Sorry, this movie sucks

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Joel Rapp writes and directs this low budget flick about teenagers making trouble for themselves. Tom Pittman plays the role of Marv. He's a good guy, but lacks money. Marv is bright and is depending on getting a college scholarship by recommendation from one of his professors. The prettiest girl in his English class, Betty(Virginia Aldridge), manipulates Marv into writing her term paper. Promises of romance has Marv writing the paper; but when the professor realizes that he wrote the paper, he pulls the college recommendation. Betty tells Marv that her affections depend on money and lots of it. Otherwise, she will go back to her old boyfriend, Vince(Howard Veit), who believes he is the high school big shot. At his part-time job, Marv overhears his boss plotting a drug transaction that will be worth a million dollars in cold cash. Being desperate for money, he tells Betty he will come into money soon. Of course, Betty tells Vince, who plans to intercept the robbery. Is this girl worth all the trouble? Other players in the cast: Malcolm Atterbury, Peter Leeds, Byron Foulger, John Barrick and Stanley Adams.

Is this a great film? By no means. Is it as bad as they say it is? I just don't think so. I suspect people the majority of those who watched this film saw the MST3k version and take enjoyment out of saying that it "sucks". High School Big Shot is one of the better movies to get the MST3k treatment; as much as it still made great riffing-fodder, it actually had some decent acting for such a low-budget. While certain aspects of the story were very one-dimensional, other parts were a bit complicated. The only aspect of the plot that was downright lousy was the end. The ending is not only abrupt but makes very little sense! I couldn't have predicted such an awful ending from the rest of the film which was not only entertaining but even relatable. This film had an overall anti-woman theme, painting women as being only interested in financial-gain. I won't comment on whether or not such themes have a place in our society, but it has the potential to anger some viewers. However, very small dialog changes could have avoided that problem and still held the movie together.Not great, but pretty good for a cheap noir flick. Give it a watch.PS: Star Trek fans might get a kick out of the appearance of Stanley Adams, who played Cyrano Jones in the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".

This is a low budget late fifties era movie, the sort dealing with juveniles in a delinquent social environment.There is a lot one can say about this film. It is drama, and perhaps a bit Shakespearean in the way that every day occurrences cause characters to overreact in tragic ways.It's a comic book world, where the safe cracker is an artist, the liquor store owner is an savvy and wiser in years ex gangster, a million dollars in cash becomes available, the warehouse boss is dealing heroin, and the alcoholic father can't hold down a job for one day.It's also a throwback to the old fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm Brothers. Our hero is a likable young man who makes a few unwise decisions, but has a good heart.And like most other reviewers have stated, it is the likability of this young hero that makes this film interesting, as well as good acting.What really sticks out is how the only truly evil character in this film is the only female in it. It probably didn't go over too well with women, as "the soul of a woman is created below" looks like the theme here.The female is cruel and cunning. However, even she has a motivation. We don't see the reason, but she explains it. An abusive father. However, after a while, we wonder whether she is even telling the truth about that.The setting is very bleak. Our hero is really in a world where everything is against him. Even the teacher, who seems to be fair at first, becomes an ogre with little compassion. Still, he has some compassion.Aside from the girl, all of the ogres have some degree of compassion or limitation to their cruelty. Aside from her, each character has more than one dimension. One can't help but notice that the bully character even resembles the hero in ways, sort of like a big older brother.Amid all these fairy tale ogres with some sense of fair play, we have our young hero, doing the best he can. This is a world that seems to be a fairy tale in ways, but also real in other ways. The world closes in around people this way quite often.While the events are very theatrical and unreal, with a Shakespearean ending of multiple deaths, it is real in the way that the world closes in around our young hero.While it seems far fetched, there is something charismatic about this film, perhaps all of the actors, perhaps the atmosphere, perhaps the throwback to old fairy tale morality, perhaps the charisma and likability of the hero, probably all of these, which makes this an interesting film.

This could have been so much better than it turned out. Tom Pittman gives a good performance and some of the older actors do well with what they have to work with, but it just doesn't work.First, the actors are much too old to play high school students, especially Howard Veit (Vince). He looks about thirty. Second, it's hard to sympathize with poor Marv, especially since Betty is not all that hot, to start with.*******Spoilers****** The ending is so strange. It looks like the director intended for Pittman's character to get shot, but there are no gunshots...he's just knocked to the cement, where he lays there until the ambulance drivers pick him up and place him on a stretcher (face down!). What were his injuries? A skinned knee? Goofy! Vince has just shot his girlfriend dead without any remorse whatsoever, yet he simply shoves Marv to the ground and rushes off, despite the fact that he makes no secret of the fact that he hates the kid. And to make matters even sillier, Marv begs the police to tell his father he's sorry. (Duh! Hey Marv. You just got knocked around. I think you will have plenty of opportunities to tell your father you're sorry...in person). And this writer didn't get an Oscar nomination? Skip it, unless you get to watch it on MST.