Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Boring, long, and too preachy.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

High School Confidential! is one of those films that was meant to be a straight drama but ends up being an unintentional laugh riot when you see grown actors trying to act hip while delivering dialog that stereotypes the scene of a 1950's High School.Russ Tamblyn plays an undercover cop who attempts to clean out a high school of pot smokers and heroin. Mamie Van Doren (wearing bullet bras under her outfits) plays his "aunt" in her typical vampish style. John Drew Barrymore plays a Southern accented drug dealer who is the main target of the bust and Jackie "Uncle Fester" Coogan plays the drug boss.What makes HSC so funny is the dialog. Grown adults uttering dated "hip" dialog and the constant amount of sexist come-ons to the females made me laugh. Pushing the propaganda of marijuana as evil and sinister seems really outdated since more people than ever before are toking. Regardless, it's worth viewing to laugh at the script. It's worth waiting out the boring scenes just for that next piece of emoting that Dante from Devil May Cry stole from them.I do wish I lived my teen years in the 1950's. Seemed like a fun time to go to school. Maybe Jerry Lee Lewis would show up in a flat bed truck to perform to students.

Also appearances by Micheal Landon, Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Jackie Cooper.This film begins up with Jerry Lee Lewis and band pounding away in a High School parking lot as Tamblyn drives up in the coolest car ever seen in any of these Teenage Exploitation films.Just like 1955's "Blackboard Jungle", this film depended on exploiting the music and slang of the 50's - Which it did in not so much an over-the-top fashion as films like the '50's rock and roll films like Alan Freed's "Rock Around the Clock", "Don't Rock Around the Clock", or even the anti-marijuana film "Reefer Madness".Like "Reefer Madness", this film tries to discourage teenagers from smoking marijuana, chiefly by trying to prove that smoking marijuana leads directly to using hard drugs, which may, or may not be true- It's an angle law enforcers used to use back in the 30's that "Pot smoking always leads to using hard drugs" - An angle that we now believe as incorrect, in relation to the present day psychiatric belief that such cravings are inherited.However, the depictions of hard drug users, and use! - in this film are as close to reality as I have ever seen, especially in a film made in the 50's.Tamblyn as JD almost does not work, his performance just slides under the door into believability- However, the reason for this reveals itself as the film develops.The female lead Diane Jergens as "Joan Staples" - When Tamblyn's character calls her "Kitten" she looks rather Kittenish. Also, Mamie Van Doren as Tamblyn's aunt "Gwen Dulaine" is a standout. '50s actress Jan Sterling is Tamblyn's home-room teacher and is a good solid character role for her.One highlight of this film is by John Drew Barrymore, who as "J. I.", the ringleader of the "Wheeler-Dealers", gives us a comedic version of Columbus asking Queen Isabella for money - This delivered as a stand-up comedy routine "in front of the High School class" - And he delivers this using all 50's type slang.Overall, the slang use in this film is the best and most realistic of all the 50's rock and roll movies and Jack Arnold, "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and other Sci Fi flicks from the 50's as well as uncredited re-shoots in "This Island Earth" takes a step away from the science fiction genre to direct this classic Teenage Rock and roll/Film-Noire film.

You have to love watching a film like this now, its like opening a time capsule. Russ Tamblyn plays Tony Baker, a hood just transferred to this particular high school. The film is almost a cautionary tale about illegal drug use, but it also includes a drag race and a little bit about sexual attraction. Watching it now is also fun because of the people in it: Mr. Tamblyn, Michael Landon, Charlie Chaplin, JR (yes, the tramp's son!), Jackie Coogan (interesting that Chaplin's son and "The Kid" are in the same film), Jerry Lee Lewis (performing the title song) and the attractive Jan Sterling, who plays Miss Williams. Most of the dialogue is slang for those times, which is a lot of fun now. The film is less than 90 minutes long and it rolls along pretty well. Its just great to watch now. Really, enjoy it, its fun.

This decent late 50's teen-exploitation flick is one of the better ones, although the hot Mamie Van Doren is in it all too briefly. Jackie Coogan adds a weird twist, and Russ Tamblyn is appropriately youthful (a few years before WEST SIDE STORY). Michael Landon has a small part (around the time he started BONANZA). A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Mamie Van Doren). This film needed more rock 'n rock songs, beside the GREAT opening number by Jerry Lee Lewis on the back of a truck. Jan Sterling is subdued as the "good" teacher and John Drew Barrymore is rather strange. Great B/W cinematography helps this slide along. Check it out!