The Young Racers (USA, 1963) 80 min color DIR-PROD: Roger Corman. SCR: R. Wright Campbell. MUSIC: Les Baxter. DOP: Floyd Crosby. CAST: Mark Damon, William Campbell, Luana Anders, Patrick Magee, R. Wright Campbell. (American International Pictures)
The Young Racers is the product of a working vacation- in which a tour of Europe is the framework for this melodrama of two race car drivers, as their petty rivalry continues along various locations (France, Belgium, England). Mark Damon is Stephen Children, a former driver who plans to write a book on pompous racing champion Joe Machin (a well-cast William Campbell). Essentially this project, which intends to be an unflattering portrait, is the product of an elaborate revenge plot, as Children’s former lover Monique would later be wooed and dumped by Machin, “Losing someone you love and cherish is one thing, to but someone who chews it up and spits it out….”
The title is well chosen, as basically both men are over-sized babies. The opening sequence featuring a little boy playing with toy cars could be a prologue for either of their careers, but more to the point, the little boy could be any of them now! The surnames of these men are thuddingly symbolic, as Steven is indeed a pouting little playboy (who secretly aspires have Machin’s success on and off the track), and Machin (sort of a French spelling of machine) is as much an automaton as the cars he drives; even the people in his life are treated as though they were trinkets like his wheels.
This picture is one of the few that approximates anything akin to an “epic” in Corman’s career, if for its extensive location work. Even though, it won’t make you forget Le Mans or Grand Prix, as the racing scenes get repetitious (at 80 minutes, the film still seems too long). Unfortunately, it is filled with rear screen projection on the track, and obvious studio echo post-dubbing in many of the colourful exterior scenes (nicely shot, by the way, in powdery blues by Floyd Crosby).
R. Wright Campbell’s screenplay is reminiscent of European art films, as the dialogue is amusingly full of angst, existentialism and pretension. (“Racing is a war, Steve.” “No, but it’s combat, and only the cool and dispassionate survive.”) He applies an almost Dickensian portrait of his characters, as even the most unsophisticated talk like poets. Campbell himself has a role as Machin’s brother (they were siblings in real life) who spouts all kind of metaphorical dialogue, brooding behind big sunglasses like a cut-rate Mastroianni. The scene where he meets his sister-in-law in a courtyard is particularly hilarious, as he muses about how she could love such an ineffectual man. It feels like an English-language remake of an Antonioni film.
Rarely seen today, The Young Racers is a curio in Corman’s career, but it is not a missing link either. Even though, no film with Luana Anders (who lends her bright presence to the role of Damon’s secretary) can be all bad.
Originally published in The Roger Corman Scrapbook. Since then, this film has been released as part of an eight-movie set, The Roger Corman Collection.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.