This drive-in/exploitation movie from the almighty producer Roger Corman was filmed during the mid-seventies and takes place in a small town in the deep south. You know what that means, right? It means plenty of wild car chase action, crashes, lone heroes and dumb coppers, gratuitous violence and – of course – a lot of banjo music! But please don't expect another brainless comedy like "Smokey and the Bandit" or a carsploitation classic like "Death Race 2000" or "Cannonball". "Moving Violation" actually has a story to tell and the tone & atmosphere are often quite grim and disturbing. The best contemporary film to compare it with is probably the 1973 flick "White Lightning" starring Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. Both titles theoretically qualify as straightforward and undemanding 70's hillbilly car-chasing movies, but there are sober sub plots and characters with depth and background. The cops here might have big sweaty bald heads and clichéd names like Bubba, but they are vicious psychopaths instead of dim-witted losers and don't hesitate to cruelly execute innocent people. The charismatic drifter Eddie and his brand new ice-cream selling girlfriend Camille find themselves in a world of trouble when they accidentally witness how the corrupt Sheriff Rankin kills off one of his deputies because he wasn't satisfied with his share of palm oil. The nasty Sheriff naturally accuses the young couple of the cowardly murder and mobilizes his entire precinct to hunt them down. The virulent chase quickly leads to other counties, but the authorities there are also eager to stop them because they are signaled as cop killers. "Moving Violation" feels very familiar, what with its superficially stereotypical characters and predictable plot, but the scenario holds several surprises in store and manages to remain suspenseful. The chase sequences, which pretty much cover 75% of the running time, are extremely spectacular and adrenalin-rushing. You'll witness the total demolition of approximately 25 vehicles and plenty of other scenery like billboards, gas stations and even entire farmhouses! I have tremendous respect for the very bleak finale that is very atypical for such a movie and that I personally never would have predicted. "Moving Violation" features good roles of Stephen McHattie (still at the beginning of his career), Eddie Albert and the astonishingly beautiful Kay Lenz, but the most memorable roles are for the bad coppers Lonny Chapman and Jack Murdock. B-movie favorite and Roger Corman regular Dick Miller has a brief but remarkable supportive role as the over-enthusiast bounty hunter Mack. Highly recommended for fans of the seventies in general, but particularly drive-in fanatics and Roger Corman admirers.

My aunt used to paint these oils of things like Maine lighthouses. The canvas boards came with the outlines of all the objects already on it. Each space was filled with a number. If a given space on the canvas, say the sky, was labeled "9", she'd fill in the space with a color from the little tube labeled "9. Blue." She was very precise. No golden, end-of-summer wheat field ever shimmered indistinctly against the hazy horizon. The Number 6 paint ended sharply and the Number 7 paint began.Aunt Olga could have directed this movie. There may not be a single convention or cliché neglected. McHattie and Lenz are falsely accused by Lonnie Chapman, as Sheriff Rankin, of murdering a deputy in a small California town. The town and its boss, Will Geer, make a federal case out of it, as if the two fugitives were mass murderers. They even draw in a "gang of terrorists" and "commies".The movie is almost entirely one long car chase. Bullets fly. Lenz grits her teeth behind the wheel. McHattie, in the shotgun seat, purses his lips and looks bemused, as well he might. Eddie Albert is in here but doesn't appear until the movie is half over -- and don't blink.Every car chase is undercranked, meaning the cars are filmed in accelerated motion. They zip around curves, plow through stop signs, have their tops surgically removed by the eighteen-wheelers under which they slide. This convention dates back to the Keystone Cops but was almost uniformly observed in car chases. The first time I realized that a car could roll off the road at an ordinary speed was when the Volkswagon tips over in "Wild Strawberries." But when there is a motor accident of any kind, the film toggles into slow motion so the viewer can enjoy the spectacle of a cop car tumbling into a ditch, snapping off the open door of a parked vehicle, or smashing into a brick wall.I don't see much reason to get into the plot or many of its elements, such as the rollicking smith-kicker banjo and fiddle tune that goes with the action. If it's not Number 9 Blue, it's Number 2 Earth Brown. You've seen all the hues before.Stephen McHattie is an actor of slight talent. Kay Lenz, ditto, but Lenz has something going for her -- an odd beauty, a big grin set in a wide jaw that inspires admiration and a little trepidation. (Those teeth.) She has a fine figure too, sassy where it ought to be, and it reassures me that I'm not a woman trapped in a man's body, only a perfectly normal human being. Huck. Huck. Excuse me. HACK. Whew! That was a fur ball from hell.Don't miss it if you can.

Not having a clue about this film was about, we decided to take a chance. It was produced by legendary Roger Corman, a man who knew how to pack his films with a lot of action. "Moving Violation" is a film that will not disappoint fans of that genre as there is no let up from the start.The young drifter, Eddie, meets a bored Dairy Queen attendant, Cam, and asks her out. She decides to take him to a secret place where they can access the swimming pool in the estate of the rich Mr. Rickfield. They witness as the corrupt sheriff of the town shoots one of his deputies. That triggers a chase across the state as Eddie and Cam are followed through highways and small towns because they know what the sheriff did. They enlist the help of Alex Warren, an attorney that believes them, but ultimately can't do much for them.Charles Dubbin directed with an eye for the action. Stephen McHattie and Kay Lenz play the couple being chased. Lonny Chapman is perfect as the criminal sheriff and Eddie Albert makes a great Alex Warren.The film is non-stop car chasing and will delight the viewer who doesn't expect anything but just pure action.

Moving Violation is about a man named Eddie Moore(Stephen McHattie) who is a drifter from the motor city who meets a small town waitress(Kay Lenz) who saw Sheriff Rankin(Lonny Chapman) killing his Deputy(Dennis Redfield) at the Rockfield mansion that Mr. Rockfield(Will Geer) saw and Sheriff Rankin chases them , and Eddie Moore was shot in the arm during one of the chases.Then the next day, they call a lawyer named Alex Warren(Eddie Albert) who helps them and dislikes Rankin. until following day when they supposed to go to the courthouse and there was a shooting outside the courthouse and Alex was shot and killed. Then Eddie shoots and blowing up the patrol cars and shoots Rankin. At the end Eddie and Cam talk and Cam climb the fience.It was a good movie.I give it ***1/2.