Hollywood High

Get a new cameraman, this one sucks if you are a woman lover!

This is the type of movie that one would expect to see at a drive-in on a Friday or Saturday Night wedged between two better crap movies. Except this one would probably send everybody to the concession stands if not running to the exits.

Four horny teenage couples in California run around looking for places to make out and have sex. That's pretty much the whole plot. Throw in a retired aging actress with a ten bedroom mansion, a horny bumbling cop, a really bad Fonzie rip-off named "The Fenz", a drunk Spanish beach bum, a dwarf mechanic, a silly gay French teacher, some of the wors t songs in history ever used as a soundtrack, not-even-junior high-level-drama acting, and a six minute food right and there you go. No plot or story. Except for the aging actress, the rest of the supporting characters pass through with no real link to the story (and remember, there IS no story). The only reason I was able to sit through this is bc the four girls were quite hot and sexy and there were some great T&A shots as they were either dressed in hot pants or bikini-clad. Otherwise this is totally non-essential viewing even if you're a fan of the B-movie/drive-in genre like me.

Hollywood High is amazing in the sense that the whole movie goes nowhere. The movie looks like it was all shot with one camera because that would be the only excuse for editing that's this bad. Every single joke (and there are tons) is so incredibly bad and is followed by a few seconds of silence, making the characters look like even bigger losers than we already knew they were. The musical interludes are the most painful, since they use up about five minutes at a time and result in absolutely nothing but the same mindless frolicking, over and over. The four lead female characters are all similar - stupid Hollywood bombos who love to smother each other with their breasts. The worst of the four male counterparts was Fenz, the most blatant Fonz ("Happy Days") knock-off ever. The others were equally stupid, they just didn't say as much. The movie becomes more irrational as it nears the end. The girls let an old lady screw their boyfriends (simultaneously), leaving them weak but very happy. The movie ends with breasts.

Wow, as in I can't believe how bad it is. I last saw this about 1976 at a drive-in. It's the typical drive-in movie from that era where we didn't even really get, or care, how bad it was. It was a sex driven excuse to get us in the drive-in with cases of beer to meet up with other friends (girls). Since I was only 16 at the time, that meant I was sometimes in the trunk with the beer. Watching this movie now just isn't the same because all that stands out is how terrible it is and memories of the fun at the drive-in which didn't involve watching the movie very much. I can't believe someone could rate this movie a 10. And no, none of the girls (Susanne Severeid is Jan and credited in the movie as only "Susanne") have an "eerie resemblance to Eve Plumb." at best it's a similarity, definitely not eerie. Even on a scale of bad movies it doesn't rate that good because it's just bad and not creative bad. Example, how creative is it to have a Mae West type with the name of June East? I gave it one star each for the bounce of Bebe (Marcy Albrecht) and Monica's (Rae Sperling) Mounds shirt ;) as well as the SoCal scenery of the times.

'Hollywood High' is an unjustly overlooked early work from the 70s heyday of American drive-in sex comedies. Beginning with the free-and-easy charms of 'The Cheerleaders', in 1973, to 'The Pom Pom Girls', and 'The Van', in 1977, this film is a worthy yet obscure addition.

Despite its qualities, Hollywood High has never enjoyed any kind of DVD release, and the only way to watch it now is through the ravaged print currently available on Amazon Prime video. And this is a genuine pity, because anyone who appreciates these movies as both fascinating time capsule of a now much-changed landscape (central Los Angeles, and coastal LA), and as an effervescent offering from a more innocent time, would want this in their collection.

The film's dream-like quality, floating airily from sensual beach escapades, to a spooky movie-star mansion in the hills, gives its carefree cast - bikini girls intent on a good time, and their bad-boy biker boyfriends - an often surreal landscape to revel in, free from the cares of the more buttoned-up world of their elders who patrol it.

Made during the peak of 70s nostalgia for Golden-Age Hollywood, Hollywood High includes a series of nods to the old days of the movies, from silent-comedy style interludes, to a hilarious turn from a Mae West infused one-time silent film actress, who now resides in champagne-and-beefcake splendor in her faded mansion where the beach girls hope to frolic.

There are a few significant talents behind this movie. The producer, Peter Perry, was by that point a 20-year veteran of classic exploitation cinema, beginning with The Flesh Merchant in 1956. Working under various pseudonyms, he went on to produce and direct a string of films which now form a key part of the Something Weird Video range, and was most notably associated with drive-in kings David F. Friedman and Harry Novak: 'Kiss Me Quick', the legendary 1964 monster mash-up, 'Mondo Mod', from 1967, and 'The Joys of Jezebel' (1970) are just three of his titles spanning the golden age of exploitation cinema.

The breezy score, perfectly complimenting the serene and summery mood, is by Scott Gale, who went on to great success as music coordinater for such notable television series as The Golden Girls, Benson, Empty Nest and Soap. Among the leads is the truly lovely Susanne Severeid, the definition of the California blonde, who next appeared in fan favorite, 'Van Nuys Blvd' (1979), as well as making numerous television appearances in shows such as 'CHiPS', 'TJ Hooker', and 'The Fall Guy'.

All in all, there are many reasons to enjoy this forgotten gem, and to hope for its first-ever release in a quality print on blu ray, before the existing film stock rots to the point of no return.