Hot Rods to Hell
| Hot Rods to Hell | |
|---|---|
1967 US Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | John Brahm |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Written by |
Alex Gaby Robert E. Kent |
| Starring |
Dana Andrews Jeanne Crain Paul Bertoya Mimsy Farmer Laurie Mock Gene Kirkwood |
| Music by |
Fred Karger Ben Weisman |
| Cinematography | Lloyd Ahern |
| Edited by | Ben Lewis |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 or 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,268,000 (US/ Canada) |
Hot Rods to Hell is a 1967 suspense film. It was director John Brahm's last film.
The film was originally intended for television release, and was in fact shot in the 4:3 "full-screen" aspect ratio that persisted on television for decades even after film had long since gone to wide-screen aspect ratios of 1.65:1, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. When the project was finished, however, the producers deemed it too intense for television and released it to theaters (including drive-in theaters) instead, with a runtime of 92 minutes.
Based originally on a Saturday Evening Post story, the movie project originally had the title 52 Miles to Terror
Eventually, ABC-TV bought the broadcast rights and exhibited the film on their ABC Sunday Night Movie series in 1968. Unaccountably, they used a print having a runtime of 100 minutes. When Turner Classic Movies bought the rights to MGM's extensive film library, they acquired the 100-minute print.
Traveling salesman Tom Phillips (Dana Andrews) is driving home to Boston, Massachusetts for Christmas when he encounters a drunken driver on a rain-streaked road. He cannot avoid a collision, and is hospitalized with spinal damage. Since he cannot be a traveling salesman anymore, his brother arranges for Tom to buy a remote motel in the desert town of Mayville, California. Tom is reluctant, since he has never been an innkeeper before—but in the end he decides that he must travel in order to get as far away from the site of his accident as possible, as soon as possible.
So Tom sets out for California with his wife, teen-aged daughter, and son. But when they reach the desert they are accosted by a pair of drag racers and a "party girl" in a modified, high-performance 1958 Chevrolet Corvette who jokingly force them to swerve and avoid a collision.
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Wikipedia