You have to wait 40 minutes before you hear the phrase "Dragstrip Hollow." Until that point (and even after), this film is a colossal bore.
After an opening scene of a drag race between two chicks, which is almost interesting, the film quickly bogs down into the trials and tribulations of a gang of kids who are about to be evicted from their hangout. I can't even tell you the names of most of the characters because I didn't care. One (slightly) recognizable face belongs to Russ Bender, only because I've seen him in a previous American International motorcycle flick. Yes folks, this film is from AIP, RIP. If you can stick around to the end, there is a good in-joke involving Paul Blaisdell, who created a lot of the creatures for AIP horror flicks.
One of the gang members is named Lois, and is played by Jody Fair. She's cute, and shows some acting talent. She drives a hot rod, and manages to stay mostly out of trouble. Her father is a square, but her mother seems hip. Lois' love interest, played by some guy, is uninteresting and sweats under his armpits quite a bit, judging by the shirt stains when he makes his first appearance onscreen. Jack Ging tries to play a tough guy, but he's only in a few scenes and has no bearing on anything - so why is he even in the film? I kept thinking this would have been a perfect part for John Ashley, but apparently this film was beneath even his borderline talent.
In the opening fifteen minutes, we get three songs, none of which I recall. There are a few others thrown in later, including one called "Geronimo." Clearly, this film needs to be shown during the next TCM "Native American Images in Film" festival. One song was written by future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston - unfortunately, I must have been napping when they played it.
In the midst of this tedium, Lois' aunt shows up. The aunt is played by the crone-like Dorothy Neumann. Neumann brings her parrot with her. The parrot gives the best performance in the movie, and has the best lines as well.
Lois' father: "Polly wanna cracker?" Bird: "What the hell would I do with a cracker?"
Lois' aunt: "Always say please." Bird: "Drop dead, please."
The gang eventually spend the night in a supposedly haunted house, where candles move and fireplaces swing around. Oh, I'm sooooooooooooo scared I may wet myself.
For much of the dialogue in this film, you may need subtitles. This late 1950s lingo is pretty foreign to me. "Somebody get this bag of bacteria lost." "He's got static in his attic." "Don't boil." "Put that thing down Dad before you clobber your clavicle." "Take your flippers off me, seal." "Man, you're cuttin' me down."
However, I did understand this exchange. After Lois' father spies too kids making out, the boy says "we thought we'd come out for a breath of fresh air." "Where did you think you'd find it?" asks Lois' father. "Down her throat?"
The worst soliloquy in the movie occurs early on, when a nerd tries to explain the principles behind his hotrod:
"You will be particularly interested in a theory I have evolved on the basic principles of locomotion, using of course the Euclidean system of mathematics and naturally interposing that with the Einstein theory of relativity. I have come up with proof positive of the transcendental nature of locomotion and combustion."
It's crap like this that makes kids hate math and science.
After an opening scene of a drag race between two chicks, which is almost interesting, the film quickly bogs down into the trials and tribulations of a gang of kids who are about to be evicted from their hangout. I can't even tell you the names of most of the characters because I didn't care. One (slightly) recognizable face belongs to Russ Bender, only because I've seen him in a previous American International motorcycle flick. Yes folks, this film is from AIP, RIP. If you can stick around to the end, there is a good in-joke involving Paul Blaisdell, who created a lot of the creatures for AIP horror flicks.
One of the gang members is named Lois, and is played by Jody Fair. She's cute, and shows some acting talent. She drives a hot rod, and manages to stay mostly out of trouble. Her father is a square, but her mother seems hip. Lois' love interest, played by some guy, is uninteresting and sweats under his armpits quite a bit, judging by the shirt stains when he makes his first appearance onscreen. Jack Ging tries to play a tough guy, but he's only in a few scenes and has no bearing on anything - so why is he even in the film? I kept thinking this would have been a perfect part for John Ashley, but apparently this film was beneath even his borderline talent.
In the opening fifteen minutes, we get three songs, none of which I recall. There are a few others thrown in later, including one called "Geronimo." Clearly, this film needs to be shown during the next TCM "Native American Images in Film" festival. One song was written by future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston - unfortunately, I must have been napping when they played it.
In the midst of this tedium, Lois' aunt shows up. The aunt is played by the crone-like Dorothy Neumann. Neumann brings her parrot with her. The parrot gives the best performance in the movie, and has the best lines as well.
Lois' father: "Polly wanna cracker?" Bird: "What the hell would I do with a cracker?"
Lois' aunt: "Always say please." Bird: "Drop dead, please."
The gang eventually spend the night in a supposedly haunted house, where candles move and fireplaces swing around. Oh, I'm sooooooooooooo scared I may wet myself.
For much of the dialogue in this film, you may need subtitles. This late 1950s lingo is pretty foreign to me. "Somebody get this bag of bacteria lost." "He's got static in his attic." "Don't boil." "Put that thing down Dad before you clobber your clavicle." "Take your flippers off me, seal." "Man, you're cuttin' me down."
However, I did understand this exchange. After Lois' father spies too kids making out, the boy says "we thought we'd come out for a breath of fresh air." "Where did you think you'd find it?" asks Lois' father. "Down her throat?"
The worst soliloquy in the movie occurs early on, when a nerd tries to explain the principles behind his hotrod:
"You will be particularly interested in a theory I have evolved on the basic principles of locomotion, using of course the Euclidean system of mathematics and naturally interposing that with the Einstein theory of relativity. I have come up with proof positive of the transcendental nature of locomotion and combustion."
It's crap like this that makes kids hate math and science.