Theme Song: “Theme From Spree” performed by True.
This is a feel-good California ballad.
Interesting Dated References: People considering the desert somewhere to go have fun.
Social Context: Another riff on the humans-hunting-humans subgenre that inexplicably starts as a wacky high school sex comedy.
Summary:A bunch of goofy teens with a boogie van and multi-color condoms hit the road in search of desert fun.
But then they immediately roll their van, all walking away uninjured but trapped in the sweltering desert. They happen upon some guys waiting by a large cargo van who immediately start plying the teens with warm Tecate.
Things are lighthearted with dancing and singing and mutual flirting for a reasonable length of the movie; then things shift pretty rapidly when two of the men rape one of the girls and kill her boyfriend. The group of teens takes off, and the bad guys with the van are revealed to be drug dealers awaiting a shipment.
A chase ensues, with motorcycles and people sweating in the desert, which eventually leads to gunfire and explosions. Not a lot of thought is put into this, and almost no character development is provided, but it ends up being a good watch, if ultimately unremarkable.
Worth Mentioning:
– Filmed in 1977 as Spree, released in 1979 as Survival Run.
– This movie has at least 20 minutes of singing sequences, including one around a campfire and one while the kids drink warm Tecate. The second one goes on and on clearly to stretch the runtime.
– Peter Graves (Airplane!) and Ray Milland do some nice overacting as the main bad guys. In fact, in almost every scene, people are genuinely hamming it up for the camera, which is nice to see in a low-budget affair like this.
Poster and Box Art: The Spree poster has some nice design. I can’t find info on whether this was only theatrical.
The official Survival Run poster and box is amazing through and through.
Look at that custom-type treatment and the awesome airbrush/photo hybrid. It’s insane, and I can’t find a credit anywhere.