King of the Mountain (film)

Infobox Film | name =King of The Mountain
caption =
producer =Jack Frost Sanders
writer = Leigh Chapman
H.R. Christian
starring = Harry Hamlin
Joseph Bottoms
Deborah Van Valkenburgh
Richard Cox
Seymour Cassel
Dennis Hopper
director = Noel Nosseck
distributor =Universal
released =1981
runtime = 90 min.
language = English
music =
budget = $Unknown
imdb_id = 0082619

King Of The Mountain is a 1981 film starring Harry Hamlin, Joseph Bottoms, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Richard Cox, Seymour Cassel and Dennis Hopper about a group that race their cars up and down Mulholland Drive for both money and prestige.

The film's primary focus is Steve (Harry Hamlin), who has found himself generally content with his uncomplicated life of working and racing. This creates some amount of tension between him and his friends, who have been losing their interest in racing and have been attempting to make serious inroads in the music industry. Steve's blossoming relationship with singer Tina (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) causes him to re-think his mantra, as he realizes that a truly fulfilling life involves more than just work and play.

The film was poorly regarded critically and did not perform well in the box office, although it was significant in being among the first films about street racing. It also marked somewhat of a return for Dennis Hopper, who had spent several months secluded away from Los Angeles prior to making his appearance.

Story

Steve works at a Porsche repair garage by day but by night reigns as the "King of The Mountain", the most successful and talented of a group that organize, wager on and participate in races up and down the narrow, winding roads of Mulholland Drive in the hills on the edge of the San Fernando Valley. In his highly tuned 356 Speedster, Steve races against both newcomers and veterans alike, never really considering the risks associated with the lifestyle or if there might be more for him elsewhere.

The film's climax depicts a dangerous, high speed race down the hill between Steve and Cal (Dennis Hopper), the former King who still clings to his aging and dilapidated Corvette.

Trivia

* Harry Hamlin's Speedster was actually a modified Volkswagen Beetle based kit car wearing a replica body with flared fenders; actual Speedsters did not have the flares. This was done primarily because real Speedsters are very rare, it would have been difficult and expensive to locate a real one for rent and the possibility of damaging the vehicle was too great.

* Dennis Hopper actually drove his character's Corvette on at least one instance to get footage for the film's climactic race. The vehicle was fitted with three compact Arri cameras, each with a three hundred foot roll of film installed and each connected to an in-cabin switch allowing Hopper to turn them on when he started and off when the film ran out.

* On the day he was to get the footage, Hopper was reportedly very drunk; he'd spent the day in his trailer drinking beer. Despite crew protests, director Noel Nosseck allowed Hopper to drive the car, and according to crew members he entered the car with a fresh six-pack. After taking off, he spent almost an hour in the vehicle despite there being only enough film for a few minutes of footage, and returned with the six-pack empty.