Leonard Horn’s drama Corky (1972) is one of the best car films of the 70s. Corky is a young racing driver involved in stock car racing. The Car of the protagonist is a custom 1967 Plymouth Barracuda, created by George Barris and Richard “Korky” Korkes, whose nickname served as the title for the movie.
“Corky” is a little-known movie that even car racing enthusiasts, or those who are interested in the history of stock-cars racing, are unlikely to have seen; and in fact it has little to do with sports orientation. Sports and cars serve as a backdrop for a kind of exploration of the character of Corky Curtiss, played by Robert Blake, demonstrating genuine transformation and powerful acting. Corky is a self-destructive second-rate racer who dreams of escaping from small-town racing and succeeding along with his heroes Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker and the Allison brothers.
Even if you're not on the A-team...
As for the cars, fans of American classics can see a whole scattering of models of the automotive industry from the 1950s to the early 1970s (according to IMCDB, here are 120(!) car models, according to their number, the film can only be compared with a Junkman movie). Here are Chevrolet Bel Air, C-10, Chevelle, Impala, Biscayne, Camaro, Corvette C3… Fords Fairlane, Mustang, Thunderbird. In addition to the famous pink custom with Plymouth Barracuda fins, there are Plymouth Fury, Savoy, Belvedere. As well as Dodges, Pontiacs, Buicks, Cadillacs and even DeSoto.
Peggy Jo Curtiss
Corky is not Rocky, so everything will be completely different here than in Sly’s script, which he wrote in the kitchen in a couple of days. Corky Curtiss likes to win, but does not know how to lose. If something is wrong, he can snap at someone or lie low, thinking bad. A psychopathic personality type, he has some kind of trauma inside. He is afraid to seem like a loser, but he has a very high opinion of himself, which he demonstrates for show. No wonder the leitmotif of the film is the song “Boy Would I Be Looking Good”. He doesn’t know how to manage money – when he has it, he spends it right and left, showing everyone how generous he is, and then he breaks from cent to cent.
In the course of the film, it turns out that Corky has never been the kind fellow he wants to appear – he does not like and does not respect both his superiors and his colleagues and rivals, and also dislikes blacks and hippies. He runs off into the sunset because of guilt for what he did on the race track, and in order to gain racers fame and to cut down quick money, because he is not interested in working as a mechanic. He needs speed, adrenaline, strong emotions, to always be a winner. He will start from Georgia and intends to travel all over the country, collecting prize money on different tracks along the way. At the same time, in moments of despair, Corky lives with memories of those good old times that were and have passed, instead of taking care of the present, what is here and now, about loved ones, about his family, those who were with him.
Bobby Allison
His dream is to become a famous racer. In a cheerful mood, he tells everyone how great he will become, and that he knows the King himself, Richard Petty (yes, like in the movie Speedway with Elvis, there is a cameo of Petty). Curtiss plays with other people’s kids, but hardly gives time to his sons, of course, they haven’t grown up enough yet to be impressed by dad’s car and his racing merits. And the reality, of course, is different and presents its lessons. Corky is extremely lucky to have a wife (Charlotte Rampling), she is beautiful, smooth, understanding and she is the mother of his kids. However, he confronts Peggy Jo with the fact and goes sway, leaving her only an offer to pick up Randy’s last paycheck for the week from the service station. Considering himself an unsurpassed authority and the main one in the family, he then wonders how she, being in a difficult life situation, can successfully cope with affairs and children without him and even earn herself a new dress.
The taste of defeat
The episode in Corky reminded me of a story by Charles Bukowski about a boxer who drank beer in the kitchen and told his wife how great he was. Indeed, for a guy of small stature, Robert Blake has the charisma and coolness that the camera catches. Ironically, in the film he makes the same impression on the local guys who like his car and who know him as a racing celebrity in his hometown.
Trailer (in English)
Because of his destructive and hot-tempered nature, Corky burns almost all bridges, finding himself friendless, broken and ruined. His dream at the end of the journey offers him nothing but what he already had at the beginning, and having come full circle, he returns to this very beginning, but he does not like what awaits him.
Watch the movie Corky (1972) online in Russian:
https://boosty.to/rockthistown
