Last night I got to see the 1983 John Carpenter / Stephen King movie on the big screen at the Alamo Drafthouses TERROR TUESDAY series:

A lot of the “Terror Tuesday” offerings are beat up faded prints full of scratches and tinted dull red. This one looked just like it did in 83!

I had read the book ( no, I had heard the “ talking books for the blind “ version) before I saw the movie on HBO. All the tock cliches one says about the book versus the film… “ the book was better” “the book had better depth… better back story…” “ The characters had more depth in the book” “ The movie didn’t get things right” could be said about CHRISTINE.

I remember that the novel had a lot of back story about the first owner of Christine and his brother. The LeBay brothers. The film only showed the surviving brother, but the actor ( Roberts Blossom
) was exactly the way I pictured him. My main problem with him is he didn’t say “ finest smell in the world- except for maybe p—y” the way the reader of the audio book, so that was a big distraction for me.

Darnell as played by Robert Prosky was also exactly the way I pictured him in the book. I’ve read that Prosky insisted more lines from his character from the book be added to add depth. It worked- just a few words meant a lot. “ Shutcha pie hole punk!”

I can’t remember for sure, but I think in the book, LeBay is kinda evil on his own and transmits his evil spirit into the car, which then seduces and takes over Arnie. I wonder if the people watching movie caught that Arnie started dressing like he was from the 50s and started talking like Lebay. Becoming George Lebay. In the film, the car is evil right from the assembly line.

The Buddy Reperton character is almost IDENTICAL to Billy Nolan, the character played by Travolta in CARRIE.

And William Ostrander, who played Buddy Reperton, does look a but like a beefed up Travolta, so I can see the confusion.

And the film/ book takes place in 1978, when a lot of young men went for the ” Travolta look.”

The IMDB credits list “moldmaker” and “custom body works” as crew jobs for this film. That tells me that some of the cars were fakes. I cringe at the thought of them really crushing irreplaceable classic cars. I wonder if some of those shots were well done miniatures. The Bulldozer atop the car- the entire gas station blowing up….

I bet someone is tinkering with the idea of a remake….

enough with all the damn reboots/ remakes

maybe a sequel……. the car seems to be coming back in the final shot of the film

a new owner with a new story

and / or…… The LeBay backstory of the original owner wasn’t gone into in the 83 film

and yeah it would have too much cgi today, but what choice do they have? theres even fewer 58 plymouth furies today than in 83 and the owners would never let them be trashed

christine 1983 john carpenter film