Deadman's Curve

Deadman's Curve (1978)

California in the early 60s... Fast living and instant fame until the music stopped

Things were cool. Chicks were pretty. Waves were groovy. Cars had muscle. Jan and Dean rode their wave to the top of the pop charts. Then, in 1966, on their way to becoming rock and roll legends, they have to cope with a devastating car crash that leaves Jan brain-damaged and their dreams shattered.

Date of release
1978-02-03
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Drama, History, TV Movie
Director
Richard Compton

Casting

Interesting facts

Deadman's Curve is a 1978 American made-for-television biographical film based on the musical careers of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence. The film was developed from a 1974 article published in Rolling Stone by Paul Morantz, who also helped write the screenplay.

Production

In May 1977 CBS announced they would make the film. The film was one of the first telemovies made by EMI television.

"Doing the film was a chance to let the world know there was a reason Jan was no longer making records," said Dean. "He had gotten tired of hearing 'I thought you'd just retired from the business and faded into obscurity'."

The film inexplicably begins with Jan & Dean performing at a concert in July, 1966 hosted by Dick Clark. At that time Jan Berry was actually in the hospital, beginning the arduous task of recovering from his near-fatal car crash of three months earlier.

The film ends with Jan and Dean singing again triumphantly after the audience boos at them for lip synching. In reality, they attempted to perform in 1972 but were booed for lip synching. They did perform again in 1974. The film makes it seem like this happened on the same night.

The Los Angeles Times called it "shallow entertainment". The New York Times said the film was made "efficiently, if not imaginatively" with an "outstanding" performance from Davison.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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