Mystery Movie: SPLIT-SECOND SMOKEY

Our buddy Eric Harvey of Serious Exploitation posted on AV Maniacs almost 3 years ago (when it was still known as DVD Maniacs) looking for information about DON'T BLEED ON ME, a movie title he found in a Jacksonville, FL theater listing in January of 1983. The co-feature was the Shaw Brothers' FLYING GUILLOTINE, so we both suspected that DON'T BLEED ON ME was also a martial arts flick, albeit a pretty damn obscure one that we'd never heard of and couldn't find a shread of information on anywhere. Well, the mystery has been solved thanks to Matthew Allison, another AV Maniacs member, who found the one-sheet photo below on eBay and brought it to our attention.


Excellent work, Matt! This one had us stumped for a long time.

Now Eric has another mystery movie. This one is called SPLIT-SECOND SMOKEY, which Eric found in a Miami News theater clock in 1980. The ad we've posted above ran in the Atlanta Constitution in October 1978, offers no credits to go on except for a PG rating, and features cut-and-paste artwork ripped off from the BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY and RIDE IN A PINK CAR ad campaigns. Obviously this is another movie that has been re-titled by a subdistributor trying desperately to ride the box-office coattails of GONE IN 60 SECONDS and SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.

So, what the heck is SPLIT-SECOND SMOKEY?


It's DOUBLE NICKELS from 1977, featuring GONE IN 60 SECONDS cinematographer Jack Vacek in the lead role as "Smokey," a California highway patrolman who moonlights as a repo man. Vacek also co-wrote, produced, and directed this entertaining car chase actioner, which can be found on at least one cheapo DVD 10-pack.

Mystery solved!

Now, turning our attention back to RIP-SAW RAPES... Anyone?