Carrera mortal

"High School Hellcats" doesn't quite live up to the title, but it turns out that it's a pretty good movie, especially for its time. Coming from the American-International production team of Nicholson and Zarkoff, it surpasses the standards of most of their efforts. Where I expected lines to make me laugh out loud and a plot that exaggerated the idea of girl groups controlling each other through peer pressure, this film was actually plotted in a nice straightforward way, and lacking any sort of twist or turn, it wasn't entirely predictable either. The script served the story without reaching for shocks to sell itself, and the acting was far from exciting, but also conveyed the proper moods and expressions for the story.

It would be too much to say I liked the movie. It's just watchable. The only intrigue is the dated ideas in the story and setting, but other than that, it manages to succeed in all the basics of the craft of filmmaking. Maybe Nicholson and Zarkoff's best, in that respect, even though they have others that are more fun for being much worse.

So Joyce Martin (Yvonne Lime), a dumb-twit mid-year transfer student from out-of-town---way out of town---, ever so much wanting to "belong" to the "Hellcats" does just that so she can impress "Hellcats" leader Connie (Jana Lund), who has just advised her that tomorrow is slacks day.

But wearing slacks to school is in violation of the school dress code.

And Joyce is the only girl who shows up the next day wearing slacks. It has been mentioned that Joyce is a dumb twit? But Joyce, gamer that she is, doesn't "give up" Connie and the Hellcats, when grilled by the teacher, and she is now "in."

"In" puts her in the "victims" fast lane of activities engaged in by Connie and the Hellcats, and she immediately dumps her dependable boyfriend Mike (Brett Halsey), who is a college student working in a nearby cafe, and just full of good and dull advice, such as counseling Joyce against continuing her association with the Hellcats. Mike is the type who still wears his high school letter jacket with the "4th Runner-up, District 2-AA Science Fair" patch, and is soon yesterday's news as Joyce, dumb-twit slash victim-looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places, dumps him for Rip (Martin Braddock)who knows where all the wrong places are.

Rip takes her to a Hellcat-sponsored party at a mansion. The mansion owners are vacationing out of town, but it is okay as they didn't leave any signs on the premises reading "Do Not Break In and Throw a Wild Party While We Are Gone." This lack of oversight would get them sued from here to Shanghai in the present-day world, especially if any of the breaker-inners were to suffer any harm while on the premises.

The party is wild and there is some smoking, drinking, dipping (snuff not skinny) and even games played with the lights out. A scream is heard, the lights come on, and Connie is found suffering some harm. Actually, she is beyond that and a whole lot dead.

Now it becomes a murder mystery movie, as everybody in the cast and several people in the audience, all have reasons for killing Connie. And poor Joyce, the slut that brazenly wore slacks to school, heads the list.

Yvonne Lime is the new girl in school, and on her first day, she meets the Hellcats, an all-girl gang lead by Jana Lund. Lund tricks Lime into wearing slacks to school the next day, which is not allowed. (!!!) Having proven that she has guts, Lime is initiated and joins the gang and starts living wildly. It's all fun until a girl falls down the stairs and dies, and Lime turns against the gang with the help of her stand-up boyfriend Brett Halsey and sympathetic teacher Rhoda Williams.

This flick was one of two juvenile delinquent pics produced by Buddy Rogers (Mary Pickford's husband) and Ferde Grofe Jr. (son of film composer Ferde Grofe) for A. I. P. It's like a slightly inferior versions of the films Roger Corman was turning in during the same period. It's fun, but nothing to get excited about.

I recall when I first saw this movie. I was in college (1993) and AMC showed it one late night. I was so very taken by this movie. Of course, by today's standards it would be boring, but it was CLASSIC. Shear and utter nostalgia! The acting was interesting, but the plot was explosive. The relationship between Joyce and Mike was magical. The Hellcats were the first pink ladies! They were bad to the bone and yet they were still pretty wholesome. By 1958 standards, I am sure that the movie ruffled a few feathers. I searched for years trying to find the movie. I never knew the name. I even searched IMDB.COM and could not find the name of this movie. Finally, about a year ago - AMC showed it again. I LOVE HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS. It takes you back to a period when simple acts of indecency (and murder) were shocking. Today those things are a "way of life" in society. HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS reminded me of a more simple time, a time that I wish still existed.

Joyce's dad spends most of his waking hours with his nose buried in a newspaper, complaining about nothing in particular, and using a suspicious amount of time commenting on his daughter's lipstick color and states of undress. Mama likes to play bridge and then come home to prepare her culinary specialty, Swanson's Turkey Roll with Assorted Vegetables and Asparagus Upside Down Cake TV dinner. Is it any wonder only child Joyce is drawn to the local high school girl group, the Hellcats. The Hellcats specialize in such deep criminal depravities as smoking, drinking, wearing slacks, and shoplifting $1.98 earrings from the local five and dime. Ma Barkers they ain't. But eventually something serious enough does happens that it makes Joyce have second thoughts about the path she is on.

Not quite funny enough to be camp, not quite bad enough to be a total waste, this is another in the series of where did the parents go wrong with their teens and thank goodness it only takes one death to turn things around. Not bad for the genre and entertaining for those who enjoy watching a lot of nose cone bras maneuvering around in tight spaces. And since it only runs 69 minutes, you don't feel too guilty, having spent such a short amount of time watching it.