Name: Retro Film Review: The Way to Dusty Death (1995)
Item: The Way to Dusty Death
Rating: 15
Author: @drax

(source:imdb.com)

Here is the text proofread in British English with corrections made where necessary while maintaining the text format:

Alistair MacLean was a writer who used to be very popular in the 1960s and 1970s Hollywood. His novels, filled with convoluted plots and plenty of action, proved to be a good basis for many popular action films, some of which later became genre classics like Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare. This is how most people got acquainted with MacLean's work, and the author of this review is no exception. The only MacLean novel I had read was The Way to Dusty Death, and that happened many years ago. That novel was adapted for the screen eight years ago as a television film directed in Luxembourg by Geoffrey Reeve.

The protagonist of the film is Johnny Harlow (played by Simon MacCorkindale), a former Formula 1 driver who had caused a fatal accident. After returning from prison, he succumbs to alcohol and self-pity. His good friend Ike Jethou (played by Tom Burlinson), a driver in the MacAlpine racing team, helps set his life back in order and brings him back to the racing world. Soon afterwards, Jethou dies in a suspicious accident that could have been the result of sabotage. His death is followed by the death of the MacAlpine team owner, so Johnny joins MacAlpine's widow Beth (played by Linda Hamilton) in her quest for the real truth and eventual conspiracy around the racing world.

MacLean's novel could have been an excellent basis for an exciting action film featuring many breathtaking chase scenes. Unfortunately, all that was beyond the abilities of a low-budget television production. Paul Wheeler's and Christopher Wicking's script tries to adapt MacLean's novel for the new realities of post-Communist Europe, but convoluted MacLean plots without spectacular action scenes don't make much sense. The over-qualified British actors leave a bad impression, as does Linda Hamilton. The locations of Luxembourg, a small country that is trying to build a European equivalent of the Hong Kong film industry, are wasted, just like the acting talents of Désirée Nosbusch, the hostess of the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest. Viewers waste two hours of their lives unless they skip this one.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on December 22nd 2003)