Hot Rod Gang is another American International Pictures teens in trouble picture. They made a bunch of hot rod films in the 50s that were very similar. There's teens and their angst, drag racing, trouble, rock 'n roll, fights, dancing and a happy ending. It's directed by Lew Landers and written by Lou Rusoff. Lew directed over 100 films for all sorts of studios and 75 episodes of TV on top of that. He started in 1934 and most of his work I'm not familiar with. I have seen The Raven from 1935 with Boris and Bela, some of the Boston Blackie film series, and the 1943 film The Return Of The Vampire. I might have seen a few of his TV episodes. Lou was a most prolific writer at AIP, you might have seen a few of his films, It Conquered The World, The She-Creature, Shake, Rattle & Rock!, Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow or Beach Party.
John Ashley is a hot rodder and a rock 'n roll singer. Gene Vincent makes an appearance, he gives John a break on his TV show. The hot rod gang has a club house but they need money to pay the back rent. John uses his singing money to help them out. There's a bit of trouble with the law over some stolen hub caps but John gets out of that ok. There's more singing and dancing, then a fight, followed by that happy ending. It's pretty average but I was entertained more by it than by some of the films I've watched recently. There's a link in the title. If you watch The Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow right after it you can see how similar they are.
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