DRAGSTRIP GIRL (1957)

Hot-rodding buddies Jim (Steve Terrell) and Fred (John Ashley) are riding together down the city streets when they encounter hot-rodding Louise (Fay Spain). The boys race the girl for a while and Fred even jumps out of his car to stand up, straddling between the two cars. A motorcycle cop gives chase but they all manage to escape to a secret garage that the local kids maintain. Later, at Mama's Pizzeria, a friendly cop reminds the kids to race only on the dragstrip the city has provided and not on the streets. Louise, who is new to town, takes Jim and Fred to meet her parents. Jim, from a working-class background, impresses her dad with his car tinkering abilities, but Fred, a handsome rich kid, impresses mom because, well, he's handsome and rich. Louise winds up trading off between the two, pitting the buddies against each other as she tries to satisfy her need for speed. When Jim almost hits a woman with a baby carriage on a suburban street, he's shaken up, so Louise sidles up to Fred who is more willing to be reckless. Taunts and dares go back and forth between the boys until the big local race day where the winner will win a scholarship. The night before, Fred and his friend Rick steal Jim's car to see just how powerful it is, and while speeding, they hit and kill a pedestrian. Fred tries to arrange things so that blame will fall on Jim, but on the day of the race, Louise discovers what's going on. Will she be able to prove Jim's innocence, and will she want to?

This early hit for American International is enjoyable. This was certainly one of the movies that set the template for late 50s teen melodramas. It’s got it all: the teenage gang, the nice kid, the bad kid, the sexy gal, the hangout (at Mama’s Pizzeria, Mama and her husband provide some rather strained comic relief), and the general atmosphere of teenage angst. What's interesting here is that, though Fred is clearly a bad apple, juvenile delinquency and the generation gap are not issues: the kids are generally clean-cut and fun-loving and they get along well with cops and parents. Maybe too well: when Louise's dad sees her all dolled up for date night, he comments proudly, "That gal of mine knows how to bait a man trap!" Later when the kids have a petting party in the dark at Louise's house, her dad sneaks downstairs to turn all the lights back on, but the kids just turn them off again. 

The script and direction are par for the course, but the acting is a notch better than average. This was John Ashley's first movie; he went on to a busy career in teen flicks, playing bad guys and nice guys equally well. Later he was instrumental (both as actor and producer) in establishing the subgenre of cheap horror movies shot in the Philippines. Steve Terrell did a lot of TV through the mid-60s then gave it all up to become a Christian educator. Ashley is fairly aggressive with a cocky stance and in-your-face delivery; Terrell is generally passive—he has a tendency to walk hunched in like he's trying not to attract attention. But they have a palpable friendship chemistry here until the femme fatale ruins it. Fay Spain is fine as Louise, and remains mostly sympathetic despite her machinations. In addition to the comic relief of the pizzeria owners and the parents, there's Frank Gorshin as a goofy hot rodder (pictured above right between Ashley and Terrell). I loved Gorshin as TV's Riddler, but a little of him goes a long way and he wears out his welcome, though he does get one of the highlight scenes, dressed in funky drag and singing "Dragstrip Baby" in the pizzeria with Ashley in Elvis mode on guitar. It's fun to see a movie that was made before all the teen movies clichés were set in stone. [Amazon Prime]