High School Hellcats

"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.

SUSANNE SIDNEY as "Dolly Crane" - see the pun in the name - steals the movie with her misplaced values (prides herself on teaching new girls how to steal). Would I be going too far to suggest there is a subliminal lesbian sado-masochist message in this campy romp? If ever I saw Freudian images, it was Dolly constantly playing with her knife, throwing it (which opened the credits) and gouging a tree while the "new" girl is ordered to make a date with another's girl boyfriend.

Jana Lund is probably the best reason for seeing this film. She's gorgeous and exciting. And Yvonne Lime is adorable. The first ten minutes or so are a riot, with a classroom scene that must have inspired John Waters for his classroom scene in "Female Trouble." The rest of it goes downhill and lacks any credible "teenage" reality. Also Jana unfortunately gets killed off halfway through the film.

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.

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.