Okay, that title belongs to a different movie, but the feeling is the same. We have an over-sixty Regis Toomey--a legendary and very prolific character actor--driving a sports car. How many sixty-somethings drove race cars in the late 1950's? The only one I can think of was Mel "Man of a Thousand Voices" Blanc, and he almost met his end by driving too fast in a sports car...but I digress.
Toomey plays Miles, a typical father who catches some punks trying to steal his hot wheels. He threatens to call the law, they don't listen, and they subsequently wage a campaign of fear against Miles and his wife.
Things come to a head when Miles pulls a gun on the leader of the punks and forces him to drive faster and more dangerously, hence the 'joy ride' term employed as the title.
While I won't give away the ending, the film has a few very good scenes, particularly when Miles loses his temper. Regis Toomey almost always played the nice guy, the next-door neighbor, the local cop. He was the ultimate character actor, dependable, and people would say, "Yeah, I know that guy. I've seen him in ____ movie."
Here, he plays the lead and when he gets pi--ed off, he's excellent. Ann Doran plays his wife, and she's decent enough. The rest of the cast is okay. As for the direction, Edward Bernds was known as a get-it-done and get-it-done-fast type of director, but he delivers a fast-paced and functionally solid effort this time out.
Worth a watch.
