Hot Rod Girl


Hot Rod Girl is an independent, black-and-white 1956 teen-oriented action film produced by Norman T. Herman, directed by Leslie H. Martinson and released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Girls in Prison. Hot Rod Girl stars Lori Nelson, Chuck Connors and John Smith. The film centres on efforts to keep hot-rodding teenagers from dangerous drag racing on city streets and having them move to the safety of a specialized drag strip, and the consequences when an aggressive newcomer to town goads them into street racing again.

Plot

To combat the problem of teenagers drag-racing their hot rods on city streets, sympathetic Lt. Ben Merril has set up a dragstrip for them where they can race under controlled, safe conditions. But after a race meet, Steve Northrup is goaded into a street race, while his brother Jeff is a passenger. Steve ignores Jeff's entreaties to not race. Steve is killed in the ensuing crash and a heartbroken Jeff breaks off all contact with the other drag-racing kids. He also avoids Lisa Vernon, his girlfriend, who is also a drag racer.
A biker jacket-wearing bully named Bronc Talbott arrives in town and after terrorizing the teens, appoints himself leader of them, replacing Jeff in that role. Following an argument at the teens' hangout, a diner run by Yo-Yo, Bronc challenges Flat Top to a chicken race, in which they'll accelerate their cars straight at each other until one loses his nerve, swerves and becomes the "chicken". Although he's clearly frightened, an angry Flat Top agrees. During the race, Flat Top swerves at the last second. Bronc is cockier than ever after winning, but Flat Top has realized that chicken-racing is insanely dangerous and tells his girlfriend Judy that he was stupid and promises to remain "a coward" for the rest of his life.
Ben is meanwhile trying to find a way to run Bronc out of town. Under the threat of arrest, he forces Bronc to take his car to the dragstrip for that day's races. Jeff is safety inspector for the dragstrip and after discovering several serious problems with Bronc's car, refuses to clear him to race. Bronc vows revenge.
Jeff and Lisa reunite and go for a quiet drive on the local winding mountain roads. Bronc shows up, driving around corners on the wrong side of the road, passing Jeff and slowing down, forcing Jeff to overtake him. Lisa and Jeff decide to speed away from Bronc. But then a boy on a bicycle comes coasting down a hill. Both Jeff and Bronc take evasive action, but the boy is struck by one of the cars and killed. Ben doesn't know which car hit the boy. Lisa and Jeff don't know either because they were knocked out in the crash. Bronc swears to Ben that Jeff hit the kid and with no other witnesses, Ben arrests Jeff.
Ben is suspended from the police force by Capt. Logan following a public outcry about the crash. But Ben continues his own investigation. Suspicious that Bronc is to blame, he takes scrapings of bicycle paint from Bronc's car, proving that it was Bronc who hit the boy, At Yo-Yo's, Ben confronts Bronc. Bronc smashes a soda bottle on Ben's head, knocking him unconscious in an attempt to escape. Just as this happens, Jeff and Lisa come in. Jeff and Bronc have a fistfight and Jeff knocks Bronc to the floor, dazing him. Bronc lands right next to Ben, who revives and arrests Bronc on a charge of manslaughter.

Cast

Production of Hot Rod Girl began on 20 March 1956. Shooting locations were Hancock Park in Los Angeles, Larchmont Village and San Fernando, California, which was at the time the site of the San Fernando Drag Strip seen in the film. The San Fernando Drag Strip was quite new when Hot Rod Girl was filmed there, having opened in 1955. It closed in 1970.
Roxanne Arlen's and Mark Andrews's names appear in the credits as "introducing" them, although both actors had roles in earlier films. It is, however, the first film of Frank Gorshin.

Distribution

Hot Rod Girl was distributed by American International Pictures in the US with an official release date of 15 July 1956. According to TCM, an article in the 13 September 1956 issue of The Hollywood Reporter says that the film had gross receipts of $600,000 by that date from theatres in "fifteen key cities."
A contemporary US theatrical poster for Hot Rod Girl reads "CHICKEN-RACE... ROCK 'N ROLL... YOUTH ON THE LOOSE!" and "ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN? teen-age terrorists tearing up the streets!"
The movie was distributed in the UK by Anglo Amalgamated. Although unspecified cuts were made to the film, it was granted a U-certification by the British Board of Film Censors on 24 June 1956. The U-cert allowed the film to be exhibited to audiences of all ages.

Reception

Several authors note the historical context of Hot Rod Girl and similar films. One writes, "America's car culture came into its own in the 1950s when the Interstate highways were built, Detroit boomed and high school shop classes trained auto mechanics. The decade also saw the rise of disaffected youth whose need for speed was expressed in films like Hot Rod Girl, Hot Rod Rumble, and Hot Rod Gang." Such films, frequently distributed by AIP, "featured large doses of sex, violence, hot rods, drag races, and rock and roll." But "the drag-racing premise proved lucrative if short-lived" as it passed from favour with the release of "Filmgroup's The Wild Ride in June 1960 and the ultra-low-budget Arch Hall production The Choppers."
The film was screened as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2009. The festival, subtitled "Hot Rods and Fast Times," showed Hot Rod Girl, Hot Rods to Hell and Hi-Riders on three consecutive nights. Critic Nick Pinkerton refers to the teens in Hot Rod Girl as "misunderstood but essentially good kids" who are, however, "strictly squaresville."

Soundtrack

Hot Rod Girl "was the first car flick to marry music with the exhaust note" and in scenes in Yo-Yo's diner "the gang snaps their fingers to bebop, not rock music. But soon other filmmakers "were cashing in on the fad" of films about "the rampant juvenile delinquency problems that fueled hot rod culture in the U.S." In terms of music, although "the spirit of youthful rebellion is still there few if any of these films warranted a soundtrack release."
Original music for Hot Rod Girl is by prolific film and TV composer Alexander Courage was performed by "noted jazz musicians" including saxophonist Bud Shank and trumpet player Maynard Ferguson.