Sat 18 Nov 2017
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: HOT ROD RUMBLE (1957).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews[5] Comments
HOT ROD RUMBLE. Allied Artists, 1957. Leigh Snowden, Richard Hartunian, Wright King, Joey Forman, Brett Halsey. Director: Leslie H. Martinson.
This one’s a surprisingly entertaining oddity, a juvenile delinquent exploitation film featuring a lead actor who never made another film before or since: Richard Hartunian, an effective method actor with more than a passing similarity to Marlon Brando. He portrays Big Artie, a hot-tempered mechanic affiliated with the Road Devils, a local racing outfit. He’s got his mind dead set on local beauty Terri (Leigh Snowden, who portrayed a character named Cheesecake in Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly) and is more than willing to throw a punch or two to get his girl back after she tells him it’s over.
So it’s no surprise that when Terri and another guy get run off the road, all the attention turns to Arnie. Even his parents seem to think he’s capable of such reckless and deadly behavior. With nowhere to turn, Arnie seeks the assistance of fellow Road Devil, Ray Johnson (Wright King). Arnie does not realize that it was Ray who was responsible for running Terri and her friend Hank off the road. Terri survives the incident, but Hank does not. This makes Arnie the primary target of his fellow Road Devils. They are ready to get their revenge.
At times the film feels more like a teenage melodrama than a crime film. But there’s enough grittiness and small town teenage angst as well as the obligatory final car race to make Hot Rod Rumble a worthwhile movie to seek out. Add to that the exceptional jazz score by Alexander “Sandy†Courage (you can listen to the main theme here), and you’ve got yourself a movie that is as much a time capsule as a work of commercial popular entertainment. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but better than you might expect, and a movie that deserves a proper commercial DVD release.
November 18th, 2017 at 9:25 pm
Better than you might expect, as Jon says, and better than it has any right to be, given the cast, full of names you’ve never heard of, or at least I haven’t.
Any resemblance to actual hot rod clubs in the late 1950s is purely coincidental, though, I’m sure.
November 18th, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Leigh Snowden, Joey Forman and Brett Halsey have some serious background. The director, Leslie H. Martinson was outstanding, often on projects such as this, beneath his grade, including the 1966 Batman movie.
November 19th, 2017 at 6:31 am
Barry, You are quite correct. Even the next few names in the cast, not mentioned in the credits before the review, had sizable if not long careers as character actors and/or in bit parts:
Larry Dolgin … Hank Adams
John Brinkley … Bill
Charles Webster … Race official (as Chuck Webster)
Dorothy Adams … Ma Crawford
Than Wyenn … Arnie’s Boss
Ned Glass … Auto Parts Dealer
Phil Adams … Club member
Joseph Mell … Pops
Brett Halsey, whom you mention, is still active (as a voice actor) today.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:59 pm
Very perceptive, Jonathan; sometimes you have to look beyond the title.
November 20th, 2017 at 2:30 am
The director (Martinson) did some very good work in his career. Batman included.