★★★★ Watched 24 Dec, 2022

A coming-of-age story about a high school graduate with a knack for fixing and building custom cars on a quest for a stolen Corvette is a surprising little 70s gem.

I’ll admit I watched this just to see Mark Hamill from around the time of Star Wars. His natural acting style mirrors the one in the Star Wars movies. He’s completely convincing as a young naive mechanic, who has more in common with a naive farmboy Luke Skywalker dreaming of becoming a starship pilot than would appear at first glance.

Not having prior knowledge about the director and co-screenwriter Matthew Robbins, the level of craft on display starting with directing, cinematography and editing, down to amusing dialogues and overall pacing of the story which never gets boring or tedious, really took me by surprise. The chemistry between Hamill and his unlikely female companion Annie Potts (secretary from Ghostbusters) is really sweet without ever crossing the line of becoming corny and never feeling fake, which I found really refreshing.

Things finally made sense when I found out that Robbins started his professional career with the legendary George Lucas and soon after Steven Spielberg, and to top it all off he later collaborated with Guillermo Del Torro!

Source: Letterboxd
Info: IMDb