Product Description

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 06/15/2004 Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50841 in DVD
• Brand: Republic Pictures
• Released on: 2004-06-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
Is it a serious look at drug addiction and the "narcotics problem," or is it pure exploitation? Well, High School Confidential opens up with Jerry Lee Lewis rolling into town on a flatbed truck, pummeling an upright piano as he bellows one of his hits, so that should tell you something right off. Eminently slappable punk Russ Tamblyn enrolls at the local high school and immediately starts to hit on the teacher (Jan Sterling). Soon he proves that he's even cooler than jive-talking king daddy-o John Drew Barrymore (Drew's dad), and is getting acquainted with the local dope peddler (Jackie Coogan). Never mind that Barrymore should be able to pick him up over his head and throw him; Tamblyn has a switchblade at the ready should trouble break out. At home, he's constantly fending off the amorous advances of his "aunt," Mamie Van Doren. Of course, Russ's character is a narc, sent undercover to infiltrate the school dope ring. High School Confidential's cast includes Lyle Talbot, Michael Landon and famous offspring William Wellman Jr., and Charlie Chaplin Jr. Fifties teen movies (and drug-hysteria movies) just don't come any better than this; simultaneously absurd, exciting, and hilarious. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

"You're draggin' your rear axle in waltz time"

I LOVE High School Confidential. I find it to be campy, yet very well made. I think the acting is good, the action scenes are exciting and I was genuinely surprised by the plot twist. And the dialog, dripping with 1950's hep-talk, is the most daddio!

Unfortunately this dvd is very bare bones, without even the theatrical trailer which was included on the laserdisc edition. But on the plus side it's in widescreen (as a previous reviewer noted, the box incorrectly indicates that it's full screen.)

When I think of Russ Tamblyn, I don't think of West Side Story, I think of High School Confidential. (I also think of Dracula vs. Frankenstein, but that's another story.)

HIGH SCHOOL HOP (HEADS)....
Drugs infiltrate a small town high school and swaggering young "stud" Tony Baker (Russ Tamblyn) makes the scene as a new student unsubtly "grazing for grass". He encounters a sympathetic teacher (Jan Sterling), "pretty kitten" Joan Staples (Diane Jergens), her pusher boyfriend with a hillbilly accent (John Drew Barrymore) and assorted other "teens" including Michael Landon as well as the infamous "Mr.A" (Jackie Coogan). These characters swirl around a delirious plot involving "weed heads" and busting a narcotics ring. There's a drag race, beat slang, switchblades, a serious lecture on the danger of "marijuana addiction", racy dialogue and hilarity to spare. And speaking of busts, there's Mamie Van Doren as Tony's "guardian aunt" with more than a healthy yen for the skinny guy. She parades around in several sexy outfits and actually delivers a funny performance. She apparently wisely knew this was anything but serious material. When you've got Jerry Lee Lewis opening the film on the back of a truck singing "High School Hop" how can you go wrong? "High School Confidential" is a deliciously trashy JD exploitation flick that makes an OK transition to DVD. It's not the best print but it's in good shape and very watchable. I'm very happy to have it. Bare Bones and all. Good deal, man.

Insane
Robert Blees, who wrote this masterpiece of kitsch, had the strangest career. He was responsible for the screenplays of some of Universal's biggest hits (and biggest duds) and he did wonderful work for Douglas Sirk, including writing THE MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION and ALL I DESIRE. Among his strengths was an ability to write for women, both veterans and newcomers, in a way that showcased their greatest talents. Thus, the "aunt" played by Mamie Van Doren in HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL proves to be the best part of the film. (Blees also wrote AUTUMM LEAVES as a vehicle for Joan Crawford, and gave the young Tuesday Weld a helping hand by showcasing her in his TV version of BUS STOP--where she sings the old standard "Temptation" in an amazing sequence).

He worked for years on a screen version of Tappan's fantasy masterpiece ISLANDIA that, alas, came to nothing. But it is for films like HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL that he is best known today--lurid, over-the-top potboilers sizzling with kitsch and bad taste, probing into the sick underbelly of American society. Rather late for noir, Blees' later films are doing their best to invent a category all their own. Between this and the similarly unconventional SCREAMING MIMI, with Anita Ekberg, there was nothing really left for Quentin Tarantino to do.

And then there was WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO . . . DR PHIBES RISES AGAIN . . . Insane!