I knew nothing about the real life race car driver Wendell Scott before watching this film, so I was really interested to see what this movie would teach me about him. After watching it, I have to say the movie is very uneven. On the positive side, the movie does give the audience a good taste of the various struggles Scott must have gone through with his ambition to be the first black race car driver - we see racism both casual and more intense. As Scott, Richard Pryor does at first seem a little uneasy in a role that's more serious and less comic than usual, but he eventually finds his groove and for the rest of the movie delivers a pretty good performance, from showing joy to showing frustration.
On the other hand, the movie sometimes seems aimed at a more yahoo crowd than one that would more appreciate a dead serious examination of the legend, such as the treatment of Scott's time in the moonshine trade (plenty of yuk yuk comedy and car chases.) The screenplay also awkwardly and suddenly jumps ahead in time a number of years a few times, which leads to some unanswered questions. Supporting characters, such as those played by Pam Grier and Beau Bridges, don't get that much to do.
Despite flaws such as those, the movie is worth a look. While uneven, it's never a slog to sit through. And though you can tell Scott's real story was in many ways a lot different than what this movie claims, as I said it does give you a good taste of some of what Scott went through.
On the other hand, the movie sometimes seems aimed at a more yahoo crowd than one that would more appreciate a dead serious examination of the legend, such as the treatment of Scott's time in the moonshine trade (plenty of yuk yuk comedy and car chases.) The screenplay also awkwardly and suddenly jumps ahead in time a number of years a few times, which leads to some unanswered questions. Supporting characters, such as those played by Pam Grier and Beau Bridges, don't get that much to do.
Despite flaws such as those, the movie is worth a look. While uneven, it's never a slog to sit through. And though you can tell Scott's real story was in many ways a lot different than what this movie claims, as I said it does give you a good taste of some of what Scott went through.