Well, if you’re going to hell, I guess a hot rod is as good
a means of transportation as any.
1967 was a banner year at the movies for me. I was just ten years old,
but in that single year I saw Casino Royale; Valley of the Dolls; Bonnie& Clyde; Wait Until Dark; Far From the Madding Crowd; To Sir, With Love; Up the Down Staircase; Barefoot
in the Park; Thoroughly Modern Millie;
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?; and The Happening. Barely a kiddie movie in
the bunch! Each was a film I was dying to see, and each, save for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, has become
a lifelong favorite. (Good intentions notwithstanding, that movie really hasn’t aged
well for me. 108 minutes of watching human paragon, practically-perfect-in-every-way,
Sidney Poitier having his feet put to the fire for the privilege of marrying,
as one critic put it, “vapid virgin” Katharine Houghton, begs a tolerance of a sort different from what that movie was endorsing.)
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| On the Road Carolyn Cassady, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac...or an unreasonable facsimile thereof |
These days, I’d consider it a small miracle if I see even TWO
memorable films in the same year, much less the bumper crop of greats 1967 yielded. But thanks to the lax admission policies of movie theaters in those pre-ratings
code days, I was able, in spite of my tender years, to see practically any film
I had a mind to…and usually did. But no matter how mature I imagined myself to
be at the time, I was still only a kid, so on occasion, my budding aesthetics didn't always
steer me toward the quality stuff. For example: in spite of my weakness for
movies with mature themes that were way over my head, The Graduate, Two for the Road, and Reflections in a Golden Eye
– films I now consider to be among the best that 1967 had to offer – held
absolutely no interest for me during their initial theatrical runs. Instead, my
imagination and attentions were seized by two Drive-In caliber B-movies that
were being given the big push on TV back then: Born Losers and Hot
Rods to Hell.
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| Get Your Kicks on Route 66 |
Why, you ask? Well, for starters, the commercials for Born Losers (Tom Laughlin’s biker flick that
marked the debut of his Billy Jack character) prominently featured a girl on a
motorcycle in a bikini and go-go boots (Elizabeth James) who looked a lot like
Liza Minnelli (oddly enough, a crush of mine even at that early age). While Hot Rods to Hell had, in addition to that simply irresistible title, commercials showcasing a screaming teenager (Laurie
Mock) who bore a strong resemblance to another one of my preteen,
gay-in-training crushes, Cher. Unfortunately, both films came and went from the
local moviehouse so quickly that I never got to see them until many years
later.
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| Psycho-Chick |
While my interest in Born
Losers dissipated as Billy Jack grew
into a pretentious vigilante franchise during the '70s (I finally got around to
seeing Born Losers on TCM a year or
so ago, and while it’s a lot of lurid fun - especially full-figured gal, Jane
Russell, in a small role – once is definitely enough), Hot Rods to Hell, which I was lucky enough to see at a revival
theater in Los Angeles sometime in the 80s, was well worth the wait. An example of Grade-A, Drive-In kitsch
at its finest, Hot Rods to Hell-arious
is a camp hybrid of 1950s drag race exploitation films and those reactionary, youth-gone-wild, juvenile delinquency social problem flicks - all with a suburban midlife-crisis “reclaim your manhood” domestic melodrama thrown in for good measure. It’s a gas!
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| Dana Andrews as Tom Phillips |
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| Jeanne Crain as Peg Phillips |
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| Laurie Mock as Tina Phillips |
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| Mimsy Farmer as Gloria |
After suffering a spinal injury in a nasty Christmas season
auto accident, Boston traveling salesman, Tom Phillips (Andrews), emerges a
broken and shaken man (“It all came back
to me. The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes… ‘Jingle Bells’…”). On the
mend from his external injuries, Tom nevertheless carries within him an ugly, shameful
disease. A pitiable malady bordering on the abhorrent if discovered, even in
minuscule traces, within the stoic, bread-winning, man-of-the-house, post-50s
suburban macho American male.
That disease is insecurity. Yes, folks, Tom’s self-image and the entire foundation of his '60s-mandated nuclear family teeter on the verge of collapse under the strain of Daddy actually having an emotional reaction to almost losing his life in an auto accident. How dare he! Men just don't DO that!
That disease is insecurity. Yes, folks, Tom’s self-image and the entire foundation of his '60s-mandated nuclear family teeter on the verge of collapse under the strain of Daddy actually having an emotional reaction to almost losing his life in an auto accident. How dare he! Men just don't DO that!
Passages of Hot Rods to Hell's screenplay reads like a Ward Cleaver lecture on the perils of middle-class/middle-aged men having their masculinity usurped due to the enfeebling act of having feelings. To make his humiliation complete, not only is it his wife Peg who decides to make the move to California, but en route (*gasp*), she does all the driving!
The subtext of this film seems to be that this nation is going to hell in a hot rod because manhood is under threat.
Under the advisement of his physician to take things easier (“What does the doctor think he is, a MENTAL case?” bellows Tom’s compassionate brother), Tom agrees to leave Boston and assume management duties at a thriving motel in the small desert community of Mayville, California. On board with the whole relocation thing are supportive wife, Peg (Crain), and freckle-faced, “all-boy” towhead son, Jamie (Jeffrey Byron). The sole holdout is daughter Tina: an early prototype of the sullen, eye-rolling Goth teen and walking Petrie dish of festering hormonal agitation. "All the kids drag, Dad!" she spews, with typical adolescent bile, in reference to short-distance car racing, not (as I'd hoped) an unknown to me '60s trend in teenage cross-dressing.
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| Boss Finley Can't Cut the Mustard Or so wrote Miss Lucy in lipstick on the ladies room mirror at the Royal Palms Hotel in "Sweet Bird of Youth." The topic then was sexual impotence, and Tennessee Williams couldn't address it with any more candor in 1963 than this 1966 TV movie (Hot Rods to Hell was originally intended to be a television release). There's a lot of talk about Tom's bad back, but it's pretty clear that there's also some trouble up front. Here Dana Andrews uses his semi-stiff, trembling hand as a metaphor for his underperforming man parts. Jeanne Crain's look sums it up. |
Under the advisement of his physician to take things easier (“What does the doctor think he is, a MENTAL case?” bellows Tom’s compassionate brother), Tom agrees to leave Boston and assume management duties at a thriving motel in the small desert community of Mayville, California. On board with the whole relocation thing are supportive wife, Peg (Crain), and freckle-faced, “all-boy” towhead son, Jamie (Jeffrey Byron). The sole holdout is daughter Tina: an early prototype of the sullen, eye-rolling Goth teen and walking Petrie dish of festering hormonal agitation. "All the kids drag, Dad!" she spews, with typical adolescent bile, in reference to short-distance car racing, not (as I'd hoped) an unknown to me '60s trend in teenage cross-dressing.
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| Little Jamie's dominant character trait is taking frequent passive-aggressive swipes at his father's masculinity |
With everyone loaded into their pre-seatbelts station wagon, the Phillips' motor cross-country to Mayville. We aren't shown anything of the first leg
of their road trip, but things take an instant turn for the melodramatic once
they hit California. Depicted as a vast landscape of open
roads devoted to car culture and thrill-seeking teens, 1960s California takes on the feel of the Old West once the
Phillips’ gas-powered covered wagon catches the attention of a trio of
exceptionally clean-cut juvenile
delinquents (they all come from "good" wealthy families).
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| The Mild Bunch Gene Kirkwood as Ernie / Paul Bertoya as Duke |
What follows is a comically escalating game of cat-and-mouse where what began as high-spirited, run 'em off the road kicks (“Everybody’s
out for kicks. What else is there?”), gets rapidly out of hand. Soon the road-hogging hot-rodders
make it their business to see that Tom Phillips and family never reach their
destination (square Mr. Phillips plans to crack down on the "fun" once he takes over that motel) or get the chance to squeal to the police (or “Poh-lease” as Dana
Andrews peculiarly intones).
Passions flare, dust flies, tires screech, rock music blares, and everybody either overacts shamelessly or unconvincingly. Meanwhile, many questions arise: Will Peg ever stop treating Tina like a child? Will good-girl Tina succumb to the skeevy lure of bad boys? Will little Jamie’s respect for his father ever be restored? Does Tom still have the ol’ poop, or has he lost it forever? The answers to these, and several other questions you don't really care about, are answered in Hot Rods to Hell.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS MOVIE
PERFORMANCES
If you've never seen veteran actors Dana Andrews or Jeanne Crain in a film before, I beg you, don't start with this one. Hot Rods to Hell will leave you wondering how they ever had careers in the first place. This is their fourth film together (State Fair - 1945 / Duel in the Jungle -1954/ Madison Avenue -1962), and to say the photogenic duo went out with a whimper would be a gross understatement. Andrews, hampered by a makeup artist who must have been trained during the days of the silents, is so unrelentingly stiff and gruff, he's a figure of derision long before his character has a chance to be made sympathetic. Hammily scowling and grimacing in his Sansabelt slacks, this is far from Andrews' finest hour, but he's awfully entertaining.
But a special Oscar should have been awarded to Jeanne Crain, who not only looks lovely in her matronly Sydney Guilaroff coiffure, but overacts so strenuously she takes the entire film to a level of hilarity unimaginable without her devoted contribution. Let's take a moment to pay tribute:
THE STUFF OF FANTASY
Aside from the creaky source material, what further contributes to Hot Rods to Hell feeling like a movie made at least ten years earlier is the fact that its 55-year-old screenwriter, Robert E. Kent (co-writer of Dana Andrews' vastly superior 1950 film, Where the Sidewalk Ends) was probably drawing his knowledge of teenage behavior from screenplays he wrote for a slew of early 60s / late-50 rock & roll exploitation films. Movies with sound-alike titles (and look-alike plots): Twist Around the Clock (1961), Don't Knock the Twist (1962), Rock Around the Clock (1956) and Don't Knock The Rock (1956). All containing portrayals of teenage life firmly entrenched in the Eisenhower years. Similarly, Hot Rods to Hell's potential for even a moderately authentic depiction of teen behavior was no-doubt hampered by having a director in his 70s at the helm (John Brahm, surprisingly, the man behind the marvelous 1944 version of The Lodger).
The many decades of behind-the-camera moviemaking experience involved in Hot Rods to Hell lends the film a professional gloss frequently at odds with its small-budget incompetence. The film's poorly executed day-for-night effects play havoc with the time-frame continuity of the film's third-act action setpiece. What time of day is it actually - is it dawn...is it dusk...is it midnight?
THE STUFF OF DREAMS
A prime ingredient for the enjoyment of any bad film is often the degree of earnestness displayed by those involved. Like Joan Crawford in the Grade-Z cheapie, Trog, I don’t believe anyone in Hot Rods to Hell had any illusions about the caliber of film they were making, yet that didn't prevent them from pulling out all the acting stops and carrying on as though they were appearing in The Grapes of Wrath. Professional ineptitude without some kind of artistic aspiration or pretension is simply boring, so what qualifies Hot Rods to Hell as one of those top-notch bad movies I can watch over and over again is the sense that everyone in it is clearly giving it all they've got...and THIS is the best they were able to come up with.
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Copyright © Ken Anderson 2009 - 2014
Passions flare, dust flies, tires screech, rock music blares, and everybody either overacts shamelessly or unconvincingly. Meanwhile, many questions arise: Will Peg ever stop treating Tina like a child? Will good-girl Tina succumb to the skeevy lure of bad boys? Will little Jamie’s respect for his father ever be restored? Does Tom still have the ol’ poop, or has he lost it forever? The answers to these, and several other questions you don't really care about, are answered in Hot Rods to Hell.
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I don't know what backlot was used, but the hospital Dana Andrews convalesces in (top) pops up in a lot of '60s television shows. Here it plays a High School in the "Ring-A-Ding Girl" episode of The Twilight Zone -1963
|
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS MOVIE
Hot Rods to Hell
is based on the 1956 Saturday Evening Post short story "The Red Car / Fifty-Two
Miles to Terror" by Alex Gaby), and every frame feels like it comes from a fifties mindset. Adapted from a
story written at the height of the mid-50s juvenile delinquency panic that spawned Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without a Cause, Hot Rods to Hell elicits laughs and inspires giggles because it feels so out of step with the more motorcycle-centric late-'60s. It comes across as the kind of programmer Mamie Van Doren would have starred in ten years prior.
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| George Ives (giving the only decent performance in the film) as motel proprietor, Lank Dailey |
There once was a time when feature films and TV
sitcoms like Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver promoted male patriarchy, suburbia, and middle-class values as the American ideal. This attitude shifted significantly by the late-'60s. So much so that this becomes one of the more glaring reasons Hot Rods to Hell feels so curiously out of step--it has to be one of the last movies of the era to depict the "establishment" set as heroes.
In 1967, movies like The Graduate and You’re a Big Boy Now were starting to reflect a youth-centric worldview in which uptight, staunchly judgmental, suburbanite “squares” like Hot Rods to Hell’s Tom and Peg Phillips were regarded with suspicion. By 1968, the onscreen glorification of youth was so prevalent that anarchic scenarios: a la Angel, Angel, Down We Go and Wild in the Streets --would normalize outlaws and make heroes out of the kind of teens that Hot Rods to Hell sees only as troublemakers.
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| Judging You The dramatic stakes of Hot Rods to Hell are seriously undermined by the pleasure to be had in watching this smug suburban family being taken down a notch. |
PERFORMANCES
If you've never seen veteran actors Dana Andrews or Jeanne Crain in a film before, I beg you, don't start with this one. Hot Rods to Hell will leave you wondering how they ever had careers in the first place. This is their fourth film together (State Fair - 1945 / Duel in the Jungle -1954/ Madison Avenue -1962), and to say the photogenic duo went out with a whimper would be a gross understatement. Andrews, hampered by a makeup artist who must have been trained during the days of the silents, is so unrelentingly stiff and gruff, he's a figure of derision long before his character has a chance to be made sympathetic. Hammily scowling and grimacing in his Sansabelt slacks, this is far from Andrews' finest hour, but he's awfully entertaining.
The Saga of an Emasculated Male
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| In this artfully composed shot worthy of Kubrick, Tom nurses his bad back while being silently mocked by his wife's handbag |
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| Tom threatening to scratch out the eyes of his tormentors? |
Personal faves are B-Movie starlets, Mimsy Farmer and Laurie
Mock, each playing yin and yang ends of the exploitation movie female
spectrum (they would reunite with co-star Gene Kirkwood in 1967s Riot on Sunset Strip). As actresses, both are severely limited, but what they lack in talent they more than make up for in their grasp of knowing exactly what kind of overheated
histrionics a movie like this requires. Farmer in particular (who would reinvent herself as an arthouse and Giallo darling in a few years) gives her discontented
small-town teen the kind of edgy Ann-Margret overkill that's the stuff of bad-movie legend.
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| Showing respect and giving props to her homegirl |
It's A Grand Night For Screaming
THE STUFF OF FANTASY
Aside from the creaky source material, what further contributes to Hot Rods to Hell feeling like a movie made at least ten years earlier is the fact that its 55-year-old screenwriter, Robert E. Kent (co-writer of Dana Andrews' vastly superior 1950 film, Where the Sidewalk Ends) was probably drawing his knowledge of teenage behavior from screenplays he wrote for a slew of early 60s / late-50 rock & roll exploitation films. Movies with sound-alike titles (and look-alike plots): Twist Around the Clock (1961), Don't Knock the Twist (1962), Rock Around the Clock (1956) and Don't Knock The Rock (1956). All containing portrayals of teenage life firmly entrenched in the Eisenhower years. Similarly, Hot Rods to Hell's potential for even a moderately authentic depiction of teen behavior was no-doubt hampered by having a director in his 70s at the helm (John Brahm, surprisingly, the man behind the marvelous 1944 version of The Lodger).
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| Burlesque star, cult figure (John Waters' Desperate Living) and mobster sweetheart, Liz Renay appears all-too-briefly as a bar patron. |
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| Random sexual assaults are pretty much regulation for '60s exploitation movies |
THE STUFF OF DREAMS
A prime ingredient for the enjoyment of any bad film is often the degree of earnestness displayed by those involved. Like Joan Crawford in the Grade-Z cheapie, Trog, I don’t believe anyone in Hot Rods to Hell had any illusions about the caliber of film they were making, yet that didn't prevent them from pulling out all the acting stops and carrying on as though they were appearing in The Grapes of Wrath. Professional ineptitude without some kind of artistic aspiration or pretension is simply boring, so what qualifies Hot Rods to Hell as one of those top-notch bad movies I can watch over and over again is the sense that everyone in it is clearly giving it all they've got...and THIS is the best they were able to come up with.
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| Mickey Rooney Jr (right) & His Combo contribute several (un)memorable rock tunes to the soundtrack, here they perform that timeless classic, "Do the Chicken Walk" |
As stated, Hot Rods to Hell has long been a favorite of mine, but an extra layer of enjoyment has emerged now that I'm almost as old as Dana Andrews when he made the film. It cracks me up when I catch traces of my own reactions to today's youth in the humorless outbursts of our stuffed-shirt hero (don't get me started on teenagers and their smartphones). Happily, my fussing and fuming are mostly internal harangues or confined to the relative safety of social media. These days, not only has road rage grown to be a more dangerous game to be bullied into (no one in this movie brandishes a firearm), but traffic here in Los Angeles is so congested that any hot rodder would be hard pressed to find ANY stretch of rod where they could open up at all.
BONUS MATERIAL
A great review of Born Losers can be found HERE
Mickey Rooney Jr. guests on the pop music variety show SHINDIG HERE.jpg)
Hot Rods to Hell opened in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 17, 1967.
It had opened in Los Angeles four months earlier.
Copyright © Ken Anderson 2009 - 2014
Another great post, Ken, and a perceptive look at how and why the Hollywood studio era collapsed due to hardening of the arteries and an inability to stay au courant with the emerging dominant culture. Dana Andrews, however, was an interesting choice for the wounded-masculinity dad character. He had a knack for playing damaged, out-of-sync males, in films like The Best Years of Our Lives, or in noirs like Where the Sidewalk Ends. His eyes always conveyed a neurotic panic of not being able to measure up to societal standards of the confident, secure, John-Wayne man. (The beginning of Hot Rods seems quite similar to another damaged-male Andrews movie, Zero Hour, in which he plays a traumatized, former WW2 pilot who can no longer hold his family together because of the aftereffects of his war experiences - a must-see film, by the way, if only for its unintentional camp.)
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with your feelings about today's youth. I have to admit, now being an 'older person' myself, shall we say, that I can sympathize with the old folks in 50s-60s movies. I recently saw Kitten With a Whip, and could actually identify with stodgy, dull, unappealing John Forsythe suffering the terrors of home invasion. No doubt, so many aging Hollywood studio moguls found themselves in the same position during the 60s, which was reflected in their movies.
Thanks, GOM!
DeleteThat's a marvelous point you make by calling attention to so many previous films wherein Dana Andrews is called upon to portray a man of shaken confidence. "Zero Hour" is one of my favorites of unintentional camp (only after "Airplane" brought it to my attention).
As you make note of with "Kitten with a Whip", before old-guard Hollywood was forced to relinquish the keys to the kingdom to the younger generation, a slew of films were released that were little more than grumpy-old-man diatribes directed at seemingly untamable youth.
You are going to get me fired from my job! I was practically gagging to stifle the laughs I was getting out of those uproarious Jeanne Crain screenshots! God love her, but she always had the oddest nostrils to begin with (and that's before they're flared!) What a hoot.... I love this movie and your write-up was tremendously entertaining to read.
ReplyDeleteAs it's been more than 8 years since my last viewing, I went back to my old imdb.com review of it to see if there was anything else that stood out. A couple of lines from it I found either interesting or amusing:
-- Crain looks smashing in her snug white skirt and sleeveless top. It's a shame that someone this put-together (she's in better shape than the daughter!) is slogging through such a tacky film. As lovely as she is, she overacts horribly many times in the film. The slightest event causes her to affect a torturous expression and/or moan or scream. Then she has the nerve to tell her daughter not to be too dramatic!
-- Farmer is Bertoya's easy, but possessive, girlfriend. Hilariously, she rides on the top of the seats in their car, her hair plastered back from the wind, and when it pulls off the road, she suddenly has a huge, thick bouffant hairdo!
-- Already a rather illogical film (kids that Andrews meets on the road just happen to hang out at a motel he bought 50 miles away? People drive these expansive, remote roads as if everything is close together like a neighborhood!) is made all the more ludicrous because of the lack of restraint during the action scenes. Members of the family cling to Andrews while he's driving as if they are about to drive off a mountain top. Anytime Crain is behind the wheel, it's a safe bet that she'll soon be hurtling herself all over the seat and dramatically grimacing and shaking her hair.
Anyway, one other thing that always slayed me was HOW MUCH LEG ROOM the front seat has! It sometimes felt like there was no front on the car at all.
Of course, disaster nut that I am, I couldn't wait to see this because Andrews was in not only Airport 1975, but also Zero Hour! and The Crowded Sky while Crain's last movie was Skyjacked.
So much fun......
Hi Poseidon
DeleteAlthough I'd hate to have been the cause of getting you fired, I'm glad those screenshots of Jeanne "Old Yeller" Crain were as funny to you as I found them to be. Seriously! The woman has to be voted the person you'd least want to have sitting shottgun...even for a ride around the block.
All the points you bring up are so amusingly similar to what I took note of myself, specifically Farmer's instant-fix hairdo, and the propensity for the entire family to cram themselves into frame, clutching at Andrews whenever they sense danger.
I saw a production still from this film on Ebay that proves you to be correct about the amount of leg room Crain and Andrews had in their fake car. The lack of even a mock-up dashboard only making it look more expansive.
I've never seen The Crowded Sky, but I have fond memories of Andrews in "Airport 75" bidding goodbye to Beverly Garland (?) before making life hell for Karen Black.
So glad you liked the post, Poseidon and thank YOU for the Born Losers link.
Ah, yes, I forgot to thank you for the link/shout-out to my site at the bottom of the post! I appreciate you appreciation! ;-)
Delete"The Crowded Sky" should be fascinating to any fan of "Airport 1975" because in it Efrem Zimbalist Jr flies his small plane into Dana Andrews' jetliner!!! Get it?? And, yes, that was Garland as his wife, doing a great job with a tiny part, though my old roommate and I had a tete a tete because he asks her how the weather is and she replies, "Well, the moon's out, but there're some clouds around..." and my roomie yelped, "What the hell does that have to do with WEATHER?" I had to leap to Bev's defense that, for a pilot, cloud cover,visual clarity and light would have an impact!
Boy, seems like Dana Andrews and modes of transportation of any kind just weren't a good combination!
DeleteThere was a young lass named Mimsy
ReplyDeleteWhose career was guided by her sense of whimsy
She went to Hollywood to act
Movie roles she would attract
But the parts offered were a tad flimsy
Cute! Thanks for the limerick tribute to Ms Mimsy, I'm sure she'd be honored..
DeleteOh, Ken...
ReplyDeleteI just watched this on DVD last night (I immediately place a library reserve on everything you review, if available) and while it's GREAT print, this is one of the most preposterous movies I've ever seen (and I just suffered through nearly 3-hours of "Thoroughly Modern Millie so I know what I'm talking about.).
The very idea that Dana Andrews' back injury -- a BACK injury for Christ's sake -- should lead to the uprooting of the ENTIRE family from Boston to California by CAR is patently absurd. Couldn't he have gone to night school and become a CPA? Wouldn't running an entire motel by himself (the family can't even be bothered to get out of the CAR and help him break a door down when he's obviously in agony) be more physically taxing than being a traveling salesman?
I could literally see the powder blush on half the cast -- Dana Andrews included. Did he really need to look as dewy as he wife?
Jeanne Crain, never a great actress, seems completely lost as far as creating a credible character -- granted, she very little to work with. The fact that she seems so OLD when she's about the same age as the cast of "Friends" says a lot about how people perceived the generation gap back then.
The only character I really enjoyed was Tina, maybe because she's a dead-ringer for Stafania Sandrelli (with a little Kim Novak thrown in). I would have like more of her and a lot less of Dana Andrews. And I LIKE Dana Andrews.
Also, too -- the way they talk about what went down at the "Arena" -- what happened, somebody broke a bottle? A little underage drinking? Excessive petting in the parking lot? The punks just didn't seem threatening enough, and their button-down oxford shirts and Clark's desert boots didn't help.
Didn't you get the sense that all the terror-in-the-car scenes were filmed on the same afternoon, one right after another, and then spliced into the film where necessary? I felt like I was watching the same scene again, and again, and again!
So when are you going to review "Thoroughly Modern Millie"? ;)
Hi Peter
ReplyDeleteThat's very flattering that you're willing to take a chance on some of the films I write about. By now you know that can be quite a crap-shoot (pun intended).
Yes, they struck a beautiful print of this movie, but it is every bit as silly as you say.
I think I concur with all the points you brought up, many of them making me laugh just remembering them (especially the scene where the family stays in the car while Andrews battles the hot rod single-handedly). When my partner and I watched it, we kept a running commentary of the plot's lapses in logic.
I think you might be onto something about the filming of the interior car scenes. Crain's reactions to even the smallest traffic disturbance are so broad and nerve-jangling, you really start to wonder why he just leave her at the side of the road.
I liked how everybody flies around the car during the hot rod "chicken" scenes, but that lone football in the back seat window ledge never moves.
Also, that's an interesting and comical point about Crain's age. Who would guess? She looks so much older.
I'm unfamiliar with the actress you mentioned, but upon Goggling her I can see what you mean.
I understand Laurie Moc has a larger role in "Riot on Sunset Strip". I haven't seen that, but perhaps if you're feeling brave you can crack that one and let me know how it is.
In the meantime, I'll be warming up my DVD for "Thoroughly Modern Millie"...I can still hear Channing's "Raspberries!" ringing in my ear and I haven't seen that film in years. Thanks!
Ken, another terrific and enlightening review! Especially the points you make about emasculation and the viewer made to root for Dana to get his mojo back. DAMN IT!
ReplyDeleteI really like this so-bad-it's-good programmer too. I remember the hot rod harassment scenes as being REALLY effective when I first saw this on one of the network primetime Night at the Movies (circa '68 or '69?). Years later it got resurrected on same cable net and I realized what a hoot it was. Remember the drunken asshole who tears around the picnic grounds? He offers Dana some booze from a thermos: "the car's gassed up - how 'bout the driver? BWAHAHAHAHA!"
Or the groovy scene at the motel when all the kids are twistin' and Dana's daughter locks eyes with the bad boy driver of the Corvette. They simultaneously rise from their seats and meet in the middle of the dance floor, their stare-down continuing when at the exact same moment, they both start to slowly girate their hips. Harvey Corman and Carol Burnett could not have played that any campier.
Then there's the penultimate (or so) scene, day for night as you point out, where the family is safely on their way back home on the empty desert highway. In the distance we hear the familiar roar of the hot rod bullies a'comin'. Jeanne Crain's character inexplicably and smilingly observes "isn't it comforting to hear another car on the road?" A nanosecond later, the hell-bent hot rodders are upon them, with Jean instantly transforming from smiley-face to scream-fest - her loudest yet!
Now that's entertainment.
Hi Peter
DeleteHa! All your spot-on observations and comments made me laugh remembering those scenes. That's what's so funny about this movie.
If you see it when you're young enough, it's pretty tension filled and its thrills are relatable (bad guys on the road vs a family...no monsters or serial killers); but when you take a gander at the film later in life, or through the eyes of familiarity with where its headed, the absurdities stand out in hilarious relief.
You actually highlighted my favorites: the picnic grounds loudmouth, set up for his inevitable comeuppance; and the "our eyes met from across the room" dance sequence.
But you also highlighted something funny I hadn't thought of: Crain's line near the end! You're right, after all they been though you'd think the LAST thing she'd want to hear is another car on the road. And indeed, she too then goes from zero to sixty...full throttle screamin'.
Nice to hear from someone who saw this film as a youngster, too. Enjoyed you comments very much, Peter. Thanks again for checking out this blog!
Your screenshot captions are priceless by the way, Ken. The ethereal swimming pool shot of Ali McGraw in Goodbye Columbus as "nymph errant". Or here above with Hot Rods to Hell and Dana Andrews:
DeleteIn this artfully composed shot worthy of Kubrick, Tom nurses his bad back
while being silently mocked by his wife's handbag.
I'm really digging your various blogs and will probably "weigh in" on a couple in the weeks ahead with your permission.
Ha! Thanks very much, Peter! I'm gratified as all getout that you have returned to read so many older posts. Also, it's very generous of you to point out particular things in the essays (screencap captions) you enjoy.
DeleteI'm flattered and I welcome your observations on the films featured.
I am a MAJOR Fan of this film! It is
ReplyDeleteHILARIOUS! The only thing missing,
and I suspect it was edited-out, would
be Jeanne Crain screaming "Oh my God
don't go out there" as Tina has the
nerve to leave their motel room to
visit the ARENA! As a fan of mid-60s
garage-rock, the whole scene at the
ARENA is a hoot! And thanks, whoever,
about the Liz Renay cameo.
The performance of "Lank Dailey"
as the proprietor is outrageous!
Fittingly attired in a Hawaiian shirt!
I will absolutely agree that this
is a 50s J.D. movie set in the 60s,
especially when Mimsy wants to go
(with Ives!) to San Francisco.
As a major gearhead, I must correct that the family vehicle is a
1961 Plymouth SEDAN, not a station
wagon. One of the ugliest vehicles
imaginable, and howlingly-funny when
Dana declares "I'm going 55"...LOL!
Hot-Rod enthusiasts write
articles about the hot-rods in this
film, and some search for the actual
cars. Someone has re-created the 1958
Corvette, with the flames and roll-bar.
Others travel to the original
film locations, although the original
buildings were torn-down around 1975.
The establishment was known as
Billingsley's Steak Ranch, owned by
relatives of TV's Barbara Billingsley!
This "Steak Ranch" has since relocated
several times, with reviews indicating
it's a favorite among blue-haired
ladies with Cadillacs.
Hi Jim
DeleteNice to meet another big fan of this outrageously fun timepiece. You're a fount of information and trivia about the locales and automobiles, for which I'm certain readers will be glad. And thanks for pointing out the error regarding calling the car a station wagon. Especially since the final screencap reveals the sedan in toto.
It surprised me how popular this film is with hot rod enthusiasts, an online hot rod magazine contacting me to reprint this review when I seriously thought that I was among a very few who had even seen it.
Your enthusiasm for the film is palpable, and I thank you for taking the time to read the post and contribute your informed and funny comments here. Much appreciated!
Top 10 greatest movie EVER!! Tina in heat and hot tramp Gloria!! First saw when I was 13 in 1968. Love your reviews
ReplyDeleteA fan! I would love to have seen this at 10-years-old! It would have been a lifetime favorite.
DeleteI recently got a Blu-ray copy of this and boy, does it look great. In fact, until now I don't think I ever appreciated what a gorgeous car that hot rod they terrorize the family with is. And since writing this I also discovered some of the art films and Giallo thrillers Mimsy Farmer made later in her career, giving me a renewed appreciation for psycho-chick Gloria.
If you're the same individual who recently commented on CSTM, I think your appreciation of craptacular cinema has landed in the right place.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and comment. Hope you stop back sometime!
A big fan and I LOVE the schlock!! I did comment on CSTM. Dream drive in horror night would be......."The Brain That Wouldn't Die". How awesome! Strippers catfighting and a bitchy chopped off head. Saw this in downtown Stockton in 1963 at the inappropriate age of 7. Fox, Ritz or Esquire theater,can't recall which one. Next would be "Curse Of the Swamp Creature" I am unable to explain why I have watched this over 30 times. Mad Doctor Simon Trent is mesmerizing and he repeats everything twice. He repeats everything twice. Ken I sense you might love beach party movies so you will be happy to see "Horror of Party Beach" will be on after intermission. From the snack bar we will be enjoying our pizza with the Mushroom roomy room sauce. Ending the perfect evening will be "Shriek of the Mutilated" a fun Bigfoot event where you get to use your dead friend as bait for the "Bigfoot" Sorry "Homicidal" not playing tonight since Helga tapping and tapping creeps me out.
DeleteGreat selections! Because I grew up in age of "Creature' Feature" Saturday night TV programming, I grew up watching all of these movies (except "Shriek of the Mutilated" which I'd never heard of) HORROR OF PARTY BEACH being my top fave of those listed.
DeleteMy love of movies like this has made me a MST3K fan, but it sounds as though your knowledge and appreciation...in actually having seen some of these gems at the theater, is extensive!
Ken I can not leave this movie alone. Am obsessing on little hot desert tramp Gloria. So willing and accessible. Mickey Rooney Jr Trio song "Backstreet "? lives pleasantly in my head. Send them on tour with the Delaires. Ken I heard a vicious rumor that you have not watched Dr. Strangelove. Some haters say the most terrible things. Happy New Year Ken!! from a big fan...James
ReplyDeleteHi James- Happy (belated) New Year!
DeleteI'm really late in thanking you for commenting and again expressing your enthusiasm for HOT RODS TO HELL. I can relate. I consider a person lucky if they come across a movie that gets under their skin a little.
Oh, and I'm afraid I STILL haven't seen Dr. Strangelove! Like CASABLANCA, its a movie I've started at least three times to watch and I just can't make it through.
But one never knows...
Appreciate you comments and compliments. Please know that I may take my time doing it (or my memory may fail), but I usually get back to everyone who is considerate enough to read my posts and share their own thoughts. Cheers!
Hi Ken … You and your commenters have said it all. I’m 71 now (with major back pain no less) … haven’t seen HRTH in ages … but I’m going to! Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteThat's the best compliment possible. I'm sorry about your back, but you can perhaps take solace in not having to deal with it while a cadre of hopped up hot-rodders try to run you off the road.
DeleteI'm glad that you enjoyed the post, and I thank you for commenting. Hope revisiting HOT RODS TO HELL after so many years is a fun experience for you!
Wow. I just stumbled upon this site and love all the comments over so many years. Yup, I'm also a huge fan of this movie. Let me start by saying that with all of these great comments I'm a bit surprised that no one commented on what seems to me to be a MAJOR feature of the film....that Dana Andrews appears to be half (maybe 3/4ths) in the bag throughout it. I chuckle every time I hear him say "I couldn't just sick there like a stick". I know it was previously mentioned that he had an interesting way of saying "PO-lice". And the crappy dubbing of one line was also hilarious...when the sound of a bottle breaking wakes up the family and Tom/Dana exclaims "It's a quatah aftah one!" in a voice that has to be heard to be believed. Another scene I LOVE is the way Lank Daily "works the room" with his inane back and forth...."You lost weight". "No I didn't..I just moved it to where it'd do me more good". "You think I'd forget?". And the meaning of the line about Barney turning pipes into dreams will probably have to remain a mystery. Some other dialogue I loved was between Tina and Gloria. Something along the line of "You're just a kid". "I'm just as old as you are!". "I guess you're right...it must have taken you that long to get that stupid". Thanks for a fantastic review and for leading me to find others that really enjoy this cinematic masterpiece:)
ReplyDeleteHello Nelson - Nice to hear from another fan of this enduringly awful movie! It’s been a bit of a surprise to me, too, to have so many people still post comments about a movie I once thought I was virtually alone in appreciating and laughing at.
DeleteAnd you have indeed introduced an aspect heretofore unaddressed on this page…”Dana Andrews appears to be half (maybe 3/4ths) in the bag throughout.”
And you go on to provide ample, amusing evidence.
Next time I watch HOT RODS TO HELL, I’ll keep an eye (and ear) out for some of the funny things you cited that I can’t recall. But the one thing I DO remember is Andrews bellowing, "It's a quatah aftah one!" You've reminded me how quotable this movie is, and how many scenes are just screaming out for the MST#K treatment.
Glad you happened upon this site and its always nice to have another HOT RODS TO HELL fan contribute their thoughts to this post. Thank you for the kind words, and I appreciate your taking the time to share with us in such a fun way. Cheers!