Hot Rod (1979)

Powerful

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The greatest drag racing movie ever made, by far, is American Nitro. Originally released in 1979, this classic movie has developed a cult following among drag race fans and is currently in re-release on DVD.Along with all the top drivers of the 1970s, this film includes a whole sync sound color sequence on "Jungle Jim" Liberman and the only full color, professionally shot, sequence on "Jungle" Pam's drag strip performance.This movie brings back the golden age of drag racing.The film just sucks you in. Many people have commented that they have watched it 20 times and more. If you go to the American Nitro Facebook page you will see their comments.Google it. b.

Dialog as banal as this makes several scenes more than a little cringe-worthy. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I saw this movie years ago as a rental and the guys I watched it with along with myself laughed quite a few times at some of the implausible things we saw, as well as the absolutely BAD dialog and cardboard cutout characters. As a matter of fact, we still use the "9/16ths" comment as part of our expressions at the track, mostly as a method of disrespect. Once things got to the dragstrip, however, "Hot Rod" was a bit more palatable. I enjoyed the rocket Funny Car making a pass down the track (rocket cars having been outlawed for nearly 20 years now), and some of the old school drag cars really gave a look into the late 70's drag scene. Being a drag racer myself, I appreciate the history. The story is standard TV movie fare (this was an ABC Friday Night Movie after all), and even after saying this, I still went and bought a copy on VHS. Should it be on DVD? Considering the dreck that's already on DVD ("reality" shows and the like), I'd vote for a DVD release. File this one as "so bad it's good".

I just love this movie!!! From the first time that I had watched this movie, I just can't get enough of it. I remember first watching it when it re-aired late night on our local ABC channel at 2am in the morning. Ever since then I searched for the movie not knowing that my mother had actually taped the movie. After about eleven years, I watched the movie again. All in all for being a low budget film, I think they did one heck of a job. I also really love the small bits of humor throughout the movie as well as the music and you can't forget the racing!!

Being a big fan of drag racing, i think this movie is deffinately the finest 1/4 mile drag movie of all time, the cars are phenominal and the track actions is the greatest especially being about vintage drag racing, also the music soundtrack couldnt be any better, overall just a great movie and i wish it would be available on dvd or vhs to purchase.