FIREBIRD 2015 A.D. (1981)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*

"Poor little roadrunner, never bothers anyone,

"Just runnin' down the road's his idea of havin' fun!"

--TV's "Roadrunner Song"

I was surprised to find out that some "50 worst films" doc-- though not one associated with the infamous Medved books-- named FIREBIRD as one of its choices. It's a mediocre movie, but it's not without some decent ideas.

I don't know if it's just a coincidence that this Canadian production appeared two years after MAD MAX, which shared with FIREBIRD the idea that civilization had broken down for some reason, even though people with wild art-cars still found enough fuel to race around the wilderness. But where the loss of resources is just tossed off in MAD MAX, FIREBIRD-- the only well-known work of director David Robertson-- focuses on the politics of shortage. 

In 2015, an energy crisis has come round again, and the government has restricted public consumption of gasoline, and thus the usage of private vehicles. There's no clue as to how this has affected the big cities, because all of the action takes place out in what I assume is supposed to be the American Southwest. In those remote lands, adventurous types known as "Burners" still cobble together their own cars, manufacture their own fuel, and race one another for the pure joy of racing. They defy the law in part because they don't believe that the shortage is real; that the fuel crisis is manufactured so that elites can stay in power.

The Burners are continually menaced by the officers of the DVC, the Department of Vehicle Control. Here they're led by a commander named McVain (Doug McClure), but the officers are something of a law to themselves out in the wilds. The DVC's most elusive opponent is a man known only as Red (Darren McGavin), who drives a souped-up Pontiac Firebird. Red usually just avoids fighting with these "traffic cops" while indulging in his races with other Burners.

Two variables develop. Dolan, one of the DVC officers, goes around the bend after some unspecified assault by rednecks. He starts painting himself like an American Indian, whether he is one or not, and starts killing Burners. McVain doesn't want killings, but he's too weak to oppose his fanatical subordinate.  

The other variable is that Red's estranged son Cam leaves his former home with his mother and comes to stay at Red's garage. The young man slowly warms to his father's lawbreaking way of life, particularly when Cam encounters the nubile daughter of another Burner. The romantic interludes between Cam and the spirited Jill, an experienced driver and gearhead like her dad, are the film's highlight.

The variables collide with Dolan and his men track down Cam and Jill while the two are beginning to get friendly, beating down Cam and kidnapping Jill. This leads to a climactic confrontation in which Red and his fellow Burners raid the DVC compound to exact justice.

FIREBIRD's big problem is that the race scenes are just OK; they communicate the excitement of racing but are not really exciting themselves, least of all in the big climax. McGavin and McClure might have improved things by making their characters more intense oppositions of "scofflaw" and "cop," but they usually seem pretty laid-back at the worst of times. The film's no competition for George Miller in the car-racing sweepstakes-- but then, most of the MAD MAX imitators aren't, either. At least FIREBIRD has some identity of its own, however minor.