High School Big Shot

Two adages came to mind while I was watching the film High School Big Shot (1959) last night, particularly with regards to the main character...the first was `If it weren't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all' and the second was `If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas'...written and directed by Joel Rapp ("Science Fiction Theater", Battle of Blood Island), the film stars Tom Pittman (The Proud Rebel, Apache Territory), who seemed to have a promising career in television and films before his untimely demise in 1958 (the IMDb lists `road accident' as cause of death). Also appearing is Virginia Aldridge (Riot in Juvenile Prison), Howard Veit (Scream of the Butterfly), Malcolm Atterbury (I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Blood of Dracula, The Birds), Louis Quinn (Al Capone, The Las Vegas Hillbillys), and Stanley Adams (The Atomic Kid, North to Alaska, Breakfast at Tiffany's).Pittman plays Marvin `Marv' Grant, an intelligent, soft-spoken, well mannered, 30ish high school student with aspirations of going to college...only problem is he hasn't got the moolah to do so, as he's forced to work part-time as a shipping clerk on the local docks due to the fact his near-de-well lush of a father (played by Atterbury) can't hold down a job (Mom's not around, so I'm assuming she either split or died). Turns out one of Marv's teachers, seeing his potential, is trying hard to get him a scholarship, and that very same day Marv is approached by Betty (Aldridge), a hot little number, who, unbelievably, shows interest in him (turns out she just wants him to write her term paper so she can graduate). We also learn Marv's Pop not only has a line on a job, but also a love interest of his own (check out the scene where Marv's father hits his son up for couple of bucks for a date...it's priceless). Yes sir, things definitely appear aces for Marv, and that's exactly about the point when everything goes sour...Marv gets caught cheating (bye bye scholarship), Betty (the two-timing tramp) gives him the heave-ho, and Pops is back on the bottle (he didn't get the job and his would be girlfriend kicked him to the curb). In an act of desperation Marv concocts a scheme to alleviate some local gangsters of a million bucks (seems a big drug deal is going to go down on the docks where Marv works), and enlists the aid of a couple of experienced thieves (played by Quinn and Adams). Marv's plan seems solid, but there's a joker in the deck as in telling Betty of his scheme (whotta dope), she gets her boyfriend Vince (Veit), the school hoodlum, to go along with a plan of her own to double cross Marv.While High School Big Shot pales in comparison to other, more popular juvenile delinquent films of the time like Blackboard Jungle (1955) and High School Confidential (1958), it's really not all that bad, particularly in terms of the writing, direction, and some of the performances, even though it was deemed worthy of appearing on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (episode 618). One of the aspects I liked about this movie was the snappy dialog...below is Pop's response to hearing about how his son snagged a date with Betty..."She's the best lookin' chick in the whole school, ain't she?"Follow by this line..."What's she going out with you for?"Okay, first of all, Marv's dad appeared to be 60-ish, so you can understand how creepy his original statement would seem upon hearing it. Secondly, if Betty was the `best lookin' chick' in Marv's school, then it must have been populated by some real uggos. It's not like she was unattractive or anything, but she did seem a little on the plain side (I think she made up for this by being really easy). Finally, nothing instills confidence more in a boy than his father acting incredulous when his son lands a date. Here's another solid exchange as Betty is trying to talk her dunce boyfriend Vince into ripping Marv off after the big score...Vince: "Look, I've copped radios, hubcaps, stuff like that, but I'm no big time operator!"Betty: (in a derisive tone) "So what are you then?"I'll say one thing about Betty...she may have been a real tramp, but she sure knew how to manipulate the boys into doing her bidding. I loved the fact her only real motivation was to get enough money as so she could then turn around and rub her father's nose in it...talk about issues.One last line that sticks out in my mind is when Vince is trying to talk his meathead cohorts into assisting him in ripping off Marv, and at first they're skitterish, at least until Vince tells them the score (Vince states it's fifty grand, which is considerably less than the actual million dollars)...Punk: "For that kinda dough, I got guts I ain't even used yet!"My favorite sequence in the movie is when Marv and Betty go out on a date and end up at a local soda shop, and they run into Betty's former beau Vince and his cronies. Big mouth Betty takes the opportunity to throw a few verbal shots Vince's way, much to milquetoast Marv's dismay, as he knows her transgressions will most likely lead to Marv catching a beating in the near future. One element that really helped this movie was the inclusion of some experienced and capable actors in Pittman, Atterbury, Quinn, and Adams, most of whom had fairly extensive television and film backgrounds. It was kind of difficult to get behind Pittman's character, as he was just such a dopey schlub (at least around Betty). Here he was, with a promising future, willing to throw it all away on a obviously materialistic dame not worth a plug nickel. It was almost as if we, the audience, were meant to take some enjoyment out of seeing him suffer the way he did given the ease to which he turned to the dark side. Also I had a bit of difficulty in buying off on how smoothly Marv slid into the role of criminal mastermind, and the willingness of his would be accomplices to buy off on his plan. They did display some trepidation initially, but their willingness to follow some punk high school kid came little too easily. Another positive aspect about this film was its pacing. Things move along well (the feature runs just over an hour), all leading up to a read hoot of a finale. All in all this isn't a great film, but it was a lot of fun (of the hokey kind), and has a slight edge over many of the JD (Juvenile Delinquent) features released around the time given some solid performances and lively dialog.The picture, presented in fullscreen, on this Alpha Video DVD release looks decent despite some vertical lines present and the occasional missing frame. Also, the audio comes through clearly which helps highlight the groovy, hepcat musical score. There aren't really any extras except for a handful of previews for some DVD releases of recent low budget films I've never heard of (and have little inclination to seek out having seen said previews). If you are interested in seeing this film, I might suggest seeking out the Something Weird DVD release, as not only does it include this feature, but also two others including High School Caesar (1960) and Date Bait (1960). It's a little more expensive, but you get three films in one shot.Cookieman108By the way, if you enjoy this film, I'd suggest another one titled The Sadist (1963), featuring Arch Hall Jr. as the juvenile delinquent from hell...it's a blast and a half.

.Pretty good 50's movie

Some really depressing films came out of the 1950s, but few are as grim as 1959's High School Big Shot. As in most of these old juvenile delinquency films, the high school student at the center of things appears to be at least thirty-five years old. Marvin Grant (Tom Pittman) is a smart kid, the only student who not only understands but actually likes Shakespeare. Like most class nerds, though, Marv is a pretty lonely fellow - which makes him easy pickings for a pretty little vixen like Betty Alexander. She drops her greaser boyfriend Vince and suddenly makes nice-nice with Marv, but the poor dope is too much of a loser to see that she only wants him for his term paper prowess. You can't really blame Marv for getting all lost in Betty's eyes, though; it's not like he has anything else in life to live for. His father is a drunk who can't hold down a steady job, and naturally he is dirt poor. Even when he actually gets a date with Betty, he has to split his six dollars with his worthless pop. As you might expect, things don't work out in the end for Marv and Betty. Marv finally figures out what he should have known all along - the only way for him to attract any member of the female species is to have plenty of money, and even then, it's far from a sure thing. Of course, the only way a loser like Marv is going to get rich is by stealing someone else's money, and he just happens to learn about a drug deal going down that will put one million smackers right at his disposal - all he has to do is find himself a safecracker and just take it all.There is to be no happy ending for Marv, though, as everything goes wrong. Despite all this, the movie really isn't half bad. You never feel too badly for anyone, including Marv, because not a single character is remotely likable. You hate to see a reasonably smart guy destroy his life because of a girl who is obviously using him, but - given Marv's future prospects - it's probably best that he crash and burn at a young age rather than merely living out a long life of quiet desperation. I'm not sure there is a real point to the movie - unless it's to show that life isn't worth a cold can of beans as long as you're poor - but High School Big Shot may actually make you feel better about yourself. Most likely, no matter how big a loser you are, you're better off than Marv.