We continue our trip back to school with the 1959 teenage heist film, High School Big Shot!
Oh my God, this movie is so dark. Rebel Without A Cause and Blackboard Jungle weren’t exactly optimistic portraits of the youth of America but none of them could ever hope to be as cynical and bleak as High School Big Shot. This film, which I guess could best be described as being a high school noir, tells the story of poor, socially awkward high school student Marv (Tom Pittman). Marv is a genius and, while he’s not popular at school, he does seem to have a wonderful future ahead of him. He’s recently applied for a scholarship and his English teacher has agreed to write him a letter of recommendation because, as he puts it, Marv is “different from all the others.”
And Marv needs that scholarship because his father is an alcoholic who can’t hold down a job. Marv’s relationship with his father is perhaps best epitomized by an early scene where he asks Marv to loan him some money because he has a date. Marv has a date too but he still loans his dad the money. Cut to the next scene and Marv is telling his date that he can’t really afford to take her anywhere but he can get her a Coke if she wants one.
Seriously — dark.
Marv’s life starts to look up when Betty (Virginia Aldridge) suddenly takes an interest in him and even agrees to go out with him. However, as Betty explains to her loutish boyfriend Vince, the only reason that she’s going out with Marv is so she can trick him into writing her English term paper for her. Marv, of course, agrees to do just that and then asks Betty if she wants to get married after they graduate from high school.
Again, dark. Dark and awkward.
When the English teacher figures out that Marv wrote Betty’s term paper, Marv loses his scholarship and it looks like he’s now destined to spend the rest of his life working down at the docks. However, Marv discovers that his seedy boss has recently received a million dollars in drug money. Looking to both buy Betty’s love and help out his suicidal father, Marv comes up with an elaborate scheme to steal the money. However, Betty and Vince have plans of their own…
Needless to say, it all leads to a violent climax that leaves nearly every character in the film dead.
And all because poor Marv wanted to impress Betty.
Like I said, dark.
And yet, the film itself is so dark that it becomes oddly fascinating. You watch because you’re genuinely curious about how much darker Marv’s life can get. It also helps that Tom Pittman gives a sympathetic performance as Marv (even if he does appear to be a bit too old to be playing a high school student) and Virginia Aldridge makes for a great femme fatale. If this film were made today, it would probably be directed by David Fincher and it would star Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.
And it would be great!
But until that happens, you can watch the original below!
Through the Shattered Lens 