Deuce of Spades – The Hot Rod Movie
September 2, 2008 by pikesan
How long has it been since you were excited about a car movie? Looking back there were a few good car movies, (Who remembers Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry) especially my all time favorite “American Graffiti”. Has there been or will there ever be a car movie with such massive appeal and with an equally massive following? Released in 1973, American Graffiti still spawns clone cars and I saw “John Milner” (Paul Le Mat) at this year’s Grand National Roadster Show. Wikopedia’s got a ton to say about American Graffiti, but none more amazing then this: Graffiti is the highest cost-to-profit success in film history.
When I first saw the trailer for Deuce of Spades, the first thing I thought of was American Graffiti. Deuce of Spades is a true car movie and it’s focused purely on hot rods. I can’t wait. I’m not saying they’re similar, because they’re not!
Faith Granger, the woman (yea, a woman) behind Deuce of Spades tells me, ” American Graffiti is a feel good movie about cruising and coming of age… and having fun.” Deuce of Spades, on the other hand, is “An epic drama. It’s a long, intense, fun and at times a tear-jerker. It’s very dark and deep, inspiring and artistic and fun too! It’s a hot rod film with substance and that in itself has never been attempted.”
More about Faith Granger… I struggled how to describe her then decided to call her the mother of Deuce of Spades. It’s the only thing that fits because she’s doing nearly everything to make this movie:
Its her idea and she wrote it
She’s filming (actually holding the camera!) directing and producing it
She’s editing it and doing about half the music herself (the other half is donated by some cool 50’s style rockabilly artists)
Heck, it’s even her car featured as the star of the movie.
Faith is, in her words, “a Hot Rod girl extraordinaire, renaissance woman, chick of many hats, master juggler, jack of all trades and master of a couple…” No kidding. Faith believes she should have been born in the US, but some how started life in France. A self taught singer/songwriter and guitar player since age 7, at 10, Faith left France for Beirut. 5 months into her stay in Beirut, a civil war broke out. Yea, really! Persevering and eventually finding success in music, radio and even some modeling and acting, she followed her heart and landed in Los Angeles with a suitcase and $400.
That doesn’t sound like somone who can make a convincing hot rod movie does it? There’s more. Faith’s passion for all things mechanical started when she was 12. Everything from sneaking a peak at a mechanic’s handbook under her desk in class to tearing apart her dad’s carb to clean it, Faith liked to get her hands dirty and says, “I was a real tomboy.” She started with motorcycles, then a couple years later go into cars. Finally, she got her hands on the smooth deuce roadster in the film. (more on that in another blog)
Fast forward to January 2007 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA. Faith, to celebrate her Deuce roadster’s 75th birthday, Faith decided to make a short movie called “Last of the Hiboy Girls” honoring women and their old Ford roadsters. As Faith enjoyed watching the car show audience stop and spend a full hour watching her movie (forgetting about the rest of the show) she knew she had to make her own featured film. Deuce of Spades was born. A film true to the era, true to the cars and true to the spirit of hot rodding.
There’s so much more to say about Faith and this movie, but I’ll end it here with this movie trailer for Deuce of Spades. When I first saw it, I immediately contacted Faith to find out who she was and how I can help her with promote the film. Deuce of Spades is almost done now and should be available Spring 2009. With everything she’s done herself, she’s enjoyed, “Full artistic control, pure artistic endeavor” while at the same time, “Glorifying the old jalopies and telling their side of the story for a change.” Sounds great, but that also means she’s footing the bill herself; true, “Indie” film style. If the spirit of the movie moves you, make a donation here. Faith’s having trouble feeding her actors on set, so it’d needed!
Make sure you leave a comment about the trailer here to encourage her. I’ll write more to help her tease the movie later. It’s gonna be great!
Movie Trailer
Nice job on that Pike.
I think Faith would be happy.
Hey Devin,
She is happy, she proof read it for me!
It’s gonna be a great hot rod movie…
cant wait for this movie looks better than american graffiti
Can’t wait! When’s the release for us to see??
Thanks for the comment! I think we’ll have to wait a while longer on “Deuce of Spades”. I’ll keep my ears open and announce as soon as I know when the movie’s available.
Lot of language, too bad that had to be included. I would have to watch with TV Guardian dont mind the craps and dangs once in awhile but the GD’s there is no need for that! Love Hot Rodding and the reason but that talk don’t enhance nothing for me! But I’m just one guy!
55 Mike
Hey Mike, Thanks for your comment. I disagree.
Every part of this movie is true to the time. If that’s the way people (especially the characters in this movie) spoke back then, which it’s my guess they did, then changing that would not be good for the movie.
Faith is truly a one of a kind chick, and all of us in the hot rod community would do well to back her up in every way possible on what she is doing for all of us. Any info on the earlier flick she did “Last of the High Boy Girls”, like availability etc? Thanx
hello everyone!
A few answers to your questions:
Looks like release will not take place before the fall of 2009… It remains very hard to predict, because good cinematography cannot be rushed. So let’s all keep our fingers crossed!
Careful attention was paid to the authenticity of the dialogues, including the slangs used as well as the swears. My initial script had no swears at all but when I ran it by my old timers, they all said that guys did swear back then, quite a bit for some, although never in front of the ladies. They helped me rework the dialogues to make them more “real” and period correct. Some of the situations, depicting conflicts, or tension, called for swears. But there are many scenes that have no foul language, so it is not as bad as you think. The teasers ended up with quite a few swear words. I know some people are offended by the GDI, I personally am not and I am a Christian myself. I believe the realistic hard core language used by some of the characters contributes to add an element of true gritt, which I can sink my teeth into. I like that. This is, afterall, not a Disney film. :)
Last of the Hiboy Girls was a home made documentary, shot from the hip with a $200 camera and done solely for my roadster display at the 75th anniversary of the Deuce Grand National Roadster Show. It was that documentary that inspired me to make a feature film. It is not available for sale.
If anyone else has questions fire away, I will be glad to answer them.
Now back to work! I got a film to finish LOL. :)
Hey, that looks pretty good! Can’t wait! Not any good hot rod films out there.
Writing from Canada…just stumbled across this site through Google images. Looks great!!! 2 questions – is Jalopy Race part of the Movie Deuce of Spades or is that another movie entirely on its own?
2) Any release date…and any way I can see it up in Canada or how can I purchase a copy?
Keep making films!! Great job.
Jan Pastucha
Hey Jan,
The Jalopy race is a small clip of the movie Deuce of Spades. I know that Faith is working hard to finish the movie and I think she’s almost done. The movie will be available all over, don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll get a copy.
I just got back from the Daytona Dream Cruise this weekend, where “Deuce of Spades” was test-shown. I wanted to like it. I really did. But I couldn’t. When…IF…the movie is ever released and you see it, you’ll understand why.
The writing is amateur, the acting is stilted. The cut we all saw ran over two hours. Every time we thought “OK, it’s finally over!” yet another tedious flashback sequence occurred. Why didn’t we leave? It’s like watching a train wreck, it’s fascinating to watch. Key sequences were filmed at night and so dark you couldn’t make out what was going on onscreen. The lead character (how narcissistic is it of the director to name the lead character after herself?!) had an odd accent that was never explained in this set-in-America movie. I’m sure the curse words used were there to bump up the rating of the film from G or PG to PG13, theoretically attracting more movie-goers. There was the flagrant use of the word “whop” to refer to an Italian character. If they had been black, what do you think the black community would have thought of the repeated use of ‘n*gger’? Hugely offensive to me. And, no, I’m not Italian.
Sorry to disappoint, this is by no means a modern “American Graffiti.”