High School Confidential! (1958)

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writers:

Robert Blees (screenplay)
Robert Blees (story)

Release Date:

13 June 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Tagline:

Behind these "nice" school walls... A TEACHERS' NIGHTMARE!...A TEEN-AGE JUNGLE!

Plot:

A tough kid comes to a new high school and begins muscling his way into the drug scene. As he moves his way up the ladder...

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | High School | Student | Marijuana | Aunt

Cast

Russ Tamblyn	...	Tony Baker aka Mike Wilson
Jan Sterling	...	Arlene Williams
John Drew Barrymore	...	J. I. Coleridge
Diane Jergens	...	Joan Staples
Mamie Van Doren	...	Gwen Dulaine
Jerry Lee Lewis	...	Himself
Ray Anthony	...	Bix
Jackie Coogan	...	Mr. A
Charles Chaplin Jr.	...	Quinn
Michael Landon	...	Steve Bentley
Burt Douglas	...	Jukey Judlow
Jody Fair	...	Doris
Phillipa Fallon	...	Poetess
Lyle Talbot	...	William Remington Kane
Robin Raymond	...	Kitty

Also Known As:

Trouble at Sixteen (International: English title) (reissue title)
Young Hellions (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1959)

Company:

Albert Zugsmith Productions

Quotes:

Jack Staples: [to his wife] The only problem children I know are the ones that have problem parents, which leaves us out. Cheers, darling!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Family Ties: High School Confidential (#5.10)" (1986)

Let's All Go to the Drive-in

Mamie Van Doren as somebody's aunt could put a whole new slant on "visiting the relatives". Here her twin gunboats are aimed at no one in particular, and I expect she was added at the last minute to further hype this exploitation exercise. But then this was cutting edge material for 1958 teens-- sassing the teacher, hotrod chickie runs, and maybe a pull on a joint if you could find one. Yeah, this is reefer-madness for the pre-Vietnam Pepsi generation. Never mind that the movie is one-third Blackboard Jungle, one-third Rebel Without a Cause, and the rest sheer Hollywood hokum.

Producer Zugsmith may not have known Leonardo Da Vinci from Leonardo Da Caprio, but he knew how to crowd teens into drive-ins. Then too, lead actor Tamblyn may look more like a cheer-leader than a hoody delinquent, but at least he's not bored with the part. Fast-buck artists like Zugsmith knew how to market these exploitation quickies as timely warnings to parents and teens. But kids weren't fooled. They knew they could see forbidden topics like teens kissing on a bed under the uplifting guise of civic betterment. No, this drive-in special may never have made it into uptown movie houses, but as an artifact of its time, it's more fun than any 10 of that year's dreary A-productions.