Roadracers (1994) on Netflix
Dude Delaney, a guitar-playing greaser in a 1950s town, dreams of rockabilly stardom. Sarge, the local sheriff, and his son Teddy want him gone. Donna is his girlfriend, Nixer his friend.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.5/103,284 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Dude Delaney is a guitar-playing greaser in a 1950s town who wants to become a rockabilly star. His girlfriend Donna and his friend Nixer, who is obsessed with old B-movies, are his closest company. Sarge, the local sheriff, and Sarge's son Teddy, a rival greaser, want Dude gone. A game of chicken wrecks a police car, and at a drag race a cigarette Dude flicks sets Teddy's girlfriend's hair on fire, and Teddy swears revenge. At J.T.'s diner the two keep clashing and J.T. steps between them. Donna urges Dude to do something with his music, and he asks about trying out for a local band.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Roadracers (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Rodriguez found Link Wray's music was not currently in demand and licensed it cheaply for Roadracers; when he told Quentin Tarantino, Tarantino licensed Wray's music for Pulp Fiction too.
- Robert Rodriguez replaced Wes Craven as director of Roadracers; Craven had left the Showtime Rebel Highway project when his own film, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, was greenlit.
- Rodriguez, used to shooting films very fast, ran into resistance from his Hollywood crew on Roadracers, most notably the director of photography, and later discussed the conflicts in the out-of-print book Roadracers: the Making of a Degenerate Hot Rod Flick.
- Showtime's Rebel Highway series gave 1950s B-movie titles to new films by established directors such as William Friedkin, Joe Dante and Ralph Bakshi; Robert Rodriguez was the only young director in the series.
- Roadracers never had a standalone soundtrack release, but A&M put out a 1994 companion compilation for the Showtime series, Fast Track to Nowhere, with newly recorded covers of '50s songs by Iggy Pop, Los Lobos, Concrete Blonde and others.
- Robert Rodriguez shot Roadracers in only 13 days, and said the making-of shows how to make a feature in that time.
