John Schneider Let Me Down

A local movie gallery rental store is going out of business. We stopped in the other day to see if anything was being sold off cheap. Yes. But most of it wasn't worth the hassle.

As I was strolling around I spotted a movie I had never heard about. Collier and Co.: Hot Pursuit. It was starring John Schneider (former Duke boy of Hazard county). I could tell from the orange Charger on the front cover that this movie was going to be heavily Hazard county inspired.

I picked up the two disk set. Turns out the movie was written, directed, and starred in by Schneider. His wife plays his wife. His daughter plays his daughter. His mother in law plays his mother in law. And somewhere in all of that they must have each taken turns doing camera work.

The basic story is an aging racer is trying to 'settle down' and look respectable so he doesn't lose his wife and daughter. He's doing that by illegal drag racing and hustling the Charger against newer fancier cars on the street. In the midst of that one of the cars he wins has a special cargo in the glove box which disreputable types want back. Car racing, action, and more car racing ensues.

Honestly, I can see why it won't be nominated for an Oscar.

However, the story is straight forward and more or less easy to follow. The daughter has some sort of mystery disease which requires medication (that becomes pivotal later on) which they could have just called diabetes and insulin from the get-go, but they don't. The writing...well...the script centers on the car revving.

I think if he'd spent more budget on camera operators with more experience filming race scenes then this could have went down in film history as his answer to the new Dukes of Hazard movie (Schnieder and others were upset at the vulgar language and sexual content of the newest Hazard films). However, without proper race capturing camera work this movie really does look like Scheider's home movies more so than an actual film.

I hate to say it, but Schneider let me down.

Has anyone else ran across this racing movie? Anyone trying to get the thrill of the roadway from this Schneider-Charger film?