''Hot Rod Girl'' is an independent, black-and-white 1956 teen-oriented
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
produced by Norman T. Herman, directed by
Leslie H. Martinson
Leslie Herbert Martinson (January 16, 1915 – September 3, 2016) was an American television and film director.
Career
Martinson was born to Gertrude and Lewis Martinson in Boston, Massachusetts on January 16, 1915. He had a brother named Bert ...
and released by
American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...
as a
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
with ''
Girls in Prison''. ''Hot Rod Girl'' stars
Lori Nelson
Dixie Kay Nelson (August 15, 1933August 23, 2020), known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' and the films ''Re ...
,
Chuck Connors
Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...
and
John Smith.
[Gary A. Smith, ''American International Pictures: The Golden Years'', Bear Manor Media 2014 p 34] The film centers on efforts to keep hot-rodding teenagers from dangerous drag racing on city streets and having them move to the safety of a specialized drag strip, and the consequences when an aggressive newcomer to town goads them into street racing again.
Plot
To combat the problem of teenagers drag-racing their hot rods on city streets, sympathetic Lt. Ben Merril (Connors) has set up a dragstrip for them where they can race under controlled, safe conditions. But after a race meet, Steve Northrup (
Del Erickson) is goaded into a street race, while his brother Jeff (Smith) is a passenger. Steve ignores Jeff's entreaties to not race. Steve is killed in the ensuing crash and a heartbroken Jeff breaks off all contact with the other drag-racing kids. He also avoids Lisa Vernon (Nelson), his girlfriend, who is also a drag racer.
A biker jacket-wearing bully named Bronc Talbott (Mark Andrews) arrives in town and after terrorizing the teens, appoints himself leader of them, replacing Jeff in that role. Following an argument at the teens' hangout, a diner run by Yo-Yo (
Fred Essler
Fred Essler (born Fritz Essler; 13 February 1895 – 17 January 1973) was an American actor. He worked film, television and on stage.
He was born Fritz Essler, on 13 February 1895 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, (now Austria); and, died on, 17 Janu ...
), Bronc challenges Flat Top (
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin Jr. (April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Tonight Starring Steve Allen''.
As an actor, he played the Riddler on the ...
) to a chicken race, in which they'll accelerate their cars straight at each other until one loses his nerve, swerves and becomes the "chicken". Although he's clearly frightened, an angry Flat Top agrees. During the race, Flat Top swerves at the last second. Bronc is cockier than ever after winning, but Flat Top has realized that chicken-racing is insanely dangerous and tells his girlfriend Judy (
Carolyn Kearney) that he was stupid and promises to remain "a coward" for the rest of his life.
Ben is meanwhile trying to find a way to run Bronc out of town. Under the threat of arrest, he forces Bronc to take his car to the dragstrip for that day's races. Jeff is safety inspector for the dragstrip and after discovering several serious problems with Bronc's car, refuses to clear him to race. Bronc vows revenge.
Jeff and Lisa reunite and go for a quiet drive on the local winding mountain roads. Bronc shows up, driving around corners on the wrong side of the road, passing Jeff and slowing down, forcing Jeff to overtake him. Lisa and Jeff decide to speed away from Bronc. But then a boy on a bicycle comes coasting down a hill. Both Jeff and Bronc take evasive action, but the boy is struck by one of the cars and killed. Ben doesn't know which car hit the boy. Lisa and Jeff don't know either because they were knocked out in the crash. Bronc swears to Ben that Jeff hit the kid and with no other witnesses, Ben arrests Jeff.
Ben is suspended from the police force by Capt. Logan (
Russell Thorson
Russell Thorson (October 14, 1906 – July 6, 1982 ) was an American actor, perhaps best known for his co-starring role as Det. Lt. Otto Lindstrom in ABC's 1959–1962 hit crime drama, ''The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor''.
Backgroun ...
) following a public outcry about the crash. But Ben continues his own investigation. Suspicious that Bronc is to blame, he takes scrapings of bicycle paint from Bronc's car, proving that it was Bronc who hit the boy, At Yo-Yo's, Ben confronts Bronc. Bronc smashes a soda bottle on Ben's head, knocking him unconscious in an attempt to escape. Just as this happens, Jeff and Lisa come in. Jeff and Bronc have a fistfight and Jeff knocks Bronc to the floor, dazing him. Bronc lands right next to Ben, who revives and arrests Bronc on a charge of manslaughter.
Cast
![Roxanne Arlen and Eddie Ryder (1956), in Hot Rod Girl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Roxanne_Arlen_and_Eddie_Ryder_%281956%29%2C_in_Hot_Rod_Girl.jpg)
*
Lori Nelson
Dixie Kay Nelson (August 15, 1933August 23, 2020), known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' and the films ''Re ...
as Lisa Vernon
*
Chuck Connors
Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...
as Det. Ben Merrill
*
John Smith as Jeff Northrup
*
Mark Andrews as Bronc Talbott
*
Roxanne Arlen
Roxanne Arlen (January 10, 1931 – February 22, 1989) was an American film and stage actress and model active in the 1950s and 1960s.
Filmography Feature films
*'' The Loved One'' (1965) as Wispering Glades hostess
*'' A House Is Not a Home'' ( ...
as L.P.
*
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin Jr. (April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Tonight Starring Steve Allen''.
As an actor, he played the Riddler on the ...
as Flat Top
*
Fred Essler
Fred Essler (born Fritz Essler; 13 February 1895 – 17 January 1973) was an American actor. He worked film, television and on stage.
He was born Fritz Essler, on 13 February 1895 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, (now Austria); and, died on, 17 Janu ...
as Yo-Yo
*
Carolyn Kearney as Judy
*
Eddie Ryder
Eddie Ryder (January 23, 1923 – March 29, 1997) was an American television and film actor, as well as a writer and television director. Ryder was born in New York City and died in El Paso, Texas.
Career
Ryder was a veteran of 92 movies and te ...
as Two Tanks
*
Del Erickson as Steve Northrup
*
Russell Thorson
Russell Thorson (October 14, 1906 – July 6, 1982 ) was an American actor, perhaps best known for his co-starring role as Det. Lt. Otto Lindstrom in ABC's 1959–1962 hit crime drama, ''The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor''.
Backgroun ...
as Capt. Logan (credited as Russ Logan)
*
Dabbs Greer
Robert William "Dabbs" Greer (April 2, 1917 – April 28, 2007) was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. With nearly 100 film roles and appearances in nearly 600 television episodes of various series, Greer m ...
as Henry Frye
Production
Production of ''Hot Rod Girl'' began on 20 March 1956. Shooting locations were
Hancock Park
Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which display ...
in Los Angeles,
Larchmont Village and
San Fernando
San Fernando may refer to:
People
*Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia
Places Argentina
*San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
, California, which was at the time the site of the San Fernando Drag Strip seen in the film.
The San Fernando Drag Strip was quite new when ''Hot Rod Girl'' was filmed there, having opened in 1955. It closed in 1970.
Roxanne Arlen's and Mark Andrews's names appear in the credits as "introducing" them, although both actors had roles in earlier films. It is, however, the first film of Frank Gorshin.
Distribution
''Hot Rod Girl'' was distributed by American International Pictures (AIP) in the US with an official release date of 15 July 1956.
According to
TCM, an article in the 13 September 1956 issue of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' says that the film had gross receipts of $600,000 by that date from theatres in "fifteen key cities."
A contemporary US theatrical poster for ''Hot Rod Girl'' reads "CHICKEN-RACE ... ROCK 'N ROLL ... YOUTH ON THE LOOSE!" and "ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN? teen-age terrorists tearing up the streets!"
The movie was distributed in the UK by
Anglo Amalgamated
Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at ...
. Although unspecified cuts were made to the film, it was granted a U-certification by the
British Board of Film Censors
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...
(BBFC) on 24 June 1956. The U-cert allowed the film to be exhibited to audiences of all ages.
Reception
Several authors note the historical context of ''Hot Rod Girl'' and similar films. One writes, "America's car culture came into its own in the 1950s when the Interstate highways were built, Detroit boomed and high school shop classes trained auto mechanics. The decade also saw the rise of disaffected youth whose need for speed was expressed in films like ''Hot Rod Girl'' (1956), ''
Hot Rod Rumble
''Hot Rod Rumble'' is a US, low budget, black-and-white 1957 teen-oriented drag racing crime drama produced by Norman T. Herman and directed by Leslie H. Martinson. It stars Leigh Snowden and Richard Hartunian. The film tells the story of a cla ...
'' (1957), and ''
Hot Rod Gang
''Hot Rod Gang'' is a 1958 drama film directed by Lew Landers and starring John Ashley. The working title was ''Hot Rod Rock'' with the film also released under the title ''Fury Unleashed''. American International Pictures released the film as a ...
'' (1958)." Such films, frequently distributed by AIP, "featured large doses of sex, violence, hot rods, drag races, and rock and roll." But "the drag-racing premise proved lucrative if short-lived" as it passed from favour with the release of "
Filmgroup
The Filmgroup was a production and distribution company founded by filmmakers Roger Corman and Gene Corman in 1959. Corman used it to make and distribute his own movies, as opposed to ones he was making for American International Pictures. (The rea ...
's ''
The Wild Ride
''The Wild Ride'' is a 1960 American film directed by Harvey Berman and starring Jack Nicholson as a rebellious punk named Johnny, of the Beat generation, who spends his days as an amateur dirt track driver in between partying and troublemakin ...
'' in June 1960 and the ultra-low-budget
Arch Hall production ''
The Choppers'' (released in November 1961 but produced two years earlier."
''
BoxOffice
''Boxoffice Pro'' is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by BoxOffice Media LP.
History
It started in 1920 as ''The Reel Journal'', taking the name ''Boxoffice'' in 1931 and still publishes today, with ...
'' reviewed the film in its issue of 8 August 1956. The anonymous reviewer wrote, "As a job of picture making, it is woefully weak, and that concerns scripting, production values and acting," but went on to say that "apparently, the film is enjoying surprisingly impressive patronage in the few situations where it has had pre-release runs." Later, in the 11 May 1957 issue, the magazine summarized that ratings of other publications, using its five-point "very good" to "very poor" scale. ''BoxOffice'' itself called the film "fair," as did ''
Harrison's Reports
''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher ...
'' and ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', while ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' liked ''Hot Rod Girl'' a bit better and rated it as "good."
Academic film historian Thomas Doherty sees ''Hot Rod Girl'' as essentially conservative, "a road sign for restraint and caution" where "drag racing off the strip is dangerous, dumb, and unnerving, while on the strip it is safe, smart, and predictable." He notes that even though "a clearly terrified" Flat Top accepts the challenge of a chicken race from the "maniacal Bronc," when he faces "Bronc's relentlessly on-coming car, Flat Top ditches - he chickens out. His cowardice is portrayed as preferable to the insanity of his antagonist, who had no plans of turning off, whatever the consequences." "Nothing in the film," Doherty writes, "gives the lie to the safety-first dialogue."
Somewhat less seriously, Hal Erickson, in his synopsis on
allmovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
, calls the film "a whole lot less exploitational than its title,"
while reviewer Laydback at
The Grindhouse Cinema Database writes that since Lisa doesn't do "anything except help pressure" boyfriend Jeff to get back into the hot rod scene, viewers shouldn't "go into this one expecting some 'Hot Rod Girl' kicking some ass (as I was led to believe)."
The film was screened as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2009. The festival, subtitled "Hot Rods and Fast Times," showed ''Hot Rod Girl'', ''
Hot Rods to Hell
''Hot Rods to Hell'' is a 1967 American suspense film, the last by director John Brahm. The film was based on a 1956 '' Saturday Evening Post'' story by Alex Gaby, "52 Miles to Terror",p. 170 Goble, Alan ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources ...
'' (1967) and ''
Hi-Riders
''Hi-Riders'' is a 1978 action film written and directed by Greydon Clark.
Plot
Mark and Lynn (Darby Hinton and Diana Peterson) are drawn into acts of hatred and revenge after trying to collect on a bet with a "Hi-Rider," a drag-racing car c ...
'' (1978) on three consecutive nights. Critic Nick Pinkerton refers to the teens in ''Hot Rod Girl'' as "misunderstood but essentially good kids" who are, however, "strictly squaresville."
Soundtrack
''Hot Rod Girl'' "was the first car flick to marry music with the exhaust note" and in scenes in Yo-Yo's diner "the gang snaps their fingers to
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
, not rock music. But soon other filmmakers "were cashing in on the fad" of films about "the rampant juvenile delinquency problems that fueled hot rod culture in the U.S." In terms of music, although "the spirit of youthful rebellion is still there (...) few if any of these films warranted a soundtrack release."
Original music for ''Hot Rod Girl'' is by prolific film and TV composer
Alexander Courage was performed by "noted jazz musicians" including saxophonist
Bud Shank
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...
and trumpet player
Maynard Ferguson
Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...
.
See also
*
List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Leslie H. Martinson
1956 films
American action films
American International Pictures films
American auto racing films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Leslie H. Martinson
1950s action films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films