Hell on Wheels (1967 film)

There are three brothers: stock car driver Marty, mechanic Del, and revenue agent Steve. Del is jealous of Marty's success while Steve tries to bust a moonshine ring.

Del opens his own garage, building "tankers" for moonshiners on the side, ignoring the requests of his girlfriend Sue. Del makes a proposition to the owner of a car often beaten by Marty and is allowed to drive against his brother. Del wins the race. He tries to break away from the moonshine ring, but then he and Marty are kidnapped. They manage to escape and the moonshine gang die in a car chase. Marty and Del then help Steve round up the remaining criminals.

In between the action, they all attend a local club where there are musical performances by Robbins, and also by Connie Smith and the Stonemans.

• Marty Robbins as himself
• John Ashley as Del
• Gigi Perreau as Sue
• Robert Dornan as Steve
• Connie Smith as herself
• The Stonemans as themselves
• Robert Foulk
• Frank Gerstle
• Christine Tabbott
• Chris Eland
• Eddie Crandall
• Marvin Miller as the Racing Announcer

• "No Tears Milady"
• "The Shoe Goes on the Other Foot"
• "Fly Butterfly Fly"
• "This Song"
• "Darling Would You Take Me Back Again"
• "I'll Have To Make Some Changes"

The entire film was shot in Nashville, Tennessee and was independently produced. John Ashley later recalled "Marty was a terrific fellow and a great singer, and I was a big fan of his. He was a stock car racer, loved stock cars, and the producers had put this thing together. They said to me that this was going to be his motion picture debut, and they needed me to play his brother and basically carry the movie. So I went down there for six or seven weeks."[3]

Ashley was from Oklahoma and says he was "a big country and western fan. I got a chance to meet a lot of the guys I had heard and admired." This included Charley Pride who Ashley met the night Pride was the first black artist to appear in the Grand Ole Opry. Ashley later helped Marty Robbins sponsor a stock car racer. "I didn't have to commit a lot of money, but he wanted a publicity tie-in with me, putting Straightaway on the car. Marty never drove my car, but my car did compete in a couple of races Marty was in. "[4]

Although Ashley had a career as a pop singer he did not sing in the film.[5]

• List of American films of 1967

• Lamont, John (1992). "The John Ashley Interview Part 2". Trash Compactor (Volume 2 No. 6 ed.) pp 2-7.

• Hell on Wheels at TCMDB
• Hell on Wheels on IMDb
• Review of film at Street Muscle
• Hell on Wheels at Letterbox DVD