''Fireball 500'' is a 1966
stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...
film, blended with the
beach party film genre. A vehicle for stars
Frankie Avalon
Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American singer, actor and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including Record ...
,
Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original ''The Mickey Mouse Club, Mickey Mouse Cl ...
, and
Fabian, it was one of a string of similar racing films from the 1960s. Written by
William Asher and Leo Townsend, and
directed
Direct may refer to:
Mathematics
* Directed set, in order theory
* Direct limit of (pre), sheaves
* Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces
Computing
* Direct access (disambiguation), a ...
by William Asher, it tells the story of Dave Owens (Avalon), a stock car racer forced to run
moonshine
Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...
.
Plot
Stock car racer "Fireball" Dave Owens from California goes to race in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he intends on competing against local champ Sonny Leander Fox. Dave beats Leander in a race, impressing the latter's girlfriend, Jane, and the wealthy Martha Brian.
Martha persuades Dave to drive in a cross country night race, not telling him he is actually smuggling moonshine. She and her partner, Charlie Bigg, are pleased with Dave's results. Leander, who runs his own still and smuggling operation, is impressed with Dave's success, but this does not change the fact that he wants to beat Dave on the track, even challenging him to a dangerous figure-8 race which ends in a draw.
Agents from the IRS threaten to send Dave to six months in jail unless he helps them bust the local moonshine ring.
After a driver, Joey, is killed during a run, Dave and Leander agree to team up to investigate the accident. They discover that it was caused by someone placing a huge mirror across the road. It turns out that Martha's moonshining partner, Charlie Bigg, was solely responsible for the murder of Joey and also tried to kill Dave because he was jealous that the young California driver is sleeping with her.
Dave wins the big race but Leander is badly burned. Jane helps him recover and Dave drives off into the sunset with Martha.
Cast
*
Frankie Avalon
Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American singer, actor and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including Record ...
as Dave "Fireball" Owens
*
Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original ''The Mickey Mouse Club, Mickey Mouse Cl ...
as Jane Harris
*
Fabian as Sonny Leander Fox
*
Harvey Lembeck as Charlie Bigg
*
Chill Wills
Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.
Early life
Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902.
Career
Wills was a performer from early c ...
as Big Jaw Harris
*
Julie Parrish
Julie Parrish (born Ruby Joyce Wilbar; October 21, 1940 – October 1, 2003) was an American actress.
Early life
Parrish was born Ruby Joyce Wilbar on October 21, 1940, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, to William Robert "Bob" Wilbar and Gladys Wilbar ...
as Martha Brian
*
Sandy Reed as Race Announcer
*
Douglas Henderson as Hastings
*
Baynes Barron as Bronson
* Ed Garner as Herman
*
Mike Nader as Joey
*
Vin Scully
Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcast work in Major League Baseball. Scully was the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for sixty-se ...
as The Narrator (prologue)
Production notes
The movie was part of a conscious attempt on AIP to move away from beach party movies, which were losing popularity, and go towards youth rebellion films such as ''Fireball 500'' and ''The Wild Angels''. AIP executive Deke Heyward said that:
The next big thing for teenage films is protest. Teenagers empathize with protest because they are in revolt against their parents... These films represent a protest against society. These will be moral tales, there will be good guys and bad guys. But we will show the reasons for young people going against the dictates of the establishment.
Stock car racing had already been the subject of ''
Red Line 7000'' but this movie would be specifically told from the teenagers point of view.
Director William Asher had made five beach party films for AIP with Avalon and Funicello. He co wrote the film with Leo Townsend, who had helped Asher write three of the beach party movies. Asher said "for the first time in these pictures we have a love affair consumated. And before marriage."
Frankie Avalon's character got to have sex.
Fabian signed a multi picture deal with AIP in late 1965 and this was the first movie he made for them.
He was meant to follow it with ''Robinhood Jones'' for AIP but that was never made. Frankie Avalon made it under his contract with AIP to be in two films a year for three years.
Shooting
The film was shot starting 9 March 1966. (The same month AIP began filming ''Hells Angels on Wheels''.)
The "Fireball 500" is a 1966
Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Chrysler Corporation from 1964 through 1974 model years.
The first-generation Barracuda was based on the Chrysler A platform, Chrysler A-body and was offered from 1964 unti ...
, heavily customized by
George Barris, with a standard 273 cubic inch V-8 engine that develops 275 h.p. At one point in the film, the car is referred to as the Batmobile, prompting Frankie Avalon's character to quip, "I had mine first.” Barris also built the
Batmobile
The Batmobile is the fictional land vehicle driven by the superhero Batman, used both to patrol Gotham City looking for crime and to engage in car chases or vehicular combat with the city's criminal underworld. The Batmobile is one of a suite o ...
for the ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
'' television show which premiered in January 1966.
Footage from ''Fireball 500'', specifically shots of the 4B car (Jim Douglas' car) toppling over on its roof, show up later in the demolition derby scenes at the beginning of ''
The Love Bug
''The Love Bug'' (also known as Herbie the Love Bug) is a 1968 American sports film, sports adventure film, adventure comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson (director), Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Bill Walsh (producer), Bill Walsh a ...
''. When making the film AIP would hire a race car driver and install cameras in the front and rear of his car to obtain shots. The film is notable for its depiction of the inherently dangerous
Figure 8 racing.
It was the first movie Funicello made after the birth of her daughter.
Funicello and Fabian starred together again (without Avalon) the following year in AIP's follow-up feature, ''
Thunder Alley''.
Music
The film's soundtrack is by
Les Baxter, and features six songs written by
Guy Hemric and
Jerry Styner. Frankie Avalon sings:
* "Fireball 500",
* "My Way" (not to be confused with
the song made popular by
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
),
* "Turn Around",
* "A Chance Like That", and
* "Country Carnival."
Annette Funicello sings "Step Right Up."
Reception
Critical
Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times'' said the film "leaves American International's beach formula pretty much intact despite William Asher's attempt to inject some sophistication into his story" but thought it was "always easy to watch" with "a brisk tempo, a stylish verve that leaps over large holes in the story." Bosley Crowther of The ''New York Times'' called it "a real turkey... one old bird that should have been cremated, not cooked."
''Variety'' called it "an admirable attempt, realized to a significant degree, to add drama to what had become standard teen pic fluff."
''Filmink'' called it "one of the most transitional films you’ll see... a conscious attempt to evolve the beach party style into a new genre... the film isn’t bad, it’s just that the mixture of cars, serious drama and musical numbers does not entirely work."
Sequel
In July 1966 it was announced Burt Topper would produce a follow-up, ''Malibu 500'' with a budget of $1.4 million. This became ''
Thunder Alley''.
References
Bibliography
* ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2006,'' p. 428. New York: Penguin/New American Library, 2006.
External links
*
*
*
Press Kit
{{Burt Topper
1966 films
1960s sports films
1960s English-language films
American International Pictures films
American auto racing films
Films directed by William Asher
Films scored by Les Baxter
Films set in South Carolina
Films produced by Burt Topper
Beach party films
1960s American films
English-language sports films