There's always been something about Christine that I really liked. It really isn't that scary of a movie, but it certainly is an entertaining one. Both Stephen King's original novel and director John Carpenter's film capture the unique relationship that can develop between a person and their car and then take it to the most extreme point.
Arnie (played by Keith Gordon) and his best friend Dennis (played by John Stockwell) are driving home from school one day when Arnie first catches a glimpse of Christine, a 1958 cherry red Plymouth Fury. Despite her being in really bad shape, Arnie buys her on the spot while ignoring Dennis' attempts to talk him out of it. Arnie's strict and overprotective parents are horrified that he did such a thing and forbid him from storing the car at home. So Arnie stores the car at a local garage owned by a man Darnell (played by Robert Prosky) and slowly starts fixing her up. In the process, the more Christine gets fixed up, the more Arnie changes as well, growing more confident and losing his black rimmed glasses. He even gains a girlfriend, Leigh (played by Alexandra Paul), to the surprise of Dennis and his fellow football players who wanted to date Leigh themselves. Things take a dark turn when local bully Buddy Repperton (played by William Ostrander, looking like Danny Zuko's evil twin) and his gang trash Christine as payback for Arnie reporting to their shop teacher that Buddy pulled a knife on him. It's then that Arnie realizes that not only is Christine sentient, but has a unique ability to repair herself. The two then team up for a little well-deserved payback to Buddy and his gang. Meanwhile, Dennis and Leigh both sense the dark influence Christine is having over Arnie and have to try and figure out a way to destroy Christine once and for all and try to save their friend.
I've always felt Christine was a little underrated. There is a lot to really like about this film. It has a great performance from Keith Gordon who manages to portray Arnie's transformation perfectly from this wimpy loser to someone who is confident, cool and even towards the end rebellious (nice touch having him decked out in a red jacket, a nod to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, suggesting that even Christine's original time period, the 1950s was influencing Arnie). John Stockwell and Alexandra Paul do well as Arnie's concerned best friend and girlfriend respectively. John Carpenter directs the film with a nice sense of style infuses the film with a certain tongue in cheek sensibility. The film kicks off with George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" as Christine rolls off the assembly line in Detroit, the lone red car on the line, perfectly setting the tone for the film.
The true star of the show though is the titular 1958 Plymouth Fury (or more accurately the 20 or so different ones they used throughout the production as well as reproductions and stunt cars for various special effects). I just marvel at how they were able to create such a memorable cinematic character out of a classic car. The way they did it was rather brilliant, from the way Keith Gordon acted with the car to the fact that they used classic rock and roll to act as the voice of the car. For example, there is a memorable scene when Christine hunts down one of the gang members that trashed her, Moochie (played by Malcolm Danare), and over the car stereo it's playing Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One" and it's like the car is taunting him before it revs up and breaks into a full on chase. It's an effective moment. And of course, any time Arnie is alone with Christine, the radio plays love songs. Of course, the entire premise of this is absurd, but somehow the actors and director Carpenter sell it beautifully.
I've had a soft spot for this movie ever since I first saw it after reading the novel by Stephen King. It's a solid adaptation of the source novel, streamlining it for a big screen retelling without sacrificing the characterization that King has always been so good at. Like Arnie, I too was bullied in school and therefore my favorite parts of the movie have always been when Christine went after the bullies in retribution for what they did to her and Arnie. I even really liked Christine herself. Yeah, she was jealous and temperamental and probably evil, but she did help Arnie along the way, even if their relationship was beyond unhealthy. She just went too far when her jealousy got the better of her and she tried to kill Leigh. Other than that, she only killed people who crossed her and I can't help but kind of respect that.
Overall, Christine isn't a perfect movie but it is an interesting and certainly an entertaining one. It's one I've enjoyed the numerous times I've seen it over the years and ranks as one of my favorite Stephen King movies. Is it one of the best? Well, that's a little more subjective.
No comments:
Post a Comment