TEXAS DETOUR (1978)
Label: Dark Force Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes to Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Howard Avedis
Cast: Patrick Wayne, Priscilla Barnes, Mitch Vogel, Lindsay Bloom, R.G. Armstrong
In the Howard Avedis (Mortuary) directed drive-in programmer Texas Detour (1978) a trio of California teenagers, aspiring stuntman Clay (Patrick Wayne, The Searchers, the son of John Wayne), country musician Dale (Mitch Vogel, TV's Bonanza) and sweet and sexy Sugar (Lindsay Bloom, Sixpack Annie) are headed to Nashville, TN so that Clay can pursue his stuntman career and Dale can make it big as a country star. However, they find themselves stranded in bumble-fuck Texas when their van is stolen by a trio of deranged prison escapees. While thumbing it down they road they encounter a stranded motorist by way of Beau Hunter (Anthony James, High Plains Drifter), and when Clay gets his jalopy running he gives the trio a lift to the Sheriff (R.G. Armstrong, The Car), who is none to obliging, and does nothing o help them recover their stolen van. He offers to let the spend the night in one of his cell's but the trio accept Beau's offer for lodging at the country mansion of his father (Cameron Mitchell, Raw Force), a local big-wig who draws a lot of water in the small community, who also offers them work on his ranch. There Clay meets Beau's sexy sister Bo's hot sister Claudia (Priscilla Barnes, the three-nippled gypsy from Mallrats!), and the pair really hit it off. It turns out that Beau is a real creep, which is not surprising in the least considering he's played by cinema-scum bag Anthony James, and he heavily hits on Sugar, and he gets angry when she rebuffs his advances, as she's more interested in kind-hearted tow-truck driver Billy (Michael Mullins, The Pom Pomp Girls). Meanwhile musician Dale set's his sights on the sheriff's daughter Karen (Kathy O'Dare, East My Dust).
The increasingly jealous Beau ends-up raping Sugar with Clay chasing after him and opening up a can whoop-ass on him, until the fight is broken up by the Sheriff. Later Beau ends up dead, murdered during a brawl at a bar, but the crime gets pinned on Beau, leading to him having to take the law into his own hands to clear his name.
A fun Southern fried slice of redneck drive-in cinema from the '70s to be sure, we get plenty of top-drawer nudity, dirt bike action, horse, Dukes of Hazzard-esque car chases and car-jumps, fist-fights, and small town politics. It's still enjoyable but this feels like it's just being made up as it goes along, and there's fun to be had with that, just don't expect it all to make sense at the end of the day, you just sort of have to go with it. The finale is all fired-up and is plenty action-packed with car chases and bridge-jumps, there's an explosion, accidental friendly fire, it's a real hoot and holler slice of hicksploitation, and while it's a bit shabby it's totally entertaining. Again, not great cinema, bit a pretty terrific slice of drive-in exploitation from the late-70s.
Audio/Video: Texas Detour (1978) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Dark Force Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1). The film was previously issued on Blu-ray from Code Red as a double-feature with Cuba Crossing (1980), now OOP, which I do not have for comparison. This is advertised as "new 4K scan with brand new color correction from the original uncut 35mm camera negative". It looks solid with some white speckling, nicks, and tiny scratches, but colors are generally strong and look pleasing. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track sounds fine, it's not super-robust but dialogue is rendered well and that soundtrack with popular music knock-offs is quite amusing.
The sole extras is a Audio Commentary with Randy Cognata and cult director Damon Packard, moderated by Demon Dave and Joe. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Demon Dave & Joe's "Savage Tracks" Audio Commentary with Randy Cognata and cult director Damon Packard, moderated by Demon Dave and Joe
