Race with the Devil

For the Girlschool album, see Race with the Devil (album).

Race with the Devil
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Jack Starrett
Produced by	Paul Maslansky, Wes Bishop
Written by	Wes Bishop, Lee Frost
Starring	Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker R.G. Armstrong
Music by	Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography	Robert Jessop
Editing by	John Link
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA, theatrical)
Release date(s)	June 27, 1975
Running time	88 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$1,745,000

Race with the Devil is a 1975 occult thriller and action film starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker. This was the second of three films Fonda and Oates would star in together (The Hired Hand was their first and 92 in the Shade was their third). The film was a hybrid of the horror, action and car chase genres.

Plot

Roger Marsh (Peter Fonda) and Frank Stewart (Warren Oates), with their wives Kelly and Alice (Lara Parker, Loretta Swit), leave San Antonio in a recreational vehicle for vacation in Colorado. They decide to camp en route in a desolate area of central Texas, where they witness a Satanic ritual human sacrifice. After barely escaping with their lives, they report the incident to the local sheriff (R.G. Armstrong), who investigates their report but attempts to convince the men that they probably only saw hippies killing an animal. When the men refuse to accept the sheriff's explanation, it becomes clear that he is a part of the Satanic cult. The couples agree to leave peacefully, but Roger steals a sample of dirt stained with the murder victim's blood, intent on delivering it to the authorities in Amarillo. As the couples head towards Amarillo they are pursued by a steadily increasing number of cultists, who are networked throughout numerous small Texas towns. Eventually, Roger and Frank purchase a shotgun and stage a showdown with the cult members during a high speed chase that pits their RV against a convoy of trucks. Frank and Roger kill or wound all of the attackers and escape, stopping to celebrate when they pick up a radio signal coming from Amarillo. In the middle of their celebration, the couples hear chanting outside their RV and find themselves surrounded by cult members. The film ends as the cult lights a ring of fire around the vehicle, trapping the couples inside.

Production

Race with the Devil was filmed on location in San Antonio, Castroville, Bandera and Leakey, Texas. Director Jack Starrett later claimed he hired actual Satanists to serve as cult-member extras, though he probably stated this for publicity purposes. Starrett directed the similar B-movie action film A Small Town in Texas the following year.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by 20th Century Fox in June 1975.

The film was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2005. This version is currently out of print.

On April 12, 2011 the film was released on DVD through Shout! Factory, packaged as a double feature with another Peter Fonda film, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

Remakes announced

A remake was planned in 2005, written by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan, with Chris Moore (of Project Greenlight fame) to serve as director. Kevin Smith has said that Race With the Devil is a strong influence on his 2011 film Red State.

The film was also the basis for the Tamil language film Kazhugu (Eagle) which was released in 1981.

External links

• Race with the Devil at the Internet Movie Database
• Race with the Devil at AllRovi
• Review at The Terror Trap
• Eccentric Cinema Review