DANA ANDREWS AND JEANNE CRAIN IN 'HOT RODS TO HELL'

Title: HOT RODS TO HELL Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2 Camp Score: ****

"The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes," says a jaded and nerve-wracked wreck of a middle-aged former salesman Dana Andrews to wife Jeanne Crain. "Jingle bells (on the radio), the whole thing!" 

Yet HOT RODS TO HELL only begins as a Christmas movie after East Coast traveling-salesman Dana Andrews suffers a major car accident on December 24th, and, after months of traction, winds up with a motel in Arizona... But only IF he and his family can survive the red convertible (titular) menace with only 80 miles left to their new destination...

Mimsy Farmer in HOT RODS TO HELL

The cocky speed demon behind the wheel is Paul Bertoya with jerky sidekick Gene Kirkwood riding shotgun while instigating hot blonde Mimsy Farmer holds the roll-bar in-between, and while her fickle driver/beau seduces Dana's daughter Laurie Mock... first at a rest stop and then at the motel's connected live-band nightclub... Farmer flirts with the middle-age swinger who sold the motel being tired of those bratty delinquents, now dead set against the "square" new owners in what's mostly a stalking car chase along the sunlit desert road... 

That actually can be intense until the heated havoc shows up on Jeanne Crain's hilariously overacting expressions. Meanwhile, one-time A-list Andrews spouts vapid, halting-speech dialogue like "What kind of animals are those?" for which he gets no reply, only a load of HELL that's pure heaven for b-movie fans who thought they'd seen everything!

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL with Jeanne Crain

Jeanne Crain, Jeffrey Bryon in HOT RODS TO HELL with Laurie Mock

Dana Andrews, Laurie Mock, Jeffrey Byron, Jeanne Crain in HOT RODS TO HELL

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL with Laurie Mock

The Hot Rod in HOT RODS TO HELL

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL

The Hot Rod in HOT RODS TO HELL

The Hot Rod in HOT RODS TO HELL

Title card for HOT RODS TO HELL

Laurie Mock eyes HOT RODS TO HELL with Jeffrey Byron

Mimsy Farmer and Gene Kirkwood in HOT RODS TO HELL w/ Paul Bertoya

Mimsy Farmer and Gene Kirkwood in HOT RODS TO HELL

Paul Bertoya and Laurie Mock in HOT RODS TO HELL

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL with George Ives as Lank Daily

George Ives in HOT RODS FROM HELL with Mimsy Farmer

Liz Renay in HOT RODS TO HELL with George Ives as Lank Daily

Jeanne Crain in HOT RODS TO HELL with Laurie Mock

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL with Jeanne Crain

Paul Bertoya with Gene Kirkland in HOT RODS TO HELL

The Hot Rods in HOT RODS TO HELL

The Hot Rods in HOT RODS TO HELL

Mimsy Farmer & Gene Kirkwood in HOT RODS TO HELL w/ Paul Bertoya

Mimsy Farmer & Gene Kirkwood in HOT RODS TO HELL w/ Paul Bertoya

Dana Andrews in HOT RODS TO HELL with Jeffrey Bryon, Jeanne Crain & Laurie Mock

Laurie Mock faces Jeanne Crain in HOT RODS TO HELL

The Hot Rod in HOT RODS TO HELL

Future Rocky producer Gene Kirkwood with Pink Floyd More starlet Mimsy Farmer

Mimsy Farmer faces Paul Bertoya in HOT RODS TO HELL

Laurie Mock shuns Paul Bertoya in HOT RODS TO HELL

Mimsy Farmer takes third wheel Gene Kirkwood in HOT RODS TO HELL

DANA Andrews and JEANNE CRAIN in Hot RODS to HELL

MICKEY ROONEY JR. combo in Hot RODS to HELL

Jeffrey Byron and Peter Oliphant in HOT RODS TO HELL

Jeffrey Byron and Peter Oliphant in HOT RODS TO HELL

Jeffrey Byron and Peter Oliphant in HOT RODS TO HELL

From the trailer of HOT RODS TO HELL

Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain in HOT RODS TO HELL

Gene Kirkwood from Hot Rods to Hell to producing ROCKY