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Maximum Overdrive (1986)

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 1:33 pm    Post subject: Maximum Overdrive (1986) Reply with quote

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________________Maximum Overdrive Trailer


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About 15 years after this film was released, Stephen King admitted in an interview that he was coked out of his mind during the filming and didn't know what he was doing.

In light of this confession, it's difficult to apply legit criticism to the result, as we now know it was meant to be inept. I'll offer a few bits of critique, some of which may have nothing to do with the actual directing. King, btw, cameos in an early scene.

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This was King's first and only directing job. The film was based on a short story of his, Trucks (it was remade as a TV Movie in 1998).

In the plot, the Earth is passing through the trail of a comet — cheesy FX have our planet surrounded by a green radiance. All machinery begins to act on its own, in a homicidal manner. This ranges from small devices to lawnmowers, but most of the threat is from large trucks.

Most of the action takes place at a truck stop, where several workers and patrons are besieged. King seems to have copied, both in his story and the film, the famous story by Theodore Sturgeon, Killdozer (itself made into a TV movie in 1974).

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King's characters are mostly caricatures and cliches. Emilio Estevez as the lead is kind of colorless, but Pat Hingle hams it up mightily as the mean owner of the truck stop. Many of the smaller roles are clownish, with much overacting, and several characters die simply due to stupidity.

Really terrible is a waitress wigging out, repeatedly yelling "We made you!" (referring to the trucks). She adopts this strange pose at one point, as if she's kidding around (maybe King used a lot of coke on the day of filming this scene). Besides all the silliness, the editing is also badly handled. An early example is the death of a young patron, who gets electrocuted by a video game machine. It cuts to an expressionless Hingle for some reason.


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The only one who comes away with some dignity is Laura Harrington as a young woman and possible love interest for Estevez. And I guess the truck with the Goblin head on front strikes a kind of iconic figure now (that's the head of the Green Goblin, a Spider-Man villain).

In the end, it's revealed that this was probably the first step in an alien invasion and, in another ridiculous mention, that a Soviet satellite saved us all.

BoG's Score: 3 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
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~ When asked why he hasn't directed a movie since "Maximum Overdrive", Stephen King responded "Just watch Maximum Overdrive."

Note from me: Okay, I'm not tempted to watch this movie.

~ Stephen King, being a former cocaine addict, later admitted that he was "coked out of my mind" the entire time he was making this picture and often didn't know what he was doing. He remarked that he'd like to try directing again someday, this time sober.

Note from me: Well . . . I admire him for admitting it. Sad

Here's two items placed together by me to show the irony.

~ In the movie trailer, Stephen King said he decided to direct the film himself because he wanted to see Stephen King done right. "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself."

~ In an interview discussing Under the Dome (2013), Stephen King admitted that this was the worst adaptation of his work.


Note from me: With age comes wisdom . . . and a whole lot of humility. Sad

~ Stephen King later called this "a moron movie".

Note from me: Don't sugar-coat it, Stephen! What do you really think of this movie? Shocked

~ Despite the plot which says that all machines in the world come alive and begin killing people, Camp and the Curtis' cars never becomes sentient. Even Hendershot's car, identifiable by the license plate BUBBA stamped on it, never comes alive itself and (along with nearly all of the other cars in the truck stop parking lot and in other scenes) remains sedate throughout the entire movie.

Note from me: Perhaps some cars were too lazy or too stupid to demonstrate the intelligence they were given. Those would be ones who'd vote for you-know-who. Rolling Eyes

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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