I don't usually give 10 / 10 for a movie, but this one deserves it. I watched it so many times with my brother, we literally memorized every single line. The car chases, the action, the music, the acting, all great. I loved it when I was 10, and I love it when I first seen it as a kid, and I love it now too, yet, 30 years passed.As far as I see, many people are fan of this movie, maybe there is some nostalgia to it, I don't know. But I know that every time I watch this movie, I get pumped because of the non-stop car-chasing action and the music.

Cliff Robertson contributes one of his sturdy, pleasant, reassuring reliable old pro portrayals as Judd Pierson, a crusty, disillusioned crackerjack race car driver whose career has hit the skids. Despite the efforts of loyal, adoring, wide-eyed mechanic Casey (a likably relaxed performance by boyish, fluffy-haired 70's teen heartthrob Leif Garrett), Judd's feeling pretty lousy because he's stuck doing death-defying stunts for a third-rate crash and burn thrill show traveling across New Zealand. So when gutsy, dedicated germ warfare disease researcher Christine Ruben (lovely Lisa Harrow) promises to pay Judd $3,000 to drive her through some treacherous winding backroads, Casey persuades Judd to accept her offer. But unbeknownst to either Judd or Casey, Ruben takes along a sample of a deadly virus she's been working on; it's a top secret bug that the company she works for wants back by any means necessary. Naturally, a lethal team of assassins lead by the sublimely snooty slimeball Shane Briant give chase. Director Bruce Morrison, abetted by a briskly efficient screenplay (said script Morrison co-wrote with James Kouf, Jr. and henry Fownes), Stephen McCurdy's jazzy, hard-blasting score, spirited acting by a fine cast, a sharp sense of dry, biting humor ("There's nothing in our contract about leading us into the valley of death and getting out butts shot off"), beauteous New Zealand countryside scenery, and Kevin Hayward's handsome, gleaming cinematography, pumps up the pace and maintains a neck-snappingly fast sense of constant momentum. The awesomely well-mounted chase sequences are staged with lip-smacking verve and a camera gets affixed to the side of the wildly careening automobiles, thereby infusing the rousing proceedings with a jangly, punchy, invigorating vitality. Sure, this honey doesn't cover any fresh chase/action thriller ground, but it certainly goes through the familiar motions in a most satisfyingly dynamic and straightforward manner. In fact, this solid, neatly executed number would make a swell double bill with the somewhat similar and equally kickin' "The Chain Reaction."

Shaker Run is strictly a film for those who like car chases with little plot to get in the way.Cliff Robertson is down on his luck race driver and Leif Garrett is his mechanic stuck in New Zealand some 8000 miles from America. A deadly virus has been developed in a lab and Dr. Lisa Harrow doesn't trust her own government not to give it to the military. So what does she do? She contacts the American Central Intelligence Agency and of course they're real interested.Lisa steals the virus and hires Robertson and Garrett to transport it to a designated hand off spot. Of course they have all of New Zealand law enforcement chasing them soon enough without at first Robertson and Garrett knowing why.On the plus side there is both nice scenic photography of the New Zealand country side and of Auckland and Wellington. There are enough car chases and stunt driving to satisfy the most insatiable junkie for this stuff. Cliff Robertson and the rest of the cast basically walk through their parts, I'm sure Robertson did it for the money and for a nice trip to New Zealand.I have to agree with another viewer, if you didn't see the police with New Zealand uniforms and didn't hear the Kiwi accents, you'd swear you were watching the American cops dealing with a fugitive with all that weaponry. Foreigners occasionally do more than chide Americans for their obsessive love of guns, yet these cops seem to find they come in handy if ineffective in dealing with a professional race car driver.

This film is a fairly original piece of budget wonder. Not to be watched by casual film goers as it won't exactly amaze them. This film has a great mixture of tastes, for starters it has a scientific edge;2 the boy racers out there will love it's realistic(well maybe not) stunts. The acting is awful but this adds to the 80's nostalgia. If you don't see it you will live and if you do nothing will change it's that sort of film