblematic of sudden hellish perdition. Enough said.The movie runs 93 minutes and was shot in areas West of Stockton, California.GRADE: A-

I was trying to find this movie for a very long time and I finally got it.Its my No.1 still Its interesting to know that this movie ended on a same way as "Wanishing point" from 1971.Peter Fonda here have made a great role same as Susan George.I usually like this adventure movie, spec. that part where we have car race.I wonder if this movie was produced in 1973 or in 1974????.Some years ago I watch it on our local TV station here and I was very happy that I was watching on TV :-).Im trying to find more movies like this with car chase but still I cant find list of it.In the end I will suggest to my friends to see this one, and I know it will tell me Its an old one but still my best movie and my No.1 great job :-)

Peter Fonda's on the road again -- but as an Easy Rider of a whole nuther stripe. Here he's a wisecracking psychopath who races his chartreuse Chevy down backroads like they're NASCAR -- other traffic, cop cars or not, be damned.This trip is one long chase scene with the law after Crazy Larry, his deadpan partner (a sublime Adam Roarke), and Susan George's Dirty Mary flee with a cache of ill-gotten ransom.This set-in-the-middle-of-nowhere movie keeps you interested mainly for the repartee among its cast, rounded out by a world-weary Vic Morrow, who plays a police captain with contempt for underlings who'd do a lot better if he'd buy them a decent patrol car.Each of the characters here really IS a character, and they form the motliest of ensembles that's lots of fun to watch. Fonda and Roark are perfectly paired foils. Mary seems wild-eyed nuts at times. But otherwise, "Dingleberry" can be exquisitely perceptive. "Things felt a little too good for you last night -- so you ran!" she yells at Larry. And later, "people don't even rate a glance with you." Moments before the movie's shocking ending she brilliantly declares her final gambit.The rivalry between Morrow and his superior on the force is an unlikely treat along the way. (It's a little creepy to see Morrow, only eight years from the freak helicopter accident that took his life, pursuing crooks in a chopper that's low on fuel.) In all, an entertaining example of Seventies film at its best.