Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Lechuguilla Two guys and a girl, all apparently in their early twenties, leave their dreary jobs in the lower forty-eight and head north to Alaska in their hearse, in search of adventure and freedom from "the system". It's a weak script. The main characters are shallow and rather generic. We never learn enough about their back-stories to empathize with them.The plot trends repetitive and aimless. Some of the sex scenes seem gratuitous, and included to extend the runtime. I couldn't find much of a theme, apart from the obvious idea that youthful dreams, sans pragmatism, lead nowhere but to disappointment. Much of the script's dialogue is too on-the-nose.Color cinematography is conventional. There's a tendency toward dull, grayish, dreary visuals, which is fine, given the geographic setting. Casting is acceptable, except for Melanie Griffith, whose childish face and extremely weak voice seem out of place. Overall acting is below average. Probably the best element is the music of Electric Light Orchestra."Joyride" looks and feels very much like a 1970s film, with its emphasis on free-spirited youth and cheap visuals. It's not an awful film. It's just that the story lacks substance.

PScott Cummins "Joyride" captures the malaise of the 70's so much better than many films of the era. Think of it as a perfect antidote to "Saturday Night Fever" on many levels. Watch for the Pacific Northwest cinematic quirkiness that comes through later in everything from "Twin Peaks" to "Napoleon Dynamite" and many more. There are many northwest talents that went on to other endeavors in this movie as well - surprising it has not been celebrated a bit more for that. I recommend it highly to college sociology students and Melanie Griffith groupies (get a life!). Truth be told, I've always held a candle for Anne Lockhart. We could have been very happy together, the restraining order was so uncool. Psyche! She's great.

iaido A pre-Nerd Robert Carradine, a pre-Automan Desi Arnaz Jr., and an almost pre-pubescent Melanie Griffith take to the road and head for Alaska with romantic dreams of becoming wealthy salmon fishers. Well, their dream is about as exciting as this lackluster youth road movie. They aren't particularly interesting, and the film doesn't exactly have much of a point, beyond `We got together the spawn of some famous people and made a low budget film about their misadventures.' Out of the cannon of 60's and 70's road films and rebel youth films, this one is mediocre, under developed, uninvolving characters, not much wit, not much freshness to the story, which is as bland as the films muddy landscape.But, for those who care- They head to Alaska, and apparently Alaska was like the Wild West in the 70's because everyone carries a gun and is rough and tumble. Robert Carradine says charming things like `I hope we can find a shower, my nuts sure itch.' (And he's the one with Melanie Griffith!) They are quickly robbed and forced to take jobs, and the local bigwig, their employer, puts the moves on Melanie and eventually fires Desi for not being corrupt. That's when they aren't smart and do not leave town, opting instead to eat dog food or go hungry, get beat up by the guys goons, and then take a joyride in the bigwigs car. The final half of the film abandons the evil bigwig as the trio commit a robbery, go on the run, and hatch a kidnapping scheme, and so forth. The film just sort of ends, annoyingly and ambiguously, but seeing as how they didn't bother to have much character development and story in the first place, its rather appropriate. Worth a look if you are really into low budget 70's fare, but ultimately pretty forgettable.

brian talbot This is a difficult video to find which is just as well. I had searched for 15 years wanting to view the film I saw in 1977 with a soundtrack from ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). When I recently found a video store that specializes in obscure videos, I rented it and Vestron Video (now out of business) had released this road-pic as "Joyride-special video edition"...now that sounded to me like it was going to better than the original. What it meant was that they had removed all of the ELO music from the soundtrack, then cheaply dubbed a new soundtrack. The story in a word is boring. It would only be worth renting if (like me) you wanted to hear the ELO soundtrack again. It was interesting to see Melanie Griffith and Robert Carradine in their younger days. The clerk at the video store said this title hadn't been rented in five years!HOWEVER, a few years later....I have found a copy of the video (thanks to ebay)that was intact with the ORIGINAL soundtrack as released on video in the U.K. Seeing the movie again with its original soundtrack made it a pleasure.