dougdoepke Plot--A gang of hot-rodders torments an All-American family on a back-country road. In the process, Dad must prove himself capable of handling the situation since no cops appear available.Looks like this movie of 1966 was caught in a transition. Change was in the air. Drive-in teens and hot-rods were giving way to a youth counter-culture of Vietnam and protest. The movie's styles at the dancehall suggest this new movement, while the rest of the film appears mired in norms of the 1950's. This may account for the screenplay's awkwardness. Drive-in fare is no longer a sure thing, which the movie seems to sense, but doesn't know where to go.The hot-rodders amount to a caricature of empty-headed speed demons, typical of 50's drive-in flicks. At the same time, the wholesome Phillips family is right out of Father Knows Best, except Dad's lost confidence in his abilities following an auto accident. Then too, comely daughter Tina's attracted despite herself to the "cool" speed freaks. All this plays out on a god-forsaken desert road that no one else appears to travel. Then there's the ending's moral upshot that drops out of nowhere, except maybe an old time Western where the sheriff finally decides to clean up the town.Anyway, those two fine Golden Age actors Andrews and Crain give the material their best, despite the drawbacks. It's kind of poignant seeing their careers on the downgrade with exploitation fare like this. Ditto director John Brahm a past master of Gothic noir—The Lodger (1944), Hangover Square (1945), et al. He does, however, keep things moving such that the many repetitive scenes at least don't linger.All in all, the movie's kind of schizophrenic with Andrews, Crain, and Mock giving A-grade efforts to D-grade material. Too bad the script wasn't sent back for a serious re-write, a new title, and a better role for the talented Mimsy Farmer.

Uriah43 After being injured in a head-on collision with a drunk driver, "Tom Phillips" (Dana Andrews) is laid up in a hospital and faces a lengthy rehabilitation that results in his inability to perform his job successfully. Faced with these life-changing events he reluctantly accepts his brother's advice and buys a hotel in the middle of the California desert which he can manage in spite of his painful condition. Unfortunately, upon driving there he and his family encounter several rude and belligerent young men drag racing on the highway who recklessly endanger everyone they come across. And they take umbrage upon anyone who dares to voice displeasure or prevent them from doing whatever they want. So much so that two specific young men by the names of "Duke" (Paul Bertoya) and "Ernie" (Gene Kirkwood) demonstrate that they will stop at nothing to silence Tom from going to the police. Now rather than reveal any more and risk spoiling this film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this particular "Hot Rod movie" was more intense than the usual pictures of this sort produced a decade or so earlier. Whereas the earlier Hot Rod films typically revolved around teenagers simply having fun the specific antagonists in this movie were much more arrogant and ruthless. And this worked in the film's favor in my opinion. In any case, although it was clearly a grade-B production, I still found it to be entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Scott LeBrun Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain play Tom and Peg Phillips, an ultra straight (some might say square) couple with a teen aged daughter, Tina (Laurie Mock), and young son Jamie (Jeffrey Byron). After Tom gets into a road accident, he develops a bad back, and his brother Bill (Harry Hickox) arranges for Tom a change of pace: running a motel in small town California. Unfortunately, when the family gets to the desert, they run afoul of the local hot rodders / troublemakers.Just as much of a generation gap drama as it is an action movie,"Hot Rods to Hell" is enjoyable exploitation fare. The protagonists are a little much at times, but Gene Kirkwood and Paul Bertoya are malevolently entertaining as the obnoxious road hogging punks. The movie marks an interesting effort for Director John Brahm, who'd done well crafting Victorian era melodramas in the 1940s and 1950s; it was his final feature film. The action sequences ARE well done, and the cars are of course very cool. The rock score is most groovy, as performed by Mickey Rooney's son and his combo.The performances are all watchable. It's easy to believe the frustration of Andrews' character. Mimsy Farmer is likewise convincing as Gloria, the trampy, sexy blonde associate of Kirkwood and Bertoya. George Ives has the interesting role of Lank Dailey, the motel owner who has no problem taking money from his teenage customers but distrusts them just as much as any other adult.In general, the movie seems to be making a statement about the poor driving habits of Americans: it isn't just the young punks who drive recklessly, but the previous generation as well.It would be hard to knock any movie in which a highway patrolman is made to utter the immortal line: "These kids have nowhere to go,but they want to get there at 150 miles per hour."Seven out of 10.

BaronBl00d Dana Andrews stars as Tom Phillips who undergoes some changes after having survived a bad car accident. He moves his family - wife, son, and daughter - from Boston to a desert location to run a motel. Little does he and his family know that soon they will be thrust into a sinister world of souped-up hot rods, loose teenage girls, and terror hitherto unseen in their "normal" and "average" lives. Okay, so Hot Rods to Hell(otherwise known as 52 Miles to Terror) sells itself a little strong, but despite the hokey script, the over-acting, and the kitchy music - I really found that I liked this film a lot more than I thought I would. Dana Andrews growls his way through the film with a bad back trying to regain normalcy after his accident. Jeanne Crain - who bears most of the over-acting in my opinion - plays his wife. As the family moves closer to Mayville, they are accosted on the road by two kids in a red hot rod who think they own the road and the world. Things travel quickly into Andrews and family pitted against these two degenerates. While the seriousness taken with the subject matter is very heavy-handed and surely can be taken as hyperbole, the film does - believe it or not - try and make a point about how the young of the sixties were looking for something other than what their lives provided. It tries to address the younger generation being understood to some degree as well. What it doesn't do is deteriorate into mindless exploitation which would have been so easy to do. The acting was good enough to make me care about Andrews and his family and dislike the two boys intensely. The cops were shown in a very positive light as well. George Ives gives a good performance as a swinger middle-aged man who is the previous owner of the motel. Mimsy Farmer(a beautiful blonde) and Laurie Mock(a sensational brunette) spice up the film's landscape. Much of the dialog is a real hoot as Andrews barks out his frustration with the younger generation either specifically or in general. He looks like he has a body brace on through much of the film as he seems so tight. Director John Brahm is good at creating some tense scenes and much of the road scenes have a definite flair to them. Hot Rods to Hell is really nothing more than one of those 60's kids against the world films but is nonetheless enjoyable, suspenseful, and amusing for intended and unintended reasons.