Hot Rods to Hell

After phoning to tell his family he will be home for Christmas, an jolly well inebriated Dana Andrews (as Tom Phillips) crashes his car. He yells, "That stupid drunken fool!" and survives with a bad back. Shapely raven-haired wife Jeanne Crain (as Peg) arranges for Mr. Andrews to enjoy rest and relaxation as the owner of a sleepy desert motel in California. Bored, horny daughter Laurie Mock (as Tina) and preteen son Tim Stafford (Jamie) are along for the ride. Driving to their new home, the family is terrorized by "Hot Rods to Hell"! dragsters full of sex-crazed, thrill-seeking teenagers. Unfasten your seat belts!

Swinging sixties punks Paul Bertoya (as Duke), Mimsy Farmer (as Gloria), and Gene Kirkwood (as Ernie) are awfully nice!

And, Andrews' daughter is ready for action! She may not know it, but is told, "Some girls like to be sneaked up on." Later, Ms. Crain adds, "There isn't a woman alive who doesn't want a man!" Yeah, right... Now, if Andrews and family survive the trip, they are in for a horrific surprise. The motel they bought turns out to be a boozy, smoke-filled dive populated with the same young hoodlums they met on the road. There, house band leader Mickey Rooney Jr. and his combo help keep tight, sweaty bodies in motion. The departing owner can barely keep it from getting raided before Andrews takes over... Lurid fun!

****** Hot Rods to Hell (1/27/67) John Brahm ~ Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain, Mimsy Farmer, Mickey Rooney Jr.

Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain, who had been in "State Fair" and "Madison Avenue" together, reunite for this story about a family being terrorized by young punks who have nothing better to do but race down the desolate highway somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, I think, and run people off the road.

To be more specific, the father can't defend himself or his family due to his bad back and recovering from a previous car accident, where it was all just awful, "the rain, the bright headlights, the Jingle bells (on the radio), everything." In fact, what sounds like an awful film that should be forgotten makes for some good campy fun, due mainly to some hilarious dialogue spoken mainly by Dana, like: "I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here like a stick." It's funnier with Dana saying it. In fact his whole on-edge performance is practically the whole show.

I'm sorry to read here that Mr. Andrews was an alcoholic, but I've told family members about this film and said I've never seen anyone who could act so unhinged as Dana in this film, and also in "Zero Hour!". Another ingredient, alluded to in message boards, is Dana's speech and/or way of speaking words like "animals" and "police." So, it may be because of Dana's condition, or is it just his little acting tricks, that make for entertainment in this 60s camp classic. At least that's what it's called on a camp classic DVD set, which includes "Zero Hour."

Lastly, I will add that the actress who plays the daughter is quite good and we see her as more three-dimensional than any other character in the movie, And for that matter, the dialogue between the siblings and the way they treat each other make us feel they really are brother and sister.

So, if you want a hoot from the 1960s, get out the popcorn and pull into your own "drive-in" theater for some real hot rods and Dana unnerved.

This film was released the year I graduated from High School. Shot in 1966 it debuted in theaters in January 1967. Maybe if I had been still 12 or 13yrs I would have thought this movie was cool but by the time your 17 or 18yrs you know it was pretty cornball.

One of my favorite Scenes is where the Highway Patrolman is saying "Putting these cars in the hands of these teenagers is like giving them sticks of Dynamite(or something close to that) I remember laughing at that the 1st time I saw the movie.

Hot Rods to Hell is one of those Films you make fun of but when you see it coming up at the end of the week on a Cable TV Channel; you make sure you watch it again one more time.I'm sure Dana Andrew's isn't going to put it among "The Best Years of our Lives" and "State Fair" as one of his favorite Roles...s.m.

I'm rating this film high due to the fact it was one of those that seemed to make a big impact to a 10-year-old kid when I first saw it, and incredibly, still seems to hold some of that original charm. Made in 1966 but supposedly not released until a year later (although I swear I remember seeing in sometime in '66 on TV), it is basically a cautionary tale with some good tense action and decent acting. Fast-paced and furious, as a kid I found it to be quite scary and disturbing, and I remember worrying about what might happen to the family during their plight. This is a very rare sleeper that is difficult to find, much less on DVD, but I am happy to report that Netflix now offers it as a rental! Nine stars for the nostalgia of it all!

I'm just writing this review because someone reviewed this movie and wrote that Dana Andrews was pretty good in old horror movies...what the hell is thinking? Horror movies???? Dana Andrews was in one the greatest films of all time, The Best Years of Our Lives and he was also in one of the greatest film noirs of all time, Laura. I know he was in Curse/Night of the Demon , which is a gem. It just bothered me that someone can know so little about Dana Andrews.