After a series of
circumstances too contrived to get into now, hot rodder John Ashley must
disguise himself as a bearded rock n’ roller.
He then must keep his double life a secret from his family all the while
using his newfound anonymity to perform at a fundraiser. Things threaten to go off the rails once his
rival frames him for a series of hot rod robberies.
I like John Ashley as
much as the next guy, but it’s hard to take him seriously as a rocker (in and
out of the beard). He sings a bunch of
numbers in this movie and none of them make much of an impression. At least Gene Vincent is around to provide a
handful of decent songs. Unfortunately,
he doesn’t get nearly as much screen time as Ashley does.
Hot Rod Gang feels like
one of those types of American International films that started life as a cool
title and/or poster and then once the company sold the rights to it, they were
forced to make a movie around it. (The
whole “gang” subplot takes a backseat to the musical numbers fairly quickly.) It also doesn’t help that the flick lacks the
piss and vinegar that is the hallmark of the best AIP juvenile delinquent/rock
musicals. It's not bad or anything; it's just far too vanilla and
lightweight to really stick with you. It
also doesn’t help that the situations Ashley gets himself into aren’t very
funny and wouldn’t have even cut it for a lazy sitcom.
AKA: Fury Unleashed.
No reviews mention that this is a prequel sort of for Ghost of Dragstrip HOllow which also has the same actress as "lois Cavendish" and deals with similar gang folks but different boyfriend although the parrot's owner woman is in both also.
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