Stingray (1978)

In St. Louis, at nighttime, a pair of small-time crooks, Murray Lonigan and his partner Tony Agrosio are attempting to exchange bags of heroin for a briefcase of cash by two shady drug dealers. The deal goes awry when Tony spots a tracking device planted on one of the packs of money and he and Lonigan shoot both men dead and take off in their car.

When they start hearing police sirens, the two speed onto a nearby car lot and stash the briefcase and heroin in a red 1964 Corvette Stingray convertible. As they speed away, the alerted owner goes outside, but seeing nobody, he puts a sale sign on the Corvette's windshield. Later, at a local drive-in restaurant, Longian and Tony are casually enjoying their dinner when the cops show up to arrest them. After being held in jail for twenty-four hours, the disgruntled Lt. Herschel is forced to let the pair go when the cops were unable to find any evidence, but Herschel, out of spite, still orders Sgt. Murphy to follow them as he wants them put away, for good. As Lonigan and Tony head for the elevator, they run into their former leader, Abigail Bartowski, who is disguised as a nun and is wanted in several states. The three head to the car and Murphy chases after them, but his car gets totaled after jumping down a steep hill. They think they need more reinforcement and bring along fellow hit man Rosco. When they arrive at the car lot, they find the car is being bought by two pals, Al and Elmo. The group immediately chase after them as they roar out of the lot, but Al is immediately pulled over for speeding. Fearing the cops will find the money and drugs, Abigail orders the others to shoot the two policemen in a drive-by ambush. Later, Al discovers an all-points bulletin has been called out for him and Elmo by mistake and Al thinks they should go to the police and explain the whole situation, but choose not to, when they are mistaken for the killers by a passing squad car and are chased away by gunfire. Meanwhile, Lonigan and the gang again catch up with Al and Elmo, thanks to a tracking device Lonigan bought. Herschel and Murphy also spot them and give chase, but the car gets damaged when a fallen ladder destroys the engine. The chase also disrupts a concert in a nearby park, knocking over the musicians and the stage. Al and Elmo eventually leave town, but they run out of gas and pull off at a service station. Al decides to phone the police, but Elmo notices the bags of heroin in the backseat and persuades Al that they should peddle the heroin or end up dead. They quickly hurry to fill up the car, but when Lonigan spots them, Al quickly peels away and Elmo takes off into the woods, pursued by Abigail and Rosco. Lonigian and Tony chase after Al into a construction area, where he pushes their car with a bulldozer against a hill of gravel. In the woods, Rosco gets into a scuffle with Abigail over the machine gun and tries to grab it, but she accidentally shoots and kills him. She and Elmo engage in another chase on stolen motorbikes, but Abigail's bike runs out of gas, reunites with Lonigan and Tony, and frees their car with the bulldozer. As night falls, Al pulls off at a bar to relax and Elmo arrives shortly after and cleans up in the bathroom. As Lonigan and the others indicate Al and Elmo are inside, they go in as a bar patron begins to hit on Abigail and she sets his crotch on fire and triggering a brawl with other patrons. Al runs into the bathroom and he and Elmo escape out of a narrow window, but run into Tony holding the machine gun. Elmo knocks him out after he punches Al and they both escape. Fed up with Abigail and refusing to let her have all the riches, Lonigan and Tony decide to ditch her, for good. Soon after, Herschel and Murphy arrive to see the bar in disarray and Herschel orders Murphy to put out an all-points bulletin on the three criminals. The next day, Al and Elmo are seen driving home and pick up an attractive hitchhiker. Elmo then decides the only way to avoid getting spotted is repainting the car. Meanwhile, as Lonigan and Tony are staking out the body shop the two guys are in, Lonigan is stabbed in the neck with an ice pick by Abigail, who managed to track them down. She is ready to kill Tony, but decides to spare his life, as long as he shares the money with her. The thee hide at a car wash, only to accidentally have the car's new paint job washed off. Abigail and Tony spot them and engage in a final chase that ends on a dead end embankment road. As Al and the hitchhiker run off, Elmo takes the machine gun that Tony accidentally left behind and shoots up their car, blasting the engine to ruins. Abigail is ready to shoot him, but is shot in the ribs by Tony. Thinking Abigail is dead, he collects the heroin Elmo left behind and ready to take off in the car, but Abigail, badly injured, sits up and shoots Tony to his death. She staggers to her feet and tries to get in the car, but the shotgun Tony had leans against the car door and the charge ignites, shooting her in the head. A convoy of police officers, including Herschel and Murphy, arrive on the scene to notice the dead bodies, including Lonigan's in the back of their car. Later on, the three begin finding various fifty and hundred dollar bills laying around the area. They find out it came from a jacket that was in the Corvette. They spot a derelict running off with it, chase after him, and corner him on a bridge walkway. Spooked, the derelict decides he does not want the jacket anymore and throws it onto a support pole. Al goes out, retrieves it, and throws it back onto the walkway, but loses his grip and falls in the water. Elmo runs over, gets the jacket, and waits for Al to come up, but does not. As a guilt-ridden Elmo and the hitchhiker are seen sitting on the shore as the sun sets, they notice Al's body floating towards them. Finding out that Al just played a prank, the two begin fighting in the water. When the hitchhiker is unable to break up the fight, she takes the jacket and walks off. The two catch up to her as Al declares they should still go to the police, but Elmo manages to persuade them that they should spend it all on a trip to Bolivia and the three happily skip away.