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Rating: Country: U.S.A. Release Date: August 15, 2006 Distributor: Anchor Bay Director: · Jonathan Kaplan Cast: · Bonnie Bedelia · Jesse Aragon · Beau Bridges · Bruce Barlow · Leo Rossi · Anthony Edwards · Hoyt Axton Related Sites: · Official Site: Shirley Muldowney · Official Site: NHRA · IMDb: Heart Like A Wheel Grade: B+

Bonnie Bedelia stars as real-life Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney, the "First Lady of Drag Racing" and the first woman to receive a license to drive a Top Fuel dragster by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). "Heart Like a Wheel" chronicles the sexist hurdles Muldowney overcame during her initial love of the sport, through her NHRA Top Fuel championships in 1977 and 1980. Bedelia's performance earned her a Golden Globe® nomination as Best Actress. This release is touted as a 25th anniversary edition and somebody in marketing apparently can't count, because the film hit the theaters in 1983 and, well... do the math. The package text lists an alternate ending which doesn't exist on the disc, but those are the only two gripes I have with it.

Young Shirley learned to love speed at an early age, steering down the back roads of Schenectady, New York on the lap of her father (Hoyt Axton) and, later, during late-night drag races with mechanic Jack Muldowney (Leo Rossi), who would soon become her husband. She caught the drag racing bug and settled into a routine of participating in local races in cars built by Jack. He tired of the grind -- racing had never been more than a hobby to him -- and attempted to limit Shirley's racing schedule so she could spend more time attending to him and their son John (played as an adult by Anthony Edwards). She's determined, though, to break into the male-only pro circuit and when she does, she defies long odds by winning in Jack's skillfully assembled cars. Jealous of Shirley's success, Jack's objections turn abusive and violent. A particularly harrowing scene has Shirley coming home one evening to find her one and only race car completely trashed by Jack and sitting in a heap along the road. This led directly to their breakup, with Shirley alone to pursue her racing dreams.

Fellow racer Connie Kalitta (Beau Bridges) recruited signatures from other drivers, including legendary drag racing pioneer "Big Daddy" Don Garlits (Bill McKinney), to help Shirley obtain her racing license necessary to compete. What began as Kalitta's affectionate attention blossomed into a volatile love affair. You see, Kalitta had a "stay-at-home" wife who didn't join her husband on the racing circuit. But Kalitta didn't stop with Shirley. He managed a womanizing juggling act which he fumbled when one of his ladies contacted Shirley to swap affair stories. Before that revelation, though, Kalitta served as Shirley's crew chief en route to her first NHRA title. Only in the aftermath of the championship did Shirley realize that Kalitta's cheating ways would continue on. And so, for her future welfare, she publicly dumped Kalitta. By now, Shirley's earned the grudging respect of most of her fellow drivers, though it would be a couple years of struggle to attain the level of success she had enjoyed, culminating in a repeat championship in 1980. Through it all she managed to raise a son, and even retained amiable contact with her former husband. But, most of all, she broke down barriers that all of the current female drag racers have the privilege of walking through.

The racing action is well represented, and reasonably explained. It doesn't obsess over specific details and results, instead finding the right mix of sporting excitement to keep from alienating the non-fan. It's difficult to put into perspective the spectacle of accelerating to over 200 miles-per-hour in just a quarter of a mile, and it does about as well as can be expected from a two-dimensional medium. There's an eye-popping scene that depicts a crash, with the entire engine bouncing down the track from the wreckage in slow motion. Bedelia and Bridges make a superb movie couple, which makes the film's climactic scene between them all the more intense and painful to watch. The story is well told without being patronizing or exploitative. A drag racing chick flick -- who'd have thunk it?

Special Features

Audio Commentary with Director Jonathan Kaplan

Shirley Muldowney: Behind The Wheel - The real story behind the movie featuring new interviews with Shirley Muldowney, Connie Kalitta, Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo and more. Muldowney comes off as feisty and opinionated as ever. While the recap of her racing career was interesting enough, what was more fascinated was that the story didn't end with the movie. She's had quite a few life-changing events since 1982, which is when the movie concludes. She suffered a near-fatal crash in 1984 when a front tire failed during qualifying at an NHRA event in Montreal, Canada, causing a high speed crash at over 250 mph. In addition to other injuries, her legs were so badly broken they required extensive and repeated surgeries simply to enable her to walk again. After a year and a half of rehabilitation, she finally returned to the drag strip to resume her career. She married her long-time crew chief Rahn Tobler. She concluded thirty years of racing and retired after the 2003 season. (35 minutes)

Friends • Rivals • Champions - Shirley Muldowney, Don Garlits and Connie Kalitta reminisce about their careers in an all-new, once-in-a-lifetime discussion. This was really a treat, as it's not your typical "mutual admiration society" with the makers of the film. At all. Only because of their revered status could they have gotten away with so much bad-mouthing, and have it be released with the very film they're mocking. Muldowney wasn't too thrilled with Bedelia (who reportedly didn't like cars or racing) nor the conglomeration of four separate crashes she had into one fiery wreck. Garlits didn't like his portrayal as a redneck. Kalitta still looks like a guilty womanizer. This is great stuff. (20 minutes)

Deleted Scenes - Mostly additional material for the scene with Paul Bartel as a TV chef (this entire sequence could have easily been left out of the movie, to no one's detriment) which is really quite bad.

NHRA Promo

Poster & Still Gallery - color scenes from the movie, and shots of Bedelia with Muldowney.

Theatrical Trailer

Previews - "Turning Point," "Kenny & Co.," "Rhinestone," "Six Pack"