Out of work but on his honeymoon, Bill Partain, a newspaper reporter, reads about a bank robbery in Sedalia, Missouri pulled off by notorious criminal Tom Ellis and his gang. Having once interviewed Ellis's girlfriend Ruth Childers for a Kansas City, Missouri paper, Partain figures an exclusive interview with Ellis could assure him of landing a new job.

Lying to his new wife Irene about where they are going, Bill drives them to a small Ozarks town where he believes Ruth is living. Townspeople are reluctant to help Bill locate her, and deputy Lou Follett warns him that almost everyone in the community is afraid of Ellis.

Bill finally finds Ruth, who remembers him favorably. She manages to arrange his being taken to Ellis by a young man named Kermit who is not in the gang, but sometimes works for him. Ellis grants him an interview, boasting of his crimes, to the consternation of gunman Elly Horn, who suddenly shoots both Ellis and Kermit. He also shoots his own gang member, Oren, by mistake.

Irene, left behind, is desperate to find her husband, who is now being held by Elly for a ransom of $50,000. She gets the address from Ruth, hitchhikes to Ellis's hideout and notifies the police, who arrive just in time to rescue Bill.

• Leslie Nielsen as William Joel Partain
• Colleen Miller as Irene Partain
• Edward Andrews as Deputy Lou Follett
• Jay C. Flippen as Oren Kobble
• James Best as Kermit
• Paul Richards as Elly Horn
• Robert J. Wilke as Tom Ellis
• Claude Akins as Truck Driver
• Marianne Stewart as Ruth Childers
• Paul Wexler as the "Lean Man"

According to MGM records, the film earned $250,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $250,000 in other markets, resulting in a loss to the studio of $110,000.^[1]

• Hot Summer Night at IMDb  
• Hot Summer Night at AllMovie
• Hot Summer Night at the TCM Movie Database
• Hot Summer Night at the American Film Institute Catalog