Hot Rod (1979 film)

Hot Rod is a 1979 American made-for-television drama film directed by George Armitage and starring Gregg Henry and Pernell Roberts.

Hot Rod
Genre	Drama
Written by	George Armitage
Directed by	George Armitage
Starring	Gregg Henry Pernell Roberts Robin Mattson Grant Goodeve
Music by	Michael Simpson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Sam Manners
Production locations	Alviso, California Calistoga, Napa Valley, California Baylands Raceway Park - 44333 Christy Lane, Fremont, California
Cinematography	Andrew Davis
Editors	William Neel Carroll Sax
Camera setup	Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Running time	100 minutes
Production companies	ABC Circle Films
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	May 25, 1979 (1979-05-25)

Production

The film was made by ABC Circle, a division of ABC. Armitage says they just had a title, Hot Rod. In an interview with Nick Pinkerton, George Armitage stated, "And I went over there and talked to them, they said: 'Yeah, go ahead.' It was a street racer movie, that’s what I came up with, and we shot that in 15 days—TV was not generous with their time. We shot that up in Northern California, in Calistoga, wine country, and at the Fremont drag way."

Armitage says the story is based on the life of a friend of his, Bob Edelson, who was a top mechanic and with whom Armitage used to race.

Armitage used a number of actors who were under contract to ABC at the time.

External links

• Hot Rod at IMDb