Teenage delinquents and American Lager from Great Divide Brewing Co. are what we're all about this episode. We think a lager is a good choice for this era, and this one is great.
This is Jayson's pick. It's important to touch on all the types of B-Movies, and juvenile delinquent films are a huge part of them.
Directed by Jack Arnold, a legend of scifi B-Movies.
Like many anti drug movies of the era, its view are extreme: Reefer leads immediately to heroin, for example.
The Beatnik lingo is rich. Jayson quizzes me on the slang of the era. We want to bring some of it back.
Jayson's wife was really excited about Russ Tamblyn, but not this particular movie.
Mamie Van Doren alert. Mamie has a couple assets that helped launch her career.
John Drew Barrymore also stars, as J.I., leader of The Wheelers and Dealers, possibly the worst name for a gang, ever.
The open with Jerry Lee Lewis riding through the high school campus on a flatbed rocking with his band is interesting. He wasn't exactly an upright citizen.
The plot break down: Tony's the new kid, from the North Side of Chicago. He's a nogoodnik, looking to become a drug dealer and take over the Wheelers and Dealers. His teacher Arlene is having none of his nonsense. When she takes him to the principal's office, J.I. gets up and gives a history lesson about Columbus, told entirely in Beatnik slang. It's amazing.
Tony does indeed take over the Wheelers and Dealers, and J.I.'s girl, Joan, a weed head. He goes quickly from wanting to deal weed to dealing H.
Jayson touches on Tony's truly abhorrent behavior. He's been in high school for seven years, but they continue allowing him to attend?
Arlene and Tony's relationship is confusing.
Mamie plays Tony's "aunt" Gwen, who keeps trying to seduce Tony.
Time for another delicious American Lager, from Great Divide.
The lectures about drugs are often directed right at the audience. It's one long PSA.
"Graze on some grass," a line Tony uses to indicate he's looking to score some weed. We like it.
We get a real kick out of the drag racing sequence. Joan, out of control on the pot, behaves carelessly riding with Tony.
Joan's fraud on her dad's account, to get money for weed, had me confused. Jayson straightens me out.
The swimming pool scene shows addiction, and that Tony might not be the bad guy he's portraying himself to be.
It can't just be an anti-drug movie, you need women in bathing suits to deceive the kids.
J.I. is Tony's connection to Mr. A, the big cheese in the organized crime scene.
The poem at the jazz club: "Tomorrow's a drag, man!" We both became consumed with this, and it's worth looking up. It was written by the drunk date of Gwen, Billy Boy, the actor Mel Welles.
Mr. A played Uncle Fester on The Addams Family.
Bix, Mr. A's #2: "That's the most, man. Always play it cool. Bix likes it cool."
We find out Tony's an undercover cop when J.I. tells him the meeting with Mr. A is set. He meets Quinn, another cop, in the club bathroom to give him the lowdown.
The meet with Mr. A has a whole lot going on. A lot of creepy, that is.
Tony wears a wire, which is a giant tape recorder. Where did he hide this? He reviews the tape in the dark, but Joan, whacked out on the weed, is in his bed. This proves problematic, because she asks questions about Mr. A.
Arlene babysits Joan at Tony's.
J.I. and Jukey show up. Joan, suffering weed withdrawal, drops Mr. A's name. Gwen drunkenly confronts the men, and they knock the women around. Not. Cool.
At the jazz club, Tony's going to score the H. J.I. calls in the scoop. Mr. A pulls a gun.
Quinn recruits Michael Landon and his teenage buddies to help fight organized crime.
All hell breaks loose at the jazz club. Mr. A and his gang are defeated.
Voice over to close out: Bix and Mr. A are doing five to life, J.I. and his buddies are in juvenile detention, and "Joan confines her smoking to ordinary cigarettes."
We both recommend this: it's a time capsule of Beatnik culture, and it encapsulates many of the teen delinquent B Movie sub-genre themes. There are many drinking games you could play watching it. We both highly recommend Great Divide American Lager. It's a clean, crisp, easy drinking beer that goes down easily.
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain]. Outro music (1) Girl Next Door by Matthew Corbett, Mike Wilkie (Story Blocks Audio subscription) and 2) sample 1936’s Marihuana.
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