CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
HottWwjdIam
There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Leofwine_draca
HOT ROD GIRL is, perhaps, the FAST AND FURIOUS of its day. It's a story about teenage racing drivers illegally burning through the Californian streets, while romancing girls and getting into fights along the way. Sadly, this is a murky and somewhat dated affair, lacking in any real excitement in terms of the street racing sequences, and with a script that simply goes through the motions throughout. An early turn from Chuck Connors is the most interesting thing about this.
Robert J. Maxwell
It's the mid-1950s in the San Fernando Valley and all the kids are into hot rods of one sort or another. It's generally peaceable. The community has built a drag strip where the kids may race in relative safety after their cars have been inspected to make certain there isn't a loose pfoofnik pin somewhere. (You don't really learn anything about hot rods or their engines; you just see them zoom around.) All of this friendly competition takes place under the avuncular guidance of the gentle policeman, Chuck Connors.John Smith, the young auto mechanic, is the titular hero on parole for an accident that wasn't his fault. He's blandly handsome (I guess) and is, overall, a dull goody-goody. His girl friend is cute and innocent Lori Nelson, also dull, but who once had the decency to parade around in her underwear for a few seconds in "Revenge of the Creature," the second Gill Man movie. Frank Gorshin is "Flat Top," who is there mainly to provide laughs, though his wisecracks are no longer funny, if they ever were.The bad guy, Mark Andrews, rolls into town in his modified Olds and exudes contempt for everyone he meets, as a brightly colored tree frog in the Amazon rain forest exudes poison. I suppose he's darkly handsome too, and he has the smoothest line for the girls. "Hey, Baby, you're some high-powered chick. Whaddaya say we step on the gas tonight." I don't think I'll bother with the plot. It's not worth it. A couple of other reviewers seemed to truly enjoy this, which makes me feel more marginalized than Big Top Pee Wee. I thought it was immeasurably bad. It plumbed depths of imagination and skill that I never knew existed. I needed a bathyscaphe while searching for the least evidence of any redeeming quality but the benthic deep was sterile.It's hard to imagine that even someone who grew up in that milieu could enjoy this. However, these days, there is simply no telling.
andrew-567
*possible spoiler info below*interesting movie, some strange twists & turns, but for me it turned out to be much more than just another 'crazy-teen' movie. the characters are a bit more fully developed. it was a morality-tale of sorts, but you have to wonder though why jeff never really got his act together... good movie overall-- loved seeing those empty california hills from 40 years ago! also the 'riddler' from later tv series batman was fun with his antics-- you get the feeling that frank g. was a big cut-up in school as well!
miniature1
I bought this movie on DVD.I am a Baby Boomer and a hot rod enthusiast.Although I liked the vintage drag strip shots I wanted to see more of the cars,especially under the hoods.I found the dialog campy even by 1956 standards.The "Hot Rod Girl" character contributed almost nothing to the movie,and I found myself asking why the movie even had her as part of the title.I also noticed they didn't even actually wreck a real car any where in the movie.One of the race scenes was "up hill" in the mountains and the cars looked as if they were doing about 20 m.p.h. I was disappointed but seeing the old cars was one redeeming quality of this movie.
