Friday, January 24, 2020

HOT RODS TO HELL / Call Them Punks, Call Them Animals... But You Better Get Out Of Their Way! - 1967

In today's super wild adventure, Tom Phillips, his wife Peg, their teenage daughter Tina and younger son Jamie drive through the California desert heading for a new life by running a motel. Things go south when teenage bad girl Gloria and her two delinquent boyfriends, Duke and Ernie, chase and harass them in a Corvette! With Duke attempting to seduce the daughter, it finally drives dad to take action against the sadistic trio. Filmed at Lake Los Angeles, Calabasas, Antelope Valley, Wilsona Gardens and Culver City.

It stars Dana (CURSE OF THE DEMON) Andrews, Jeanne (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) Crain, Mimsy (THE BLACK CAT '61) Farmer, Laurie (RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP) Mock, Paul (ANGELS FROM HELL) Bertoya, Gene (executive producer of ROCKY!) Kirkwood and Jeffrey (THE DUNGEONMASTER) Byron.

On his way back home for Christmas, Tom Phillips' car is hit by a drunk driver and he sustains multiple injuries. After he gets out of the hospital, he must choose a new life and a friend helps him aquire a motel establishment in the Californian desert...

Here are Tom and his family driving to California in their 1961 Plymouth, I think, the ugliest car Plymouth ever made. The next year though, the 1962 version was super nice!

A few miles away from their destination, the family meets up with one of the hot rods headed to Hell, back in the day when crazy girls (like in THE GIANT CLAW) could legally sit like that in a vehicle. Those are Gloria, Duke and Ernie in the Vette, all are poor little ass hole rich kids with nothing else to do, naturally.

At one point, Ernie calls his friends to help harass the the family.

Duke likes Tina and stalks her at a park when the family stops to rest from dealing with the little fuckers. Problem is, Tina is attracted to Duke...

Finally, Tom is able to talk to a policeman about the situation and he is relieved when the officer says he'll keep an eye on the brats.

Tom is taking over the motel and roadhouse, and that night a great little band is playing live, and, it's none other than Mickey Rooney Jr. and his Combo!! Love those threads, man!

Tina goes to the roadhouse to see what's going on and Gloria confronts her (she thinks she's Duke's girl) and there's a bit of drama... Then guess who shows up and flatly tells Gloria (his girl before Tina arrived) that she ain't his girl, ouch!!

Tom can't find Tina at their place so goes out looking for her...

Not cool, Tom finds Duke putting the make on Tina!!.. Uh-Oh!!

That's it, Tom and the family pack up and head to the nearest police department 30 miles away to file a complaint against the delinquents! But Duke finds out so him and Ernie set out to stop them! Then at one point, Duke nearly runs Tom into a wall before the shits finally leave!!

Tom comes up with a plan, mom and the kids stand at a distance (check out that matte painting used for close ups in the background) while he turns the car around and turns on the lights. You see, the jerk asses have been tormenting the family on numerous occasions with a deadly game of chicken, so...

Duke and Ernie are laughing their asses off until they realize they're going to crash unless THEY swerve this time!! They end upside down in the dirt and weeds (I was actually hoping they'd run into the car!).

Tom's not taking any chances with these little bastards and has his handy equalizer ready and set to go!

After saying this is what he'd like to do to both of them, he starts beating the crap out of the wreck!! He gives them a few more lectures before...

The cop takes them away and the Phillips family head back to motel to live, peacefully!.. Tune in tomorrow for more mayhem, here at, The Dungeon!!..

3 comments:

Bob Johns said...

Ok this looks really fun!

Randall Landers said...

I often misremember/conflate things in this film with Terror in the Year Zero because of the similarities.

KD said...

Hey Randall, I used to confuse HOT RODS TO HELL with PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO also! Similar mood, situations, characters, etc. You're not alone on this one!

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