JOYRIDE (1977)
JOYRIDE (Joseph Rubens, 1977)
Director Joseph Ruben graduates from Crown International Pictures to AIP for his third feature, a young adult drama that plays like the practical flip side to the consequence-free exploits of the sunny Californian teenagers from his 1976 release, The Pom Pom Girls. Aiding in this line of thinking is the return of actor Robert Carradine in a not-too-dissimilar role as John. He's a conceited working-class welder who pulls a "take this job and shove it" routine and relocates to the lower 48 with girlfriend Susie (Melanie Griffith) and friend Scott (Desi Arnaz, Jr.). The trio's amorphous goal is to save enough finances in the next year to purchase a salmon fishing boat and live harmonious existences away from any 9-to-5 hustle. But there's a different reality awaiting them in the hardscrabble, costly state.
On their first evening out in Alaska, the male duo gets supremely wasted in a chaotically-busy drinking establishment (captured well in a tracking shot), despite some reasonable chastising from Susie about their over-imbibing. Simultaneously, and without any particular interest in confrontation from John, Susie has to rebuff the advances of union rep Frank Sanders (Tom Ligon), a higher-up employee on the oil pipeline. Not mincing words about the harsh dog-eat-dog environment, he declares to Susie seconds after meeting that "God and the devil aren't so far apart" in this town. In the morning, the three wake up in an over-priced flophouse to their cash stolen and their options rapidly depleting.
Sanders - a chauvinist prone to unwanted touching - becomes the trio's only respite from poverty, thanks to his connections. John and Scott begin work on the pipeline, and Susie at a nearby diner as a waitress, a role that's no different from her previous job back home in California as a bowling alley manager. But the diner owner can't keep his hands to himself, and local union heavies pressure John and Scott to either become complicit in corruption or quit to free up their positions. With their lives circling the drain, as it were, the three turns to a life of crime: stealing necessities from the grocery store at an opportune time (there's a stick-up), but soon advancing to a more significant theft: robbing the weekly pipeline payroll from the bank.
Ruben and co-screenwriter Peter Rainer (future film critic for The Christian Science Monitor) introduce a fleeting love interest for Scott - Cindy (Anne Lockhart). She's a sometimes prostitute with a heart of gold, who comes on to him for business purposes but soon makes his acquaintance elsewhere and takes a liking to him anyway. In maybe the film's biggest contrivance, Cindy walks through the bank's doors at the time of the robbery. She's forced into a hostage situation but is soon nakedly frolicking with John, Susie, and Scott after they've made their getaway. Soon after, not wanting to involve her further, Scott drops her off at the side of the road. She’s not seen again.
Back to being a trio, John, Scott, and Susie find an isolated house. It's here that Rubens/Rainer toss in an unexpected sexual scenario between Scott and Susie. John comes home to the two in the shower and temporarily removes himself from the premises. In his irrational state, he's captured on a pawnshop's security camera. Soon after, law enforcement is back on the hunt, but the film closes without any ultimate comeuppance to damper our character's misguided youthful exuberance. The three are, by this point, bound together almost in a polyamorous relationship, a complex but complete unit.
The central four cast members out to make ends meet are all the spawn of Hollywood past. Robert Carradine being the son of John Carradine, Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart (Lassie, Lost in Space), Melanie Griffith, the daughter of famed Hitchcock blonde and lion enthusiast Tippi Hedren, and Desi Arnaz, Jr., the son of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.
The not unpopular soundtrack (a bargain bin staple) is a diverse affair, foregrounded by future classics from Electric Light Orchestra ("Can't Get It Out of My Head" and "Telephone Line"). It's otherwise surrounded by inconsequential mood music by Jimmie Haskell (Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry) and a typical soft rock theme by Barry Mann called "The Best That I Know." (The Vestron VHS in the eighties replaced the cost-prohibitive ELO numbers and repeated the Barry Mann song.)
A decade removed from The Pom Pom Girls and Joyride and all of its attendant frivolity, Ruben would find his niche: studio-financed psychological thrillers such as Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) and The Good Son (1993). But as early as 1991, there seemed to be a nostalgic fondness for the early days. As he told the LA Times upon the release of Enemy, "I don't think I'll ever have as much fun as when I was 25 and making The Pom Pom Girls."
