The raging rooster
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | The raging rooster |
Original title | Stroker Ace |
Country of production | United States |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1983 |
length | 91 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 6 |
Rod | |
Director | Hal Needham |
script |
Hugh Wilson , Hal Needham, David E. Peckinpah |
production |
Hank Moonjean , Laurel Goodwin |
music | Al Capps |
camera | Nick McLean |
cut |
William D. Gordean , Carl Kress |
occupation | |
|
The raging rooster (original title: Stroker Ace ) is an action comedy directed by Hal Needham from 1983 .
action
Stroker Ace is a popular racing driver and three-time NASCAR champion . He's an all-or-nothing pilot, either he wins or he doesn't finish. He's an arrogant guy and doesn't care about anything around him, except for his rivalry with young climber Aubrey James.
When he falls out with his sponsor Jim Cattey of Zenon Oil (by filling his car with concrete while Cattey is still in it), he has to look for a new financier. The owner of the chicken restaurant chain Clyde Torkel offers himself and offers Stroker and his mechanic Lugs Harvey a three-year contract, which they hastily accept. As it turned out later, with this contract he committed himself to participate in various PR events that Stroker didn't like at all. Among other things, he has to appear in public in chicken costumes and to make matters worse, he has to accept that his racing car is adorned with the slogan "The Fastest Chicken in the South".
When Stroker realizes that he cannot get himself out of this contract, he works out a plan with Lugs to get Torkel to fire him.
While working for Torkel, he comes into contact with the pretty Pembrook, who is responsible for Torkel's PR work. He tries to get her excited about himself, but it is only when he has gotten the anti-alcoholic drunk that the chance opens up for him to get the professed virgin to bed. But he gets a guilty conscience and lets go of her.
Stroker manages to win a few races and has the chance to claim the championship title in the last race of the season. Shortly before the last race, Stroker and his friends start implementing their plan, which should enable Stroker to get out of the contract with Torkel: they send a straw man to Torkel who pretends to be the brewery owner and wants to buy Torkel's company. Torkel takes time to think it over until the end of the last race.
Before the last race starts, Torkel Stroker makes the following suggestion: If he wins and becomes champion, he must apply for the contractually agreed two more years of chicken; if he couldn't do that, he would fire him and declare the contract null and void.
During the race, Stroker is torn and falls far behind. But the longer the race lasts, the more he is driven by his ambition to win the race.
Due to his poor position in the race, Torkel feels compelled to agree to the deal with the brewery and at the same time announces to the press that he is firing Stroker with immediate effect. When this message leaked to Stroker in the racing car, he finally decided to give everything again and take the title. In a tight finale, he made it to the top position, was sent into a spin by a competitor in the last corner, causing his car to overturn and he glided across the finish line while lying on the roof.
Torkel grudgingly congratulates the new master on his hasty decision, but is still convinced that he has arranged a financially lucrative sale of his company. At this point, however, Stroker reveals to him that this contract cannot be concluded because the brewery willing to buy was a ruse he had engineered.
background
The action comedy is a film adaptation of the novel Stand On It by William Neely and Robert K. Ottum . For the role in this comedy, Burt Reynolds waived a role in Age of Tenderness , which was eventually played by Jack Nicholson .
Reviews
Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times (July 1, 1983) that although the film was a literary adaptation, it was one of a number of virtually identical films with Burt Reynolds such as Hell's Losing On the Highway . It is light entertainment for the summer.
Awards
In 1984 Jim Nabors received the Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor . Hal Needham and Hank Moonjean were nominated in 1984 for one and Loni Anderson for two Golden Raspberries.
DVD release
- The raging rooster. Koch Media GmbH, 2011
Web links
- Stroker Ace in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Stroker Ace at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Comparison of the cut versions FSK 12 TV - US DVD of Der rasende Gockel at Schnittberichte.com