As others point out, the title is at best misleading. Dodie (Keim) suffers more from angry alienation than teenage rebellion, while the movie is more about adjusting to family splits than teenage delinquency. At first, Dodie's almost a hateful little brat, unhappy at being sent to her divorced mother's (Rogers) house so that her dad (Stephenson) can marry a new wife. In her mother's house, she hides behind an air of icy superiority that makes acceptance difficult. Keim spreads on the histrionics pretty thick, unusual for teen girl portrayals of the time. But thanks to the attentions of neighbor boy (Berlinger), who's been bribed by Dodie's stepdad (Rennie), Dodie begins to soften up. I like the pivotal drugstore scene where Dodie finally gets into the teen swing because of the infectious high spirits. It's astutely done, given her previous resistance to verbal persuasion. But, will the softening continue once she finds out some secret truths.
All in all, it's an odd film, and I can sympathize with teen boys drawn in by the title and expecting beer, drag-racing, and switchblade knives. Except for a brief dragster race, there's none of that here. For Rogers, it's a minor come-down since her role is really secondary to Keim's. But then the actress was still coming off the reverse blacklist, a Hollywood backlash against those who had cooperated with HUAC's blacklisting of movie lefties. For a time in the 50's, she found employment difficult. Plus, who would expect to see the 50's favorite space alien, Michael Rennie, actually shaking a leg to a teen beat. I'm still recovering from that. All in all, it's an affecting little film, with a good look at mores of the time, including upscale home decor and suburban high fashion. Too bad none of the teen cast went on to bigger careers after such promising starts.
