The Last American Hero (1973) User Reviews

Good Bridges performance

[jmorrison-2 · 6/10 · 24 June 2005]

Very good acting performance by Jeff Bridges. He hit just the right note as the naive, in-over-his-head, but determined and aggressive stock car driver, Junior Jackson.

His performance as a young country kid, trying to break into the big time, with small-time resources, is memorable.

Valerie Perrine is equally good as Marge, the man-starved woman who takes a liking to Junior. She senses he's someone who may be on the way up, while her current beau, successful driver Kyle Kingman, is probably on the way down. To hedge her bets, she makes sure to warm both their beds, to ensure she will be with the guy in the winners circle.

The movie looks, feels and sounds woefully dated, and the production and direction leave something to be desired. There are decent stars in this movie, but it looks like it was made on a shoe-string budget.

Bridges, Perrine, William Smith (as Kingman) and Ed Lauter (as Burton Colt, Junior's car owner) make this work with excellent performances.

A simply made movie, with outstanding characters.

A prophecy of today's Nascar?

[RanchDude · 6/10 · 26 June 2003]

Well, I guess I'll be the first Yank to comment on this "American" story. It's a good story. The film is loaded with some of my favorite offbeat actors: Bridges (Jeff, not the striaight man Bo), Gary (YeeHaw) Busey, Ned ("now take off dem panties") Beatty and Ed (The Venerable Prick) Lauter. I'm not much of a Nascar fan, nor country music fan, but I do bridge the gap between "The Eisenhower Era" (My folks) and today's ubiquitous Commerical Amerika. Not to be a spoiler...but this IS YOUR FATHER's Richard Petty (SENIOR), this IS about real tried and true American Rednecks passion for something. It's no Garth Brooks and seeing it 30 years after it was made, reminds of a time gone by...<sigh> I digress. If you're a nascar fan of today, or a REAL Nascar fan. RENT THIS. If not, catch on Cable and it's good story, good enough acting and technical attributes.

Not especially deep, but more provocative than it had to be...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 5 April 2007]

Lamont Johnson directed this critically-lauded, though under-appreciated stockcar drama (often referred to as "Hard Driver") concerning a young hellion (Jeff Bridges) in North Carolina who's into racing cars and "hot doggin' the law!" It isn't Shakespeare, though the William Roberts script (adapted from Tom Wolfe's short stories) is literate and bracing, and the film has built up a cult-following in the last thirty years. Performances by Bridges, Valerie Perrine and Gary Busey are all solid, with Bridges' powerful scene in a recording booth the emotional centerpiece of the film. The soundtrack prominently features Jim Croce's song "I Got a Name". Interesting, well-made lower-budget item marketed as a quickie B-flick but actually offering something more substantial. ** from ****

Exciting ride with thrills and spills just ahead of characters and plot

[Geofbob · 16 August 2001]

Jeff Bridges' combination of redneck roughness and choirboy sweetness is just right for this 1973 tale of a poor Southern boy, Junior Jackson, making good on the car racing track. The movie is based on Tom Wolfe's articles about the famous stock car racer, Junior Johnson, whom Wolfe dubbed "The Last American Hero". Cinematic Junior, like the real one, learns how to drive hard and fast while running the moonshine whiskey made by his father. The movie covers the first year or so of his career, from when he takes up racing to raise money while his father is in jail, until his first big win.

The movie celebrates individuality and competitiveness, but despite all his skill, guts and cheek, even Junior can't make it by himself. Real success comes only after he gives up his independent status, and agrees to drive for a car-maker (Ed Lauter). Also in support are his family, with Art Lund and Gary Busey excellent as his father and brother; and a stock car groupie (Valerie Perrine) who retains a soft spot for him, whoever else she's currently sleeping with. However, for many viewers, the main interest of the film will lie less in its plot, characterisations, or "right stuff" message, than in the atmosphere and thrills of the races which the movie graphically captures.

backwoods racing world

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 10 January 2016]

Elroy Jackson Junior (Jeff Bridges) drives fast along the back roads of North Carolina delivering moonshine whiskey for his father (Art Lund). Their still explodes and father is sent to jail. Junior starts racing dirt tracks and demolition derby for small time operator Hackel (Ned Beatty) to raise money for his father's legal defense. He builds his own cars. His brother Wayne (Gary Busey) tries to get him a garage mechanic job and his mother is worried about safety. He meets sweet Georgia peach Marge (Valerie Perrine) working one of the races. The races get bigger and bigger.

This has a great sense of the backwoods world of racing. Bridges is terrific as a man waiting to explode. It's got good car sequences. It also has the great Jim Croce song "I Got a Name". The story needs a bit more drama. Junior needs to overcome something insurmountable. It all feels rather predetermined but it's compelling nevertheless.

Surprisingly good!

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 21 April 2022]

Surprisingly good! The Last American Hero with a title that sounds grade B I p v r it with low expectations! Well maybe because of my low expectations I actually watched the movie with a pleasant surprise. The Last American Hero is a good movie that I wondered if the script came from a book. There is moonshiner Jeff Bridges who very good at running shine. After embarrassing the sheriff the future racers dad spends a year in jail in retaliation and Bridges works his way up the race circuit to pay the bills. Sounds so close to a real life story. I wondered if there was fiction meets real life here? We see a dysfunctional family, wild type A race personality and a race track gal mix into an interesting story. The Last American Hero keeps the viewer watching waiting for a real wreck on or off the track to happen. Some how there is high risks with characters who push it, but some how there is a lucky counterbalance which pushes the story back to normalcy. A mix of fast and slow make a good tale. I guess no guts no glory or you got be lucky to be good would be a theme with the sub stories. I won't give away any more, but worth watching. 7 stars.

Hommage to a '50 Ford

[Bachfeuer · 6/10 · 7 August 2021]

Because it showcases some beloved film actors in roles typical for them, and also because it features stock car racing at a particular stage that would have been difficult to replicate authentically later on, this film holds up. It portrays what might have become of the characters in Thunder Road (1958) had they come along a few years later. That film featured a '50 Ford just like the one in the latter film's demolition derby. Rarely does a film contain that prominent an hommage to a car.

LIKE FATHER, UNLIKE SON

[mmthos · 6/10 · 2 October 2020]

Competent portrayal of an ornery country boy (Jeff Bridges) who gets out of his equally ornery father's moonshine business to make good as a race driver, With Bridges, the talent is there as always, and Valerie Perrine SPARKLES as his biggest fan who remains elusive as a lover. Geraldine Fitzgerald is affecting as long-suffering Mama

This film reveals how bad the Hollywood action movie has become 30 years later.

[bjeffreysmith · 10/10 · 5 August 2005]

I watched this movie today on AMC and loved it. I don't know how well the film was received upon release, but in light of the current Hollywood narrative for action movies, Last American Hero deserves appreciation. It should definitely be considered an American classic.

The movie is a docu-drama based on the few years in the life of Junior Johnson, a famous stock car racer. A young Jeff Bridges brings the main character to life with a great performance, inspired and entertaining. The supporting cast is also excellent with Gary Busey as the brother and Valerie Perrine as the love interest.

All the elements of a great movie that time forgot: thrilling racing scenes, three-dimensional characters, humor, a complicated plot, and so on.. It's a shame that action movies today don't sacrifice some of the explosions, blood, and high-tech props for the type of entertainment and engrossment that Last American Hero delivers.

Okay, but not much more than that

[grantss · 6/10 · 14 February 2020]

Decent, but not spectacular, car-racing movie. Solid enough plot and direction. Just lacks something special. Doesn't seem overly profound or engaging.

Good performance from Jeff Bridges in the lead role.

Don't Give A Bad Name for Hero-Anything But **

[edwagreen · 4/10 · 10 March 2010]

We all know what a hero is. What makes the Jeff Bridges character a hero here?

Forced to go into car racing to help his jailed father, Bridges emerges as a race car winner. This tale could have been told in about half the time. The racing scenes are what you would expect in a typical Paul Newman film on this subject.

What was Geraldine Fitzgerald thinking of when she made this film? Her British accent comes through her southern drawl and besides, she is given so little to do here. Ditto here for Gary Busey. He smiles here and that's about it for him.

The one poignant scene where the father tells the sons that he wants something better for them other than prison is wasted. We never really know why the father was jailed for selling the whiskey. Was it moonshine?

The Cradle of a Nascar driver

[justinmgodell · 8/10 · 28 March 2009]

This movie is what any NASCAR fan should see.

From the simple fact that not every driver comes with a clean background. You have to do what it takes to live. With that in mind and not giving the story away Jeff Bridges character Junior Jackson does what it takes to make the money. And that of course but racing. From the lower circuits to the higher ones This is kind of a fast pace movie, but its kind of dry. For the viewer that can sit threw the slow times and watch a movie for how a movie should be (for the story) you will enjoy it.

A good underrated movie, and I recommend you see it.

Enjoyable if you like NASCAR

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 18 October 2023]

"Damn foolishness to one person is breath of life to another."

If you're a fan of NASCAR, this is probably a film for you. It's well made, and Jeff Bridges is great at channeling the intensity of racer Junior Johnson. To me the sport is damn foolishness and terrible for the environment, so despite the pearl of wisdom above from his moonshine producing father (who spent 20 of his 63 years in prison), the film was tough for me to fully appreciate. I loved the moments revealing his character, like when he's in the recording booth trying to compose an audio letter to his family, which was probably the highlight of the film. The tension with other drivers over the young woman (Valerie Perrine) and the race drama was less interesting. The film seemed mostly predictable, and never really got into a higher gear. The Jim Croce tune was nice though.

Americana at its best and most nostalgic

[jeffhill1 · 29 March 2002]

Why is it that the only people commenting on "Last American Hero" do not live in America? Even when the film was first released in 1973, the panoramic view of Jeff Bridges' fast moving car swirling up the autumn leaves of the American wooded hills accented by Jim Croce's engrossing song of "I've Got a Name" gave "Last American Hero" an overwhelming nostalgic and "American" feel, at least to those of us who saw it in theaters overseas. And for both sheer physical appearance and charisma of the human personification of "American", nothing could beat Jeff Bridges and Valerie Perrine, especially when they stood out against the secondary American characters played by Gary Busey, Ned Beatty, and William Smith. For me one of the most inspiring piece of movie banter of all time is presented in the film when Jeff Bridges as Elroy meets his father in jail and in reference to Elroy's somewhat whiny note of "What are we going to do now?", the father angrily yells at him, "What's your name?!" "Elroy Jackson Junior!" Jeff Bridges yells back. "You'll find a way," the father responds in a confident, reassuring, American tone.

"It's the old saying about..."

[moviedude1 · 8/10 · 31 December 2008]

Jeff Bridges stars in this fact-based movie as Junior Jackson, a former moonshine runner who goes straight from the back roads of the Carolinas to the muddy dirt tracks of NASCAR in an era when the sport was hardly known north of the Mason-Dixon line and the drivers liked their cars fast and their women even faster.

There was an old saying that NASCAR never did condone fighting amongst the drivers, but I can see where they got the saying that, "If you have to do it, though, make sure it's at the start-finish line." I did a little research on Jackson's career and the story here holds to the fact that he wasn't one of the "cleanest" drivers in NASCAR, but it does help to have that little bit of controversy among your driver(s) when it comes to putting butts in the grandstands. I was fortunate enough to visit the Legends of Racing Museum in Daytona a few weeks ago and met Jack Anderson, a former driver from that era, and I listened to some of the stories surrounding the times and it seems that everything holds true, which makes this a film portrayed very well in every sense of the word. If you're a fan of stock car driving at any level, this movie is for you! 8 out of 10 stars!

Excellent race car drama with a splendid Jeff Bridges performance

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 8 February 2006]

Jeff Bridges gives a typically splendid, boyishly affable and charming performance as Elroy "Bobcat" Jackson, Jr., a cocky, rebellious, recalcitrant, trouble-making hot dog hillbilly moonshine runner who becomes a professional stock car racer and demolition derby driver in order to raise enough cash to get his dear ol' crusty, mule-headed pappy (a marvelously gruff Art Lund) out of jail. Assisted by his loyal, but hot-tempered brother Wayne (the always fine Gary Busey) and against the wishes of his staunch, worrisome mother (a wonderfully indomitable Geraldine Page), Elroy aspires to achieve champion driver status in the ferociously competitive world of professional stock car racing, thus having both his stubborn pride and homespun integrity put to the ultimate test in the process.

Inspired by a Tom Wolfe "Esquire" article on flamboyant real life racing legend Junior Johnson (who worked as a consultant and technical adviser on the film), this spunky little number offers both a glorious celebration and a compelling exploration of rugged individualism and that great quintessentially all-American desire to be somebody in life. Lamont Johnson's sharply perceptive direction, ably complimented by George Silano's lively, breathtaking cinematography and Charles Fox's twangy country score (Jim Croce's blustery "I Got A Name" makes for a fantastic life-affirming theme song), astutely pegs the rowdy, boisterous, danger-ridden, and testosterone-soaked macho atmosphere of the racetrack milieu (the race scenes are suitably wild and thrilling) and delivers a rich, flavorsome evocation of humble, dirt poor, strongly family-oriented Southern backwoods America. William Roberts' acidulous script affects a cynically barbed and askew point of view in its penetrating portrait of America's love for do your own thing outlaw nonconformists and how winning inevitably comes with substantial unavoidable attachments. The stand-out supporting cast includes Valerie Perrine as a sweetheart racetrack groupie, William Smith as a formidable rival driver, Ed Lauter as a sleazy corporate sponsor, Ned Beatty as an oily demolition derby manager, and Lane Smith as an antsy, burnt-out driver. A terrifically tart'n'smart slice of pure Americana story of the guts and stamina it takes to actively pursue making your dreams come true.

Hard Driver

[motornature · 5 September 2011]

This is one of my favorite gear head movies.Some really great footage of 311 Speedway and Hickory Speedway.In 1993 I visited 311 Speedway for my first time with a sprint car team to race there.I couldn't believe how I knew just about every inch of the property because of the Last American Hero movie.It was a great experience.This movie captures the vibe that was alive in the early 70's of muscle cars and the will to make it to Winston Cup Racing.It's a fantastic,laid back,country folk,style movie that builds to a dream ending dream!Sam Ard's #00 gets a lot of attention as well as Bobby Allison's #12 owned by Junior Johnson gets a lot of footage as well.Enjoy if you can.I have since 1973....

Classic feel-good sports film

[jonniecomet-14209 · 8/10 · 1 January 2022]

Modern people might not say this is great cinema; but even viewed through 'retro' 1970s eyes it is a wonderful slice-of-life picture of a sport that, even then, would soon be fading past its peak. The oil crisis of 1974 would put a huge question-mark to the future of gasoline-powered auto racing and future generations would enjoy the pastime almost as a guilty pleasure. In the 2020s the whole concept is almost a social sin. But for the period in which they story takes place, it was the mortals' gladiator races and the clash of the Titans rolled into one.

The movie is pretty faithful to the details such as car technology, business practices, and social atmosphere of the time. Watch for cool shots of early-1970s cars and engines (especially a red 1969-1970 Corvette with stock hubcaps and whitewalls - they really did make them like that!). Best of all, actors in in-car shots really seem to be actually driving the cars.

Jeff Bridges is 23 as this movie is being made and looks all of 17. He plays the role of Junior convincingly as a naive country boy, full of loyalty to family and friends that others aim to undermine or exploit. His maturation process includes learning the hard way about disreputable women and being reminded of his reasons for wanting to race cars in the first instance. His apparent arrogance is only the way in which his native sense of honesty and ethics manifests itself, indeed the very best of his character. It's why the ending of the story will please the audience.

Watch it for the nostalgic scenes of the best generation of American cars, the hairstyles and fashioned, the technology details, all very unlike anything 40-50 years hence. But watch it too because it's a great little story about heroes and their adversaries who, at least for a time, can't tell each other apart.

Fast fun

[presumin_ed · 9/10 · 9 July 2000]

The great American movie - fast cars, fast women (okay, woman), fast cutting. The American dream... and it happens to be true, as well! The performances had the realism I love in these classic movies from the '70s and the locations, thanks to Lamont Johnson's almost-documentary approach, are like time-travel back to those days; a by-God record of US social history. Yes, sir.

A Real Legendary Movie

[Paul-308 · 6 October 2004]

This is what the Dukes of Hazzard could have been,or at least this help inspired the Dukes.Junior Jackson drives a Mustang fastback,he runs moonshine in it,he outruns the revenoors in it,he races it on the track (sorta like the General Lee?).When his racing ambition outgrows the Mustang,he buys a Chevy (ugg) and proceeds to move on to an established team.This is the story of Junior Johnson,long time NASCAR racer and car owner.His family runs moonshine,but is trying to conform to modern tastes.Juniors talent makes him a star,and catches the eye of cute in the face V Perrine.A very southern story,a very southern feel,a great big slice of a time gone by.Bridges is excellent as Junior.Don't think anybody could have done as well.His smirks and facial expressions (or lack thereof) are classic.Very underrated film.Should have been given more attention.

An American Classic

[mini14 · 10/10 · 26 November 2022]

Every youngun in the Southeast should see this movie before graduating from high school. So why has this movie been buried for the last 50 years? I can't believe I didn't get to see this movie until I was 44 years old. Beautifully shot, Junior Johnson's semi-biographical film feels like it should be considered a classic, right up there with Ben-Hur and Gone with the Wind. I'd watch this movie every day because it reminds me of car racing back when it was the greatest sport on tv, before money ruined it. Jim Croce provided the soundtrack for the movie, with "I Got a Name" as the theme song. The movie was released less than two months before Croce was killed in a plane crash.

Jeff Bridges is spectacular in this movie. When he's on the screen the movie gets 10 in my book

[AtoZ2014 · 10/10 · 4 September 2023]

It's been fun to watch or re-watch The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Cutter's Way and this movie in the last couple of weeks. Jeff Bridges gives an enthralling, magnetic, and star making performance in The Last American Hero.

There's a Iot that I like about the movie as a whole, but one has to admit that it sags a little bit here and there. It definitely isn't The Walton, which succeeded for nine seasons, although they might be shirt-tail cousins. Still, I like the story, Gary Busey's performance as Wayne, and Geraldine Fitzgerald's performance as the "Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon)" type role.

Based on an article from Tom Wolfe's first book, this story gives Jeff Bridges a great opportunity to shine bright. Jeff B was great in The Last Picture Show but he wasn't on the screen for long, here he carries the movie. In Thunderbolt and Lightfoot he gave a memorable performance in an ensemble movie.

A great insight into the grassroots of Nascar

[toquestyle · 14 December 2004]

Jeff Bridges did a great job as Jr. Jackson(Johnson). It was after reading an old interview with Jr. Johnson and him referencing the movie that I sought it out to see. And I was not disappointed. Gary Busey also did a great job. From the moonshine runs, to the demolition derbies there was a lot of truth. To those who've never experienced the deep south and some of it's uniqueness, especially for the era, this was dead on. Here it is more than 30 years later and Nascar hasn't changed all that much. The grooming of drivers has, so movies like "The Last American Hero", help with the preservation of a simpler time and people. Yet the altruism in the seeking to gain another dollar still reigns today, some thirty years later. There aren't many movies you can say that about.