I`ve got to hand it, reluctantly, to a movie that is able to make me wistful for the artistry of that famous stuntman Evel Knievel.
”Drive Like Lightning” (8 p.m. Wednesday, USA cable) takes its dramatic narrative through that long-but perhaps understandably-neglected subculture of daredevil automobile drivers.
The stunt driver of most concern is Charlie Webster (Steven Bauer), a one-time hotshot who gave up the vrooom-vrooom life after his brother suffered a paralyzing crash. Charlie blames himself and has been spending time in the company of a bottle and self-pity. He breaks out of his boozy fog when old pal Walker Blaine (James Handy) offers him a job: drive the car of former rival Boll Donner (William Russ) from Nashville to Los Angeles, where Donner is to make a jump for network TV.
The car, called The Weevil, is inside the truck Charlie is to drive, and the journey should be an easy one. But Charlie picks up a hitchhiker and would-be country singer named Ginger McDaniel (Cynthia Gibb), and they soon find themselves-in one of the hoariest plotting tricks around-not on a pleasant interstate but on a rarely traveled backroad.
That`s where-surprise, surprise-the truck radiator hose breaks, necessitating a ride to the nearest town in The Weevil and a run-in with a small-town sheriff.
From this point, the film features a series of cops-and-daredevil chases, interrupted by a moonlight tryst between Charlie and Ginger and an idyllic interlude at the ranch of Ginger`s family.
There`s also a Weevil-napping, more chases (bring on the helicopters!), a roadside revelation that frees Charlie of guilt, some nonsense about the mob and money owed and, finally, a stunt.
Why did anyone bother?
But for Gibb, pert and professional, the actors perform without enthusiasm and with none of the talent they have previously displayed, especially Bauer in ”Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” and Russ in ”Wiseguy.” Their characters, therefore, show none of the bravado we might have expected. These aren`t road warriors, they`re crossing guards. Even The Weevil doesn`t look especially snazzy.
I hope Knievel doesn`t watch. As loony as he could be, he gave us more showmanship in his costumes than this film can muster in two hours.
And so, if you watch this film, be prepared for the tame and trite.
Even those of you who might be drawn to this movie for the same reason you are drawn to watching real auto races and stunts-because they hold the possibility of disaster-will be disappointed.
Surely none of us wishes daredevils harm, but ”Drive Like Lightning” is enough to put me in the mood for a big, metal-crunching crash-one involving the producers, director and the writer of this misguided movie.
”DRIVE LIKE LIGHTNING”
An original USA cable network movie presentation. Executive producers are James G. Hirsch and Robert A. Papazian; supervising producer is Hal Galli;
written by Hirsch and produced and directed by Bradford May. With Steven Bauer, Cynthia Gibb, William Russ, Paul Koslo and James Handy. Airing at 8 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Sunday on USA cable.
