From the title and release date I was expecting jalopy races and juvenile delinquents. Instead the brief 60-minutes amounts to a tight little crime thriller. Poor family man Bromfield. He's seduced into a criminal hot car operation because of typical family problems like money and a sick kid. The crooks run a slick network of stolen cars almost like a regular business. With a needy wife and child, Bromfield adjusts his conscience, getting the kind of security his family's has long desired. I like the way his ethics are compromised in realistic fashion that we can well understand and maybe sympathize with.
For a handsome Hollywood hunk, actor Bromfield brings off his difficult role in surprisingly nuanced fashion. Then there's the busty blonde Lansing parading her measurements in good Marilyn Monroe fashion. Note too the not-so subtle innuendo between her and a straying Bromfield that no doubt pushed the bounds of the fading Hollywood Production Code. However, I couldn't figure out her relationship with the gang, whether it's just me or a flaw in the narrative.
The exteriors are all filmed on LA locations, the car lot, the city streets, that lend an air of urban reality. But most of all there's that white-knuckle climax aboard the rollercoaster at Santa Monica pier. It's a real grabber, made more so by what must have been a hand-held camera that puts us right there inside an upsy-downsy car-- thanks guys, my head is still swimming. Credit producer Howard Koch for the general quality of the results. Over a lengthy career he helped guide such classics as The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Odd Couple (1968).
Anyway, it's a neatly packaged little crime drama that almost qualifies for what many old movie buffs treasure most -- a sleeper.
