Start your engines for the stirring saga based on real-life NASCAR champion Junior Johnson. Coming from meager beginnings in the mountains of North Carolina, Jackson (Jeff Bridges) takes the wheel to steer clear of his once lawless life. He receives unwavering support from his father, who waits behind bars on bootlegging charges. Hoping to raise money for his father’s release, Jackson is driven to climb the ranks from rookie to racing legend.
“Sometimes, just on his own, Jeff Bridges is enough to make a picture worth seeing, and he’s never before been used so fully, or in a way so integral to a film’s conception. Only twenty-two when this picture was shot, he may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor who ever lived; physically, it’s as if he had spent his life in the occupation of each character. He’s the most American – the loosest – of all the young actors, unencumbered by stage diction and the stiff, emasculated poses of most juveniles.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
Kim Morgan writes about The Last American Hero on the New Beverly blog.
