I saw this film as a teenager in the early 70's, and only recently saw it pop up on the grid on TCM. I did recall parts of it, but had to watch it again. Right from the get-go, the movie starts off with cheesy acting and scenes. The dad holding Christmas boxes just right as he talks on the phone. Who does that? It's the definition of "corny". The movie is watchable if you like watching bad acting. It reminds me of "Mystery Science Theater", in that they show a really bad movie, but you still have to watch it and see if it gets worse. I gave this a 3 star as, seriously, you can't give it anything higher. Dana Andrews at his best.

Clearly, everyone in this is a Republican. Republicans aren't cool. They're even less cool when they think they're cool. The dangerous youths of this beauty are clearly that. Lots of money for souped up wheels and Today's Teen clothing.I was an 18 year old usher when I was forced to watch this every night for a week at work. I'd just turn my head and look incredulously at my co-workers night after night. What the hell is this? I'd say. We're supposed to be afraid of these kids? In the past year we'd run 'The Wild Angels', 'The Devil's Angels' and 'The Incident'.Stupid, stupid presentation of menace. A Republican presentation. Should have starred Ozzie and Harriet - now that would have given the movie something to really enjoy. I loved those Nelsons.

I believe I will go along with the conventional wisdom shared by many of the other reviewers here. The actors here were saddled with plenty of bad assumptions and corny techniques employed by the screenwriter, the director, and the producer, Sam Katzman the king of cinema Cheese. They do the best they can, but ultimately they are doomed, unwilling participants trapped in a corny melodrama with the form of a 1950's juvenile delinquent movie.The release date on this film says 1966, but the whole ethos feels more like 1956, or maybe even 1946. Just change Dana Andrews from injured businessman to injured World War II veteran, and there you go. I'm not even sure when this screenplay was actually written. Maybe it was sitting on somebody's shelf for 10 or 20 years.The most annoying gaffe to my mind is the appearance and affect of the so-called "delinquents" who "terrorize" uber-square Dana Andrews and his family, a bunch of non-realistic cardboard cutouts straight out of a 1950's television sitcom like "Leave it To Beaver" or "Father Knows Best." These well-scrubbed Hollywood actors, with clean well-pressed chinos and button-down shirts, and shiny straight white teeth, are supposed to be threatening? Give me a break! These kids are about as threatening as a Nerf ball. Hard to believe that the very same year, Roger Corman released "The Wild Angels," showing off a REAL group of reprobates who terrorize the innocent straights on the road. Now those bikers, THOSE were a bunch of creepy, unshaven low lifes. These kids are just a little bored. And who wouldn't be, stuck in some crappy desert town in the middle of Nowheresville, California.To say the acting is overwrought is like saying BP made a little oopsie in the Gulf of Mexico. And then, the doofus elderly cop comes into the movie a few times for a little Joe Friday style moralizing. I'm with the idiot in the hat, who later killed himself after crashing his car: that cop was an asshat."Thank you, Daddy, for not telling that cop about...what happened." Huh? What DID happen? Nothing! You made out with one of the hot rod dudes, and did a little snogging against the side of the Corvette? Holy cats, did I miss something? That was enough to drive you folks out of town? This movie is really terrible for a major studio release. An overdone melodrama with a little hot rodding thrown in, and some bad discotheque blues-rock by Mickey Rooney Jr.! (No Gary Lewis he, his "combo" certainly never tore up the charts, but I did enjoy his lyric, something like "Baby don't mess up my hair!") In the end, I can only recommend this movie for the snogalicious charms of Miss Mimsy Farmer. Rowrrr. Such an adorable kitten, overbite and all. Love those giant hair-dos that were all the rage in that era (the era of my birth!) And as many others have commented, Jeanne Crain was also holding it together pretty dang well at age 42, rocking a tasteful blouse and tight skirt. But, overall, these reasons to watch the movie are few and far between, so, I would recommend this film only to the most masochistic of drive-in movie buffs. Fair warning.

Most of the problems with this dank little road movie can be attributed to its script. Other problems relate to costumes, acting, and music.The story rationale is stupid. No sane person would buy a business a thousand miles away, sight unseen. Yet, the entire story is built around this premise. The Phillips family, an ensemble of characters that remind me of Ward, June, Wally, and the Beaver, get in their corny Plymouth Belvedere, complete with corny luggage rack on top. They then proceed to race along a deserted desert highway at 55 mph en route to the motel they've purchased, presumably by phone.Along the way, photogenic teenagers who like to kick up dust harass them. At one oasis, a cop with a scowling, bulldog face gets out of his old fashioned, and totally enclosed, patrol car ... wearing a motorcycle helmet. This cop reappears from time to time, but always with the helmet on, apparently glued to his head.The script's stupid premise and corny plot are made worse by dialogue that is overwritten and lacks subtext. We don't need dialogue, like "They're going to box me in"; yes, we can see that on screen. Characters blurt out exactly what they think. There's no subtlety in communication. This on-the-nose dialogue is rendered even worse by laughably overwrought acting.The story's theme, likewise, is unsubtle. The writer beats us over the head with a message of morality that is insulting. No wonder viewers laugh. They're laughing at the corny visuals, the melodramatic acting, but also at a script written for an audience of chimpanzees.During the mid-1960s a glut of juvenile delinquent movies came out, including "The Wild Angels" (1966), "Hells Angels On Wheels" (1967), and "The Born Losers" (1967). It's possible that in the case of "Hot Rods To Hell", some producer, sensing a cash cow, had a script hastily written. At least, that's my impression.The film's music is horrible. It's basically nothing but a compilation of repetitive, non-harmonic beats that was so "in" in the 1960s. The photography is the least unpleasant element. Use of rear-screen projection is obvious. Otherwise, camera work and lighting are competent."Hot Rods To Hell" is good for some comic relief. It's also fairly representative of juvenile delinquent movies of that era. Otherwise, it's a film that most viewers over the age of nine will not want to waste their time on.