I was going to rate this movie a 5/10 or lower based upon the start. It was so absurd.
Wendell Scott (Richard Pryor) was a moonshiner steadily running from the law. He was so good he would always get away from the local sheriff in Danville, Virginia. He was able to parlay his moonshining into NASCAR racing.
That's not the absurd part. What was absurd was that the police knew who he was, knew he was running liquor, yet, for whatever reason, they had to catch him in the act to arrest him. If they couldn't catch him in his car with the booze then they would have to let him go. It was like watching Dukes of Hazard.
But, because the way the movie wrapped up and, more importantly, because Wendell Scott was a real person--I couldn't give it a bad rating in good faith. Pryor, however ill-suited for the role, represented a real black man that really won in NASCAR in the 60's. That's powerful. So, even if the movie was overly dramatized, I have to respect them bringing Wendell Scott to the public.
Wendell Scott (Richard Pryor) was a moonshiner steadily running from the law. He was so good he would always get away from the local sheriff in Danville, Virginia. He was able to parlay his moonshining into NASCAR racing.
That's not the absurd part. What was absurd was that the police knew who he was, knew he was running liquor, yet, for whatever reason, they had to catch him in the act to arrest him. If they couldn't catch him in his car with the booze then they would have to let him go. It was like watching Dukes of Hazard.
But, because the way the movie wrapped up and, more importantly, because Wendell Scott was a real person--I couldn't give it a bad rating in good faith. Pryor, however ill-suited for the role, represented a real black man that really won in NASCAR in the 60's. That's powerful. So, even if the movie was overly dramatized, I have to respect them bringing Wendell Scott to the public.