Red carpet at Dallas’ Studio Movie Grill gets trod upon by talent from locally-produced actioner, Exit Speed

by John P. Meyer

The good thing about the red carpet premiere of Exit Speed, produced by local lawyer Sally Helppie and filmed in and around North Texas, was that the organizers anticipated the type of heat stroke Hell that would otherwise have been experienced by the stars and attendant press, and took their act inside the west-facing glass doors of the Studio Movie Grill. Along with the carpet itself, of course.

The bad thing was that it was STILL bloomin' hot, due to the fact that the doors had to actually be opened periodically to let the stars, filmmakers and crew into the building. And the declining sun made it continually more uncomfortable as it spread its blazing swath across the proceedings. (It also made photography a bit of a challenge, but hey - we work with what we've got, right?) So if some of the folks in these photographs look less than fresh as a daisy, there's your reason.

We were disappointed to learn on Aug. 25 (the day before the event) that star Fred Ward had been forced to cancel his appearance, but there were still plenty of luminaries lined up to participate, including the movie's director Scott Ziehl; writer/producer Michael Stokes; Lea Thompson, lovely star of film and television; and a whole slew of local talent involved in the making of the movie.

Exit Speed opens a local run exclusively at the AMC Mesquite 30 on Sept. 5. It's about an AWOL soldier on the run from the Army, the officer assigned to track her down and the group of fellow passengers who board the bus along with her on the fateful Christmas Eve when the events depicted in the film occur.

But the unsung stars of the show are the Nomads, the biker gang from Hell (i.e., North Texas) whose members terrorize the bus passengers after a violent run-in. Several of the stunt bikers from the movie arrived in noisy high-profile fashion outside the SMG, burning rubber with a vengeance out in front of the theater, though fortunately refraining from the sort of homicidal mayhem they get up to in the movie itself.

After the carpet arrivals we adjourned to the theater, where Sally Helppie (on behalf of Sabbatical Pictures) introduced both the film and the many special guests in attendance.

As expected, the screening was accompanied by bouts of random senseless cheering as attending personages either appeared on screen, or something occurred onscreen that involved their behind-the-scenes labors. ("Look at that excellent set design! WOO HOO!") Part of the fun is the opportunity to catch glimpses of familiar locations - downtown Dallas makes an early appearance, for instance.

What we've got from a movie drama standpoint is basically an Assault on Junkyard 13-type scenario, with our heroes (the bus occupants) using all means at their disposal to hold off the rabid biker gang - seen primarily (and most effectively, from a standpoint of menace) as shadowy distant figures who occasionally spring up to startle and/or kill various characters.

By all means check out the movie when it opens in Mesquite next week - maybe you'll even get a chance to see Clay Dix perform some extreme motorcycle stunts out in front of the theater.