Dark Force Entertainment, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Nov. 23 for the Blu-ray debut of the uncut version of writer/director Richard Taylor’s 1978 endless chase thriller, Stingray.
This indie production was filmed in and around the St. Louis area and before it could even get into post production Taylor was faced with a major battle with a Hollywood studio over the title of the film. It seems that MGM was also shooting a “Stingray” film at the exact same time with Star Wars’ Mark Hamill in Southern California.
MGM eventually caved and went with Corvette Summer as the title of their film … and Taylor got lucky with Avco-Embassy picking up his film for theatrical distribution.
The story, while violent in the murder of several police officers, really plays out as a non-stop chase comedy. It begins with numskull drug dealers, Icy Calm Lonigan (William Watson — Chato’s Land, The Mack, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive) and Tony Abrosio (Bert Hinchman) discovering that their million-dollar drug deal is actually a set-up by undercover cops … gun battle, dead cops.
Knowing that will certainly be arrested, the pair hide the loot in a red Corvette Stingray at a used car dealership … and sure enough, the pair end up in police custody. But without any actual evidence tying them to the murders, the police are forced to let them walk.
The proverbial “stuff hits the fan” when they inform their boss, Babydoll Bratowski (played by Sherry Jackson, who got her start as a child star, playing in several of the Ma and Pa Kettle films and then took on the role of Danny Thomas’ daughter Terry in The Danny Thomas Show sitcom … later in such films as Wild on the Beach, The Mini-Skirt Mob), what they’ve done with the money. No problem, they scurry over to the dealership to retrieve the cash, but arrive at the exact moment that two goofballs by the names of Elmo (Les Lennon — Silkwood, Prime Cut, Framed) and Al (Chris Mitchum — Chisum, Rio Lobo) drive off in their used car purchase.
It is not long before they discover that they’ve hit the mother lode and so it is off to the races as Babydoll and her crew, including their associate by the name of Roscoe (Cliff Emmich — Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Jackson County Jail), begin the seemingly endless pursuit!
In something of a twist ending, Babydoll, Icy Calm, Roscoe and Abrosio end up killing each other over the drugs and the police close the case … Al and Elmo, along with a hitchhiker (Sondra Theodore) that they’ve stopped to pick up, realize, after all of the chaos, that the money is now theirs!
Bonuses include commentary with writer/director Richard Taylor, video sessions with Taylor and actress Sherry Jackson, the music video titled “Hi-Gear” and the 40th Anniversary Q & A session with members of the cast and crew.
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