Hot Cars

Last updated
Hot Cars
Hot Cars poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Don McDougall
Screenplay byDon Martin
Richard H. Landau
Based onHot Cars
by H. Haile Chace
Produced by Howard W. Koch [1]
Starring John Bromfield
Carol Shannon
Joi Lansing
Ralph Clanton
Mark Dana
Charles Keane
George Sawaya
CinematographyWilliam Margulies
Edited by George A. Gittens
Music by Les Baxter
Production
companies
Schenck-Koch Productions
Bel-Air Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • November 2, 1956 (1956-11-02)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hot Cars is a 1956 American film noir crime film directed by Don McDougall and written by Don Martin and Richard H. Landau. [2] The film stars John Bromfield, Carol Shannon, Joi Lansing, Ralph Clanton, Mark Dana, Charles Keane, and George Sawaya. It was released on November 2, 1956, by United Artists. [3] [4]

Contents

Plot

Nick Dunn, a used car salesman, can't close a deal with customers Karen Winter and Arthur Markel, so he is fired. A sympathetic Markel has a car lot of his own and offers a job to Nick, who quits after discovering Markel's disreputable business: Mankel obviously sells stolen cars. [5]

Nick and wife Jane have a financial dilemma when their baby son falls ill. Swallowing his pride, Nick asks for his job back with Markel, who promotes him to manager. But the criminal activity continues. Detective Davenport, on the trail of the racket, tries to get hand at a hot car. Last minute the lot's boss, Smiley Ward, shows up under a false name and cancels the purchase, claiming the car was already sold to him. Returning shortly after, Davenport warns Dunn to stay at his job. The detective leaves and is murdered by Ward, who shadowed him.

Jane is appalled by Nick's new line of work. Conspicuous account movements aroused her suspicion, resulting in an argument. Dunn seeks solace in the company of the beautiful Karen, Markel's assistant. A while before, he had some drinks with her at Jack's bar. But when the cops come to investigate Davenport's death, Karen refuses to give Nick an alibi. Now a - framed - murder suspect, he escapes. At the gang's car forging shop, he is abducted by Ward, who threatens to murder him too. On the parking lot at Jack's bar, a fight between the two ensues. Ward flees to the nearby amusement park, entering a roller coaster. Dunn, who pursued him, joins, the fistfight between the two results in Ward being thrown off, falling to his death. Nick tries to explain the hot-car racket to the police, implicating Karen and Markel.

Cast

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References

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  2. Brickman, Barbara Jane (1 March 2012). New American Teenagers: The Lost Generation of Youth in 1970s Film. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4411-7677-6 . Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  3. "Hot Cars (1956) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  4. "Hot Cars". TV Guide. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  5. Doherty, Thomas (4 June 2010). Teenagers And Teenpics: Juvenilization Of American Movies. Temple University Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-59213-787-9 . Retrieved 24 September 2024.