Christine

Christine (1983)
Director: John Carpenter Cast: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton
Memorable line: "There's nothing like being behind the wheel of your own car!"

A boy and his first love. In the case of Christine, the first love is a car and there's something quite unholy about this story of devotion.

The Plot of Christine
Arnie (Gordon) and Dennis (Stockwell) are best friends. Arnie is the nerd and Dennis is the star athlete. Things are status quo until Christine enters. Christine is a 1958 Plymouth who, from the first look at her, looks like her best years are behind her and is well past recovery, but there's something sinister beneath her hood that draws the nerdy Arnie to the car, but it isn't something he recognizes.

Against all better judgment, Arnie buys Christine and takes her to a local garage which is under the auspicious of the incorrigible Mr. Darnell (Prosky) and Arnie begins his love affair with Christine and he starts to rehab her. A dual transformation occur during the rehab project -- Christine returns to splendor and Arnie emerges from his nerdy shell to become more confident, assertive and even a little dangerous - which attracts the new girl to school, the sexy, yet innocent, Leigh (Paul).

The all-new Arnie seems like an improvement at first, but the evolution doesn't cease and Arnie turns from being playfully dangerous to outright dangerous. Christine becomes lethal, too. Leigh is a threat to Christine as Arnie's devotion turns her way and when Leigh almost dies in the car, she refuses to go with Arnie anymore and Arnie is forced to choose -- the car or the girl. The bond is too strong and Arnie sticks with Christine.
All along this evolution, Arnie tangles with local hoods who in retribution from being expelled from school "because of Arnie," decide to trash Christine and do a pretty thorough job. But Christine decides to enact revenge in the most lethal way.

Both Dennis and Leigh decide it's time to break-up the unholy couple before it's too late. But will they be in time.?

The Performances, Writing, and Direction of Christine
Christine is based on the Stephen King bestseller by the same name and this is one of Carpenter's more polished movies. The action scenes are well directed and the character relationships seem genuine and provide a real depth to the movie that could have been missing. Gordon performs well in the ugly duckling emerging role and quite convincing as both the nerd and the man with menace in his eyes. Stockwell and Paul are handed difficult roles as the sympathetic friend and girlfriend, but they pull them off. Stockwell is more convincing than Paul who keeps her acting simple. Prosky eats screen real estate when he's on screen is a well written supporting role.

Carpenter keeps it all moving like a well oiled car all the way up to the end with only some slight hitches in the climax. He does a good job of making the characters real instead of just cardboard cut-outs for the plot. Carpenter intersperses '50's music throughout the movie for great affect.

Also, the special effects with Christine "healing" herself are fantastic.

Summary Judgment on Christine
While Christine will never be considered cinema-art, it does have a solid story beneath it and Carpenter balances out keeping the character's identifiable and likable with the action/horror. With his touches, Christine could have become completely forgettable, but there's a well made film here.