slotcarman
this is the most real drag race movie ever made!!!! unlike the new rice burner movies out now that lead everyone to believe that you 4 door rice burner can turn 10s in the 1/4 mile HAHAHAHAHA!!LOL ON THAT ONE.there is no substitute for cubic inches sorry!!!! hotrod was one of the only truthful depletions of what will happen if you install a high CID big block into you classic muscle car..."LOAD AND LOADS OF TORQ HP AND SPEED" not a farting sound like you hear in wall-marts parking lot on nay given afternoon.there is a reason the only car older rear wheel drive cars "MUSCLE CARS" the new cars don't make muscle!!! did you know auto makers change the way they rate hp every couple of years so they can falsely advertise the hp pf the new cars coming out!!!they stared doing the back in the early 1980s..why did they do this?? because of the garbage rice burners!! they have found that the general public is dumb and will believe anything!! its true check into it... so throw away the fake FTF movies and go with the real racing "HOT ROD" !!!!!!!!
racerx70
Dialog as banal as this makes several scenes more than a little cringe-worthy. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I saw this movie years ago as a rental and the guys I watched it with along with myself laughed quite a few times at some of the implausible things we saw, as well as the absolutely BAD dialog and cardboard cutout characters. As a matter of fact, we still use the "9/16ths" comment as part of our expressions at the track, mostly as a method of disrespect. Once things got to the dragstrip, however, "Hot Rod" was a bit more palatable. I enjoyed the rocket Funny Car making a pass down the track (rocket cars having been outlawed for nearly 20 years now), and some of the old school drag cars really gave a look into the late 70's drag scene. Being a drag racer myself, I appreciate the history. The story is standard TV movie fare (this was an ABC Friday Night Movie after all), and even after saying this, I still went and bought a copy on VHS. Should it be on DVD? Considering the dreck that's already on DVD ("reality" shows and the like), I'd vote for a DVD release. File this one as "so bad it's good".
gohuskies82
As far as racing movies go, this one is a great one to get ahold of. I personally looked for this movie for several years and was able to get a used VHS copy of it. I believe it just came out on DVD not too long ago and I am sure that it is a limited release. I love the 1969 Cutlass driven by Grant Goodeve (Sonny Munn) that they have in it, and there aren't many movies that feature a '69 Olds in them. I have a 1969 4-4-2 and a 1969 Cutlass Convertible and had to have this movie in my collection. I believe that this may have been a made-for-TV movie, and was originally titled "Rebel Of the Road." This made it very difficult to find, since the video release was called "Hotrod." In this ABC made-for-TV movie, Brian Addison (Gregg Henry) comes to town to compete in the National Drag Races. Unknown to him, the deck is stacked against him. But with the help of some local folks, he puts together a hemi-powered and blown 1941 Willys coupe. Jenny (Robin Mattson) provides the romance and Robert Culp is T. L. Munn, the low-life promoter along with Pernell Roberts as the corrupt cop.Lots of drag racing from the Fremont Drag Strip in No Cal. with various hot rods, funny cars and top fuelers from the '70s. Hang on for a fun ride! A "must have" for any fan of drag racing.
thunderheart168
By far the best drag racing movie ever, especially the cars that are used and the music soundtrack really makes it an overall great film, i really wish that they would put it on video or dvd. Or atleast show it on television now and then.