Street Machine Australia – September 2019

FANGING FLICK

STORY SIMON MAJOR COOL FLICK FACT:^

Bobby’s Camaro was

originally a proper

race-prepped Z28 built

for actor James Garner’s

racing team.

W

ITH just enough time to grow his hair

long following his now-legendary role as

John Milner in the 1973 classic, American

Graffiti, Paul Le Mat slid back behind the

wheel of a toughie to play young Los Angeles mechanic

Bobby in 1975’s Aloha, Bobby and Rose.

Bobby is floating through life spinning spanners by day

and cruising and racing his beloved Camaro at night,

while hustling cash at pool halls in between. Through

bad choices and shirking his responsibilities, he seems

permanently stuck behind the eight-ball – sometimes

literally – and dabbles in petty crime to help make

ends meet.

He strikes up a friendship with the sweet and spunky

Rose (Hull), a young mum balancing raising her son with

caring for her alcoholic ex-actress mother (Bartlett).

With their future prospects looking decidedly stale, the

couple look to each other in the hope of finding some

direction together. When a dodgy robbery ends up with

the accidental killing of a young shop assistant, Bobby

and Rose go on the run and hit the road, looking to escape

into Mexico.

The romance and freedom normally offered by the open

highway is heavily clouded by the trouble hanging over the

pair, which soon has Rose second-guessing her choices

and questioning the strength of their fresh relationship.

A chance meeting with a fairly loose wannabe football

star and entrepreneur, the gun-toting, hard-drinking

Buford (McIntire), along with his better half Donna Sue

(French), initially looks like trouble for Bobby and Rose.

But after Buford learns of their predicament, he throttles

back on the attitude and offers them a chance for a clean

start, so the pair pack up to follow Buford east in the hope

of eluding capture.

Le Mat’s portrayal of Bobby is very Milner-esque, but

works okay, whereas Dianne Hull as the sweet and naïve

Rose is rather bland and lacking conviction. But Tim

McIntire as the boisterous, loud-mouthed Buford steals

the show, and will have you cringing at times on the lead

characters’ behalf. Leigh French as Donna Sue matches

him perfectly, with plenty of sassiness and spunk, and had

the flick been about this pair, they would have smashed

across the border to freedom with the music blaring and

nary a toilet stop or relationship drama between them.

VERDICT: 3/

ALOHA, Bobby and Rose starts with all four barrels

wide open and smoking the hides, but soon snaps the

throttle cable and coasts to idle – ironically mirroring the

emptiness of the main characters’ lives. The soundtrack,

however, is pretty cool, with several early Elton John tunes

adding enjoyable warmth to the sights and sounds of

1970s LA. The Camaro is definitely the star attraction

though, and its final black guise will have true hot car

aficionados cheering – and the purists crying into their

matching-numbers engine coolant. s

ALOHA, BOBBY AND ROSE 1975

TWO YOUNG LOVERS IN A CITY OF DREAMS

BREAKDOWN

VEHICLES: 1968 Chevrolet

Camaro, custom 1973

Lincoln Continental MkIV,

1970 Chevrolet C30, 1969

Ford Econoline, 1965

Ford F-Series, 1973 Ford

Mustang, 1971 Jensen

Interceptor MkIII, 1973

Plymouth Satellite, 1973

Plymouth ’Cuda

STARS: Paul Le Mat, Dianne

Hull, Tim McIntire, Leigh

French, Martine Bartlett,

Robert Carradine, Noble

Willingham

DIRECTOR: Floyd Mutrux

ACTION: Bobby’s Camaro

looks and sounds menacing,

and works in nicely with

the neat street cruising and

drag-strip action

PLOT: Two young

daydreamers fall in love

but have to skip town after

being accused of robbery

and murder

AVAILABLE: DVD

1818 STREET MACHINE STREET MACHINE