Movie review: ‘Stroker Ace’

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At the passing of Jim Nabors in 2017, I was reminded of how few films in which I saw him. Hmmmm. Only two! My most vivid and wonderful memory is of his title role on TV’s “Gomer Pyle, USMC,” but then the memory of his sparse movie career was spurred by a friend, who reminded me that Nabors did an energetic comedy effort with Burt Reynolds called “Stroker Ace.” It’s too bad that “Stroker Ace” is a simply pathetic effort from Burt and director Hal Needham. The Reynolds-Needham duo that combined for much better (it’s no “Smokey and the Bandit” – click here for my review), but it does give Nabors decent screen time and he doesn’t embarrass himself – the film does that for him.

‘Stroker Ace’
(1983; 96 minutes; rated PG; directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Jim Nabors)

A BAD MOVIE WORTH WATCHING (WELL, MAYBE)

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia, the reorganization of the review and the updating of links on Jan. 30, 2022.)

It is almost inexplicable how a creative duo can do such wonderful work at one time and such pitiful work at others. Today, I’m writing about Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham and you might remember their great work on both “Smokey and the Bandit” as well as their better effort with “Hooper” (click here for my review).

(CLICK here … for all my reviews of movies)
(CLICK here … for a chronological list of my reviews)

However, they did strike out, too. Their most aromatic stinker is “Stroker Ace,” which is a deficient flick about NASCAR racing that does nothing but showcase Burt’s good looks, good-ol’-boy attitude and a passel of cameos by racing greats of the day. Although it had a miniscule chance for success, “Stroker Ace” is simply pitiful – so much so that you might actually be able to enjoy it. I know, since I did.

Most ironic of all, to make “Stroker Ace,” Reynolds turned down what would be an Oscar-winning role in “Terms of Endearment,” the pathetic emotional snifflebag that was the No. 2 film of 1983. He turned down the character that would be played by Jack Nicholson – and it was one of five Oscars for that overrated flick. Burt was quoted at the time saying Needham asked him to do “Stroker Ace” and that he owed more to Hal than to the other filmmakers.

The passing of Jim Nabors brought “Stroker Ace” to my attention and I managed to watch it via pay-TV. It’s not the worst $2.99 I’ve ever spent, but it comes close.  Much of the film is embarrassing and just when you stop shaking your head in amazement at the poor quality of the film, you just start going again like the Energizer bunny. Oh, the worst $2.19 that I spent on a movie rental was for the equally horrid “Corvette Summer” (click here for my review).

I’m not saying there isn’t anything good about the film. You’ll find one actor whose energetic performance almost overcomes the paucity of what he had to work with and then there’s Nabors in an unusual role for him – he’s “Lugs Harvey,” the pit crew chief for Burt’s NASCAR team. I write “unusual” because I just don’t see Jim as a crew chief in NASCAR, much less someone named “Lugs.”

Although it wouldn’t appear so, “Stroker Ace” has a plot. It’s basically that the top driver (Burt, of course) offends his sponsor, gets fired and has to hook up with a new sponsor – but one whose marketing of his fried chicken business is almost as embarrassing as this movie. So, Burt and the gang set out to get out of the ironclad contract he signed and … ah, heck. Who cares? The filmmakers didn’t, so I won’t go into it any further.

Here’s a look at some of the principal cast:

  • An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Reynolds is Burt being Burt here. What else? Still, he’s fun to watch no matter how crappy the film. He eases from one scene to the next without working up a sweat and manages amid the dreck to make you laugh. His CV is much too long to list here but he nabbed his nomination with the critically acclaimed “Boogie Nights” and I liked him in the little-remembered “Rough Cut” with David Niven and Lesley-Anne Down (click here for my review) and he did TV flawlessly, too, with his Emmy-winning work on “Evening Shade.”
  • A Golden Globe and Emmy nominee (not for this one), Nabors gets solid screen time here and is … well, basically there. He doesn’t do much with the part, but he is smooth in his delivery and obviously comfortable in front of the camera. He yuks it up well with Burt and for that you can forgive him his choice of this film. “Stroker Ace” isn’t the only movie Nabors made with Burt. They did two other films together – “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Cannonball Run II” (click here for my review). As an actor, Nabors had only 25 credits, including a two-part episode on “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at that series). His nominations came for his self-titled TV show and not for “Gomer Pyle, USMC.” Nabors died in 2017 in Honolulu at 87 of immune system deficiencies.
  • The most gifted actor working in “Stroker Ace” is Oscar nominee (not for this one) Ned Beatty as clownish race team owner “Clyde Torkle.” Although his lines kind of reek, Beatty gives it his all in every scene and he at least makes an attempt at lifting this one from very bad to just bad. Beatty’s first film was with Burt and it was the drama “Deliverance” and he has a most memorable scene in that one. He worked frequently with Burt and was both good guy and bad guy at times in films such as “White Lightning” and “W. and the Dixie Dancekings.” Beatty had a prolific career with 164 acting credits since the first in 1971 and the last in 2013. He won his Oscar for “Network.” I liked Beatty in his small role in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” (click here for my review). Beatty died at 83 in 2021.
  • A three-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Loni Anderson plays “Pembrook Fenney” and is Beatty’s public relations representative. She has the miserable duty of playing a character whose virginity is a key plot point – especially for Burt – and she doesn’t, unlike Beatty, manage to something with nothing. I’d call her just being in the film embarrassing, but I guess you gotta cash a check and she and Burt would become tabloid fodder in the years to come. Anderson was nominated for her wonderful work as the ultra-cool and sexy “Jennifer Marlowe” on TV’s iconic “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Most of her credits are for TV work but she has also voiced (with Burt in “All Dogs Go to Heaven”) and also did several episodes on “The Love Boat.”
  • Pro football player-turned-actor Bubba Smith plays “Arnold,” who is Beatty’s chauffeur and brawny sidekick. Smith has good screen time, but certainly isn’t as good as he was in the “Police Academy” film franchise – and he did all five of those. Still, he steps up to the plate in “Stroker Ace” and, no matter how bad the lines, gives it his all. I also liked him in an episode of TV’s “Married With Children” where he played “Spare Tire Dixon” and he was in another as himself. Smith died at 66 in 2011 of a phentermine overdose, according to IMDb.com.
  • Parker Stevenson will try to forget playing NASCAR foe “Aubrey James” in this one. After Beatty, Stevenson gives the best performance, but that’s damning with faint praise. But, at least you have to admit that he tries … but that only counts for so much. Stevenson has an extensive resume of TV shows (he, too, did “Love Boat” episodes) and I’m sure you at least recognize his name. Well, maybe.

Not everyone was as forgiving as myself in an evaluation of Nabors’ work in “Stroker Ace.” While I thought he was OK, Nabors did manage to win “Worst Supporting Actor” in the 1984 Razzie awards for his work as “Lugs.”

As for Razzies and the film, “Stroker Ace” and members of its cast were nominated for a total of five “worst” awards. As I already mentioned, Nabors was “worst” supporting actor; Anderson hauled in two nominations with “worst” actress and new star; the movie itself was nominated as “worst” film; and Needham grabbed a “worst” nomination as director. The “Worst Picture” winner (loser?) that year was “The Lonely Lady” … remember that one? Remember its star? Pia Zadora.

Just like many of Burt’s films, there are a bunch of cameos in “Stroker Ace.” Because the film is focused on stock car racing, you’ll see a bunch of the top NASCAR drivers of the day. Unless you’re a hardcore NASCAR fan, mentioning them by name now wouldn’t move this review forward (you can find them at the end).

Further down the supporting cast you get Burt homeboy Alfie Wise as team member “Charlie” along with John Byner as “Doc Seegle” and Frank O. Hill as “Dad Seegle.” Byner is Burt’s longtime friend and his father was influential in getting Burt interested in driving fast. Both help Burt here with the plot to get Reynolds out of his contract. Wise is a longtime real-life friend of Burt’s and has appeared in many of his films. Hill died at 78 in 2001 following stomach surgery.

“Stroker Ace” shows a different day for NASCAR, which, like many other sports, has grown in popularity as well as wealth through TV dollars. The race scenes show what must make NASCAR cringe now – stereotypical, bare-chested hillbillies cheering their favorites on as well as a number of scenes showing fans flying Confederate flags. Still, a very interesting look back at the NASCAR scene of the early 1980s.

By the way, if you’d like a much better NASCAR film with fewer flaws and some outstanding acting, check out Tom Cruise in “Days of Thunder” (click here for my review).

“Stroker Ace” was just a bit below middle-of-the-pack at 56th at U.S. theaters in 1983 with $13 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was made on a $16.5 million budget, according to Wiki, and that means it must have taken some creative accounting to show a profit, but Hollywood has the reputation of being able to say a movie wasn’t profitable so some investors get screwed. The No. 1 film of the year was “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” with $252.5 million. With less than half “Jedi’s” total for the year was the No. 2 film: “Terms of Endearment” with $108.4 million. Here is a list of the other films from that year that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Robert Aldrich, who directed “The Dirty Dozen” and Burt in “The Longest Yard,” was originally set to direct “Stroker Ace.” I’m glad. He’s a bit too good to have had this stinker on his resume because he already sank low enough with “The Choirboys” (click here for my review). Aldrich died the year “Stroker Ace” was released.
  • Nabors full name was James Thurston Nabors and he was born in Alabama (he went to the University of Alabama) and was no mico-man like so many in Hollywood, as he was 6-foot-1.
  • Here are the racetracks where scenes are shown: Daytona International in Florida; Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia; Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina; , Darlington Raceway in South Carolina; and Talladega in Alabama.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “This movie featured real NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) drivers as stock car rally drivers on the speedway. The real life drivers included Neil Bonnett, Dale Earnhardt, Harry P. Gant, Terry Labonte, Benny Parsons, Kyle Petty, Tim Richmond, Ricky Rudd and Cale Yarborough.”
  • “Stroker Ace” is based on a novel “Stand on It” from 1973. The book’s original cover said it was written by “Stroker Ace,” but the authors are William Neely and Bob Ottum.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “This is the only real live action movie that Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson made together though they both did do voice work for the animated pic All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989). Reynolds and Anderson formed a relationship which lead to a five year marriage between 1988 and 1993, a marriage that began five years after this movie was made. Reportedly, their messy divorce drew much publicity from the media. The two first met on the set of The Merv Griffin Show (1962) in 1981 but did not start dating until 1982. This movie was made and released in 1983.”

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