Cat Murkil and the Silks

So okay, I'm biased; they filmed this at my high school (Santa Maria High School) in '75, and I was one of the $15-a-day extras that walked up and down the corridors carefully not looking at the camera. Still...there *are* others who have seen this movie?! If you saw this movie, please send me a note, I'd love to know why..........

This is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen. Almost everything about it is awful, especially the editing. This is no exaggeration. Watch something like Nosferatu, which was made in 1922, and then watch this, made over 50 years later and wonder why editing technology hasn't advanced in such a large period of time. The only thing this film is good for is that it's so bad you may have wet yourself by the end (which is crap, as if you had to be told). One of the worst films ever.

I suppose there was never a time when CAT MURKIL AND THE SILKS would have been called a good movie, critically speaking, but it has become a minor camp mini-classic with its 30-year vintage. The subject matter at hand, although presented in a way we might see as naive, is actually far more relevant today than it was at that time, and considerably more consequential.

No-good, scrawny little punk "Cat" Murkil is the unlikely leader of a honky high school gang that wreaks terror on anyone standing in the way of their juvie-delinquent hijinks. Pitted against racially sectionalized gangs from other sectors of town, they find themselves in a revolving door of violent paybacks in a blood-soaked teenage gang war.

With performances ranging from awful to adequate, and rather poorly paced, this low-budget curiosity piece is best viewed by patient bad movie fans. While far from the worst film I have ever seen(with a few legitimately good moments), I rate it cheritably at 4/10.

This is definitely a "so bad it's good" entry. First, the title. I saw this as "Cruisin' High," and while definitely a better title than "Cat Murkil and the Silks," hardly any of this takes place in a high school (what little is in the high school of the enemy gang) and if they mean "high while Cruisin' in cool 60's cars," well OK they do a little bit of Cruisin'.

The film is bad, but a blast. The Silks are run by Punch, who always comes down on Cat. But Cat sees a unique opportunity to become the leader of the gang, and grabs it. Tough-guy and badass Cat is, yes, a skinny blond semi-pretty boy (ok looking but nothing spectacular) who gets tough and gets in the faces of, among others, old teachers, blacks and Mexicans. He tosses the word "nigger" and "mammy" to one black drug dealer, then tries not to cry and save a little face when the dealer's "connections" confront Cat. It's a great scene! His main man can only be described as a "young Bowzer from Sha Na Na," and Cat has a brother about to be released from prison who he idolizes. Cat is also in love/lust with his brother's wife, who is indeed very, very hot.

The Silks pull things like murder and terrorize people, and actually some of the violence is pretty nasty. But sometimes you have to laugh, I mean, sure it's cruel when the newest Silk, some little kid, is racing an old lady in a wheelchair around her home, but it's done in such a hokey way you get a kick out of it, even if you feel guilty later on. (It's only a movie anyway.) The wheelchair lady definitely can't touch Grandma in "Fight For Your Life" but she's not bad. And all throughout Cruisin' High, even during nasty scenes, the goofiest music is playing, as if it were a cartoon. It's incredible to think that all this was put together so seriously.

Some of the actors are definitely recognizable, like from episodes of "Shazam" and other 70's stuff. Steve Bond and Derrel Maury, who both are pretty decent in my opinion, would soon be reunited the next year in "Massacre At Central High," a vastly superior film. And the top cop is Rhodes Reason, who most viewers will remember from the classic Toho film "King Kong Escapes!" This is by no means a "sought-after" flick, as most probably don't even know it exists, so it can be bought for cheap. It is definitely highly recommended as a fun blast from the past.

Sure, it's a little silly, but the film stands out far beyond other movies of the age-old "juvenile delinquent" genre. Don't even think about sordid campiness here, because this is the real thing! It is dramatically interesting, and there's enough crude action to cause mass hysteria.. Although it now pales by comparison of today's films on a higher standard, the message on teenage violence still delivers to this day. As it is, the movie remains fun and entertaining.