Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)

These are some of the most clean-cut, white-bread kids imaginable., 11 April 2008

It looks like bad news for the kids of the local hot rod club. They're about to be thrown out of the building they've used as their clubhouse. And with no place to go, that will mean an end to their club. Just when things look their bleakest, an aunt of one of the club's members offers the kids the use of a house she owns in the appropriately named Dragstrip Hollow. The only catch is that the house is supposed to be haunted.

Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow has proved to be a difficult movie for me to get my hands around. To begin with, this has to be the strangest hot rod club I've run across in a movie. These are some of the most clean-cut, white-bread kids imaginable. In comparison, they make Wally and the Bev look like delinquents. They're respectful of others, they wear suits and dresses to parties, they don't rumble, and, most shocking of all, they don't race. Huh? A hot rod club that has a bylaw prohibiting its members from racing? Weird! The rival hot rod club is no better. When the rival gang decides to crash a party, they do so dressed to the nines - suits, ties, and party dresses. And while I found a lot to enjoy, there are too many big problems with the movie to call it good. On the positive side, I enjoyed the incredibly catchy music, the energy of the cast, and the lighthearted fun of it all. On the negative side there's the lack of any real plot, the hokey haunted house and its "resolution", and some really poor acting. In the end, however, the pendulum ends up on the negative side because of two things I found in Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow that are so egregious they're unforgivable – the ridiculously annoying talking bird and the even more ridiculously annoying talking car. Ugh!

Edit: Despite the problems with Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, I've found myself oddly drawn back to it. I've now seen the movie three times in the past couple of days. There seems to be more here than I first gave it credit for. Even the bird and car aren't bothering me as much. I think a change in my rating to a 6/10 is in order.

6/10