High School Confidential! (1958)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

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 "Home Improvement: High School Confidential (#5.14)" (1996)

Like, High School Confidential!, is really groovy, man!

Having first read about this '50s juvenile delinquent movie in the book "Cult Movies 2", when I saw a DVD displayed in my local library, I knew I had to check High School Confidential! out. With Russ Tamblyn as a troubled kid going to a new school, Diane Jergens as his potential girlfriend, and John Drew Barrymore as his rival/potential partner in a drug ring, the fireworks that happens is slowly but surely coming but not in the way you think! Mamie Van Doren is a hoot as Tamblyn's "aunt" who puts the moves on him and anyone who's not her husband who's conveniently out of town during most of the picture. There's also former child star, and later Uncle Fester, Jackie Coogan and a star of Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole, Jan Sterling, here. And then there's "The Killer", Jerry Lee Lewis, singing the title song on a flatbed truck to get things off to a rousing start. With a young Michael Landon and lots of dated slang that still provide some amusement today along with some car chases and some fights, High School Confidential! might be the most "trippin" movie from the '50s I've seen yet!