
Pit Stop
Jack Hill gives us the lowdown on one of his most belatedly popular movies, which took several years to make it to the drive-ins, largely because it was shot in black-and-white. Filmed under the title The Winner, it’s a gritty, no-frills drag racing saga set around the dangerous Figure Eight Races, which seem designed to promote crowd-pleasing car crashes. Veteran character actor Brian Donlevy’s final film and Ellen Burstyn’s first (under the name Ellen McRea).
About Jack Hill
Jack Hill began his career, like so many of his contemporaries, working for Roger Corman, then wrote and directed the cult classic Spider Baby, which introduced his favorite actor, Sid Haig. His The Big Doll House launched an entire genre of “Women in Prison” pix as well as Pam Grier, whom he later brought to stardom in Coffy and Foxy Brown. Other credits include The Big Bird Cage, Pit Stop, Swinging Cheerleaders and Switchblade Sisters. He is currently exec producing a series of remakes of some of his earlier horror films. See Jack Hill Presents.