THE
VIOLENT YEARS (1956)
GIRL GANG (1954)
Directed by William M. Morgan/Robert
C. Derteno
Something Weird DVD
Reviewed 04.08.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
“When’ll they learn?
These aren’t kids -- they’re
morons!” Trash a classroom
and take a slug in the face, sob
sister! That’ll get you just
about ready for one of the all around
best Something Weird DVDs to date.
It’s all girls, guns, and
goof-balls from here on out.
This is a story of violence -- The
Violent Years! After a main
character roll call, we witness
a judge lecturing a couple of parents
in a cheap looking courtroom. Why
the stiff third degree? It seems
the folks’ kid, Paula, is
a bad seed, finally caught for her
horrific crimes against society.
The noble judge reads all of his
lines from a sheet of paper on his
desk, informing Paula’s parents
that the problem indeed lies with
them. How did it all go down? One
watery fade later, we’re introduced
to Paula Parkins, all round rich
girl who suffers serious neglect
from the P's (“What in the
world is a pajama party?! Want some
mad money?”). Although she’s
a top notch daughter by day, things
aren’t always what they seem.
Knocking over gas stations, raping
a guy, and holding hot make-out
parties are the tricks of the trade
for Paula and her gang of teenage
hussies. Pretty soon though, Paula
and the girls need more thrills.
No more of that penny-ante stuff.
After being hired to destroy a school
classroom for some commies, Paula
gets in good with a gun and learns
the facts of life the hard way.
Scripted by Edward D. Wood Jr. and
featuring some of the most wonderfully
awful fake-death scenes ever captured
on film, The Violent Years may very well be the definitive
50s juvenile delinquent film. On
top of the interesting and hilarious
female role-reversal, this film
succeeds where most of this genre
fails -- namely, it’s over
before you know it. Out the window
with the usual padding and unnecessary
dialogue. The Violent Years features 57 minutes of packed kicks,
thrills, and action, just the way
it should be. From Wood’s
never-ending supply of classically
deranged dialogue to the fantastic
downbeat ending, this film is not
to be missed. Need I even mention
the presence of Wood regular Timothy
Farrell, master of the ever present
monotone voice? I didn’t think
so. And if violence isn’t
your game...
Weed sticks and mainliners. Sounds
good? Oh, you need your fix, do
you? Well, you’re gonna have
to join the Girl Gang to get it. Ah, finally...a film
with absolutely no plot that still
manages to rank up there with the
best of ‘em. After an opening
scene depicting the exploits of
the “Cellar Girls” gang,
things really get cooking. Meet
Joe (Timothy Farrell, again reprising
every role he ever played), a real
“regular guy.” Joe supplies
the local kids with lots of joy
poppers and goof ball sticks. That’s
heroin and marijuana to you and
me. Along the way, Joe gets teenager
June hooked on heroin and turns
her into his sleazy girl-toy. Sometimes
they kiss and it looks like he’s
going to break her head off. Pretty
soon, June’s gotta pay off
that drug debt she owes to Joe.
Not everything is “off the
cuff”!
Basically, Girl Gang contains a whole lot of hysterical
drug use on two sets (cue the harp
music), an unending “cellar”
party padding scene, a dead body
in the trash, and a climax featuring
the surgical removal of a bullet
on a “dirty, filthy table!”
Somewhere in there, you’ll
find a visual how-to on shooting
heroin into your thigh and an easy
way to blackmail prominent business
men. The acting is bottom rung terrible
and the whole thing has that made-in-a-weekend
feel to it. Needless to say, you
will be laughing quite a bit.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
For the most part, the audio and
video presentation is excellent.
The Violent Years has been available from several
sources over the years and I’ve
never seen it look better. Nice
crisp print, minor scratches, and
lots of contrast. Girl Gang fares almost as well, although I
noticed some more prominent scratching
going on. The mono sound was fine.
On the downside, I noticed some
very slight compression at times
around “grey” areas
of movement during both films. This
is something you’ve really
got to look for though.
EXTRAS
The special features score right
up there with the films. We’ve
got two 50s educational juvie shorts,
“Goof Balls And Tea”
and “What About Juvenile Delinquency,”
both of which are just as entertaining
as you’d imagine them to be.
I thought “Goof Balls And
Tea” had a slight advantage
with the dead pan delivery of slang
terms associated with certain types
of drugs. Classic. Additionally,
there are several similarly-themed
trailers, a gigantic “Violent
Years” photo gallery (containing
tons of promo shots and ad art),
and a gallery of exploitation poster
ad art complete with radio spots
for the film “Slightly Damaged."
Here’s the best part...by
clicking on “Let’s Go
To The Drive-In!” on the main
menu, you’ll be treated to
every feature on this disc, plus
a gaggle of always fantastic intermission
shorts, in an uninterrupted explosion
of drive-in goodness. I’d
recommend it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Something Weird delivers a little
over three hours of drugged out
50s juvenile delinquent insanity
-- all of it good. Probably the
most thoroughly fulfilling SWV double
feature yet, so what are you waiting
for? |
Jesse Jane
He's gonna get it
"I killed a policeman tonight."
Mainlinin'
The set-up
|
