bletcherstonerson
Wow, was I looking forward to this, a hot chick racing rods and dealing with the 50's male counterparts and the story surrounding that premise...but no..what we get is Drag Strip Girl races...once ..during the opening and in the poorest race ever staged on film. The rest of the story deals with a guy trying to race the local thug, then Gorshin takes the bait and pays for it by wrecking his sweet street rod. Also ,Gorshin was stuck with the supporting role, had the director been better, Frank would have been the lead instead of the wooden performance we saw from "what's his name". Listen, I am bashing the movie for what it's not, and that's kinda like being angry that Minnie Driver isn't the name of a small race car driver. This was an industrious film considering the budget, and it does deliver the goods for hard core fans of 50's culture and the "delinquent film" genre. But, it is totally misleading in it's cover art and story sell. It's like being stuck on a deserted island by yourself with nothing but a vial of Viagra.
Uriah43
"Louise Blake" (Fay Spain) is a new girl in town who loves cars and racing. Because of these interests she soon gets acquainted with others her age who have the same fondness for drag racing. In particular she meets two guys named "Jim Donaldson" (Steven Terrell) and "Fred Armstrong" (John Ashley) who both become attracted to her. However, rather than choose just one she decides to string both along which ends up being a huge mistake as Fred is insanely jealous of Jim and begins to provoke and undermine him at every opportunity. What nobody realizes is the depth of envy and how far he is willing to go to make Jim look bad. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly average hot rod movie which could have been better with a bit more character development. Additionally, I didn't particularly care for the repeated taunts by Fred which became more than a bit annoying after a while. I also would have liked to have seen a little more of Judy Bamber (as "Rhoda") who was quite stunning. Be that as it may, in spite of the flaws and the fact that this film was definitely dated I still liked it and rate it as about average.
koolcars
I've seen this film about 25 times, not for the acting or writing but for the cars! Although, Frank Gorshin is hilarious in this film. The plot is simple although not 100% believable, Fay Spain plays a hot rodder who moves from Salt like City to LA or as it's known in the film, "Hotrodville". She has a drag race in her '28 Model A roadster with a triple carb flathead with Tommy Ivo's famous Buick powered T bucket in the first scene. Truth be known, not many chicks had rods in the 50's let alone drag raced them on city streets. The rest of the film is her being wooed by rich kid John Ashley and poor but honest Steve Terrel. There are some great drag racing and circle track racing scenes in this film with real 50's hot rods. Tommy Ivo is in the film as John Ashley's accomplice and there is an ironic scene where he and Ashley break into the garage and steal Ivo's car but in the film the car is owned and driven by Steve Terrel! Tommy Ivo told me that the filming of this movie killed the engine in his car because it overheated between takes because it was idling waiting for the camera to roll. The car John Ashley drives in the film is a chopped and channeled Model a roadster with a 4 carb flathead engine. Frank Gorshin and his sexy Marilyn Monroe look-a-like girlfriend drive a '27 Model T roadster with a flathead engine. I have to warn you, the beginning of the movie has one of the corniest race scenes ever!
dapper_handyman
Dragstrip girl is fun drive in type movie. If you like old cars,50's style plot lines of bad girl/ bad guy, then you will love this movie.It takes you back to another time,when things seemed to be a little less trouble. It does not insult you with bad languge or body parts that you dont care to see.Classic cars,narrow ties,and boys who still meet the parrents.