Date Bait

Date Bait (1960)

* (out of 4)

Romeo and Juliet type story of a rich girl who falls for a poor kid. Her father is against them dating as is her ex-boyfriend who just happens to be crazy and has a gangster for an older brother. Bad acting, bad direction and a bad script make for a pretty bad film that feels five times longer than it actually is. The title song is a real hoot however.

High School Caesar (1960)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A bully fixes a vote so that he can be elected Class President where he then plans on stealing even more money from students. Here's another drive-in era teen flick that tries to tell a message but even at just over 60-minutes this thing drags along. No camp value whatsoever and not bad enough to get any laughs. Just plain dull.

High School Big Shot (1959)

** (out of 4)

Drive-in era drama about a nerdy teen who gets his shot at the big time when he hears about a million dollar drop off. If you're a fan of these teenage "B" films of the 50s then this here is certainly one of the better ones but we're certainly a long way off from Rebel Without a Cause. The film runs out of steam around the fifty minute mark but the bad acting leads to some nice laughs.

Dick Gering returns from rehab to go back to work for his drug-pushing brother, John Garwood. First, though, he goes to the bar where they play rockabilly to let Marlo Ryan he's back. She doesn't know what he's talking about. She's with Gary Clarke. Gering attacks Clarke and gets beat up for the effort. Meanwhile, Clarke and Miss Ryan want to get married. But her father forbids it. So they elope to Vegas. When they gt back, her father tells her he's getting the marriage annulled. And Garwood is looking for Clarke to beat him up, as well as a junkie who owes hm money.

Everyone is very clean cut here, and Clarke drives a modified Buick that looks really cool. Other than the general mess everyone seems to have made of their lives, I'm not sure what this movie is about, nor how the title relates to anything. Still, cool car.

"Danny Logan" (Gary Clarke) and "Sue Randall" (Marla Ryan) have been going steady for a while and have fallen deeply in love. Unfortunately, another young man who Sue dated once or twice named "Brad Martinelli" (Dick Gering) has returned after an extended illness and wants Sue back in his life. Not long afterward Brad tries to muscle his way back into Sue's life at a local dance which results in a scuffle between him and Danny. Yet even though Danny manages to hold his own during the fight what he doesn't count on is the fact that Brad has an older brother who is more than willing to do whatever it takes to protect him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film turned out to be an okay grade-B drama from a particular time notable for films appealing to teenage audiences and young adults. It's not a bad movie but the main problem with it is that it condenses too much material in a very limited time (only 72 minutes) which causes it to look a bit shallow. Along with that the ending was also a little corny. Be that as it may, the story was still somewhat interesting and Marla Ryan was quite cute as well. Accordingly, I rate this film as about average.

Okay, it is a cheapie, which comes as no surprise for a no-name production. The sets are bare bones, the sound quality comes and goes, while the acting is spotty. Still, it's got everything a teen of the time wanted—fast cars, rock&roll, switchblades, and a wedding night. Plus, the strung-out doper Brad (Gering) adds a wacko wildcard. Blonde cutie Sue (Ryan) seems a natural for her lively teen role, even if her sweetie, upward-bound Gary Clarke, acts a little bored.

The plot concerns a common topic for teens of the time—are we too young to get married. Sue's gruff dad certainly thinks so. Worse, jealous Brad won't let his former blonde cutie go, and he's got one bad older brother who sort of cleans up after him, that is, when brother isn't dealing dope. Mix 'em all together and it's not a bad little drive-in flick. Better than I expected for a shoestring indie. And, oh yes, catch that very last frame—looks like writer-director Ireland was trying for something genuinely thoughtful.

I disagree with the other comment on here. I really enjoyed this film. There are hot car chase scenes, heroin junkies, cute guys (Logan!), crazy gangster power struggles, dumb older brothers, cool music and the greatest awkward wedding night scene I've ever seen in a movie. Perhaps I'm easy to captivate, but I was into the movie the whole time, not bored once! The acting and characters were interesting, too. I loved Frida, who was always playing jokes on her lanky, tolerant boyfriend. Danny Logan just keeps getting crapped on even though he seems to do everything right, and you can't help but cheer him on the whole time. The gangsters are laughably dumb and the heroin junkie Freddy is very entertaining with his obsessive face-covering. I thought it was well directed film and well thought out plot. If you think '50s teen movies are lame, then don't watch this one because it's pretty classic in my book.