# Hot Rods from Hell (and other '60s hot rod movies)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 6, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059 "2012-05-06T12:06:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/1 "2012-05-06T12:06:08Z")
I just watched the 1967 movie Hot Rods from Hell. While it contains some of the worst acting I have ever seen, I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit.
It has it all - “rock and roll” music, teenage hoodlums, square family with rebellious hot daughter, local lawman exasperated with the young generation, and a local hangout where the kids congregate.
Oh yeah. And hot rods. Really cool hot rods.
Anyone seen this movie? Are there other films of this genre that are actually, you know, _good_? Or are they all just cheesy fun?
mmm
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/2 "2012-05-06T12:23:02Z")
No help here? Hmm, maybe we have to wait til the few that are still alive from that generation get back from church. Oh, but then there’s the brunch at Mae’s Cafe and the Sunday afternoon nap.
But, seriously, I’m going to find me a Hot Rod movie. Sounds like fun. But didn’t a number of movies at that time have “teenage hoodlums” and adults “exasperated with the young generation”? I remember all the cliches in _“Teenagers From Outer Space”_ on MST3K.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/3 "2012-05-06T12:33:03Z")
If you include 50’s biker gangs, _The Wild One_ (1953), with Marlon Brando, is recognized as a classic of the youth rebel genre.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/4 "2012-05-06T12:42:24Z")
Here is a page with lots of [hot rod flicks](http://www.ahrf.com/category/cool-stuff/hot-rod-movies/), including many with the “rebel teenagers” theme:
> [@](#):
>
> 1947 – The Devil On Wheels
>
> **THE DEVIL ON WHEELS** : U.S. film. Darryl Hickman, older brother of Duane “Dobie Gillis” Hickman, stars in this juvenile delinquent film about teenagers who hold illegal drag-races, often leading to death and police involvement. A teenager takes to the streets racing hot rods and getting into trouble after being “inspired” by his father’s reckless driving habits. Great hot rod footage! The hip lingo is marvelous! The atmospheric use of light and shadow give the film a cool hard-boiled edge. Darryl Hickman, Noreen Nash, Sue England, James B. Cardwell, William Forrest, Robert Arthur, Janice Ford, Lenita Love, Damian O’Flynn, Terry Moore.
> [@](#):
>
> 1950 – Hot Rod
>
> **HOT ROD** : David Langham (James Lydon), the youngest son of a hot-rod hating father, Judge Langham (Art Baker), buys an old jalopy but, out of respect for his father, doesn’t convert it. He changes his mind when Jack Blodgett (Tommy Bond), the local speed demon, impresses David’s girl, Janie Pitts (Gloria Winters), and David makes his car the fastest in town. Jack steals David’s hot rod, and flees the scene of an accident he causes. The car is traced back to David, but the truth comes out in court, although David’s father is still unhappy about the car…until David and his friend, Swifty Johnson (Gil Stratton Jr.), use it to apprehend some escaping robbers. The Judge decides to back a movement for building a hot-rod race track for the town.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/5 "2012-05-06T15:32:39Z")
Not a hot rod film, but the first title that popped into my head was _Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!_ (1965). It featured a Porsche 356C, an MGA, an MGB, and a Triumph TR3A.
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### Author:  [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/6 "2012-05-06T19:17:21Z")
There’s Rebel Without A Cause, which I think is just a trashy hot-rod movie but has been promoted to masterpiece great because of James Dean’s martyrdom.
I haven’t seen Hot Rod Girl mentioned yet, that’s a good one. Pretty much anything that has “Hotrod” or “Drag” in the title is a winner.
A sub-genre of the hot rod movie are the Southern rebel moonshiner movie, like Thunder Road. They’re often auto-centric, Dukes Of Hazzard being the sanitized version of same. Others in this genre is White Lightning and Last American Hero
Vanishing Point has a lot of the themes you’re looking for, but is outside the Fifties scenario of a small town being overwhelmed by ill-mannered outside influences.
Mad Max? No rock and roll but a similar cars and rebels theme.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-rods-from-hell-and-other-60s-hot-rod-movies/621059/7 "2012-05-06T21:29:50Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> I just watched the 1967 movie Hot Rods from Hell. While it contains some of the worst acting I have ever seen, I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit.
>
> It has it all - “rock and roll” music, teenage hoodlums, square family with rebellious hot daughter, local lawman exasperated with the young generation, and a local hangout where the kids congregate.
>
> Oh yeah. And hot rods. Really cool hot rods.
>
> Anyone seen this movie? Are there other films of this genre that are actually, you know, _good_? Or are they all just cheesy fun?
> mmm
It’s Hotrods _To_ Hell, according to IMDB. Always seemed odd to see Dana Andrews as a dad after being a leading man from the giant floppy suit era.