Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Woodyanders Conniving little weasel Eddie "the Cat" Murkil (expertly played to the sniveling obnoxious hilt by David Kyle, who later quit acting to become a youth minister!) is a cunning adolescent psychopath who ruthlessly bumps off Punch (a nifty, albeit brief appearance by Derrel Maury of "Massacre at Central High" fame), the leader of the teenage hoodlum gang the Silks. Cat makes it look like the rival Latino gang the Ruedas did it. This leads to a violent gang war. Pretty soon the body count begins to pile up at an alarming rate (the definite highlight occurs when two scrawny 14-year-old members of the Silks sneak into a high school locker room to shiv two members of the Ruedas in the shower!). Clearly intended as some kind of grim cautionary tale about teen gangs and adolescent violence on the rise in major cities, this unjustly overlooked 70's drive-in juvenile delinquent exploitation item qualifies as a real campy hoot. Director John Bushelman takes the whole silly story very seriously, which in turn gives this goofy marvel a certain endearingly clunky charm. Bruce Logan's polished cinematography gives the film a sharp, glossy look. Better still, both the amusingly insipid soft-rock theme song "Slow Down Baby" and especially Bernie Kaai Lewis' funky garage rock score are hilariously cheesy. Popping up in snazzy supporting roles are Rhodes Reason and Doug McGrath as two hard-nosed police detectives, Steve Bond as Murkil's incarcerated older brother who's struggling to go straight, Doodles Weaver as a gas station owner and "Beverly Hills Cop" film series regular John Ashton as a high school football coach. Good dumb fun.

gittes98 Saw this movie one hot August day in Seattle in '76. Was drawn by the lurid ad and the cheap matinee price. Instead of the chain wielding, snarling,figure on the one-sheet imagine how surprising it was to find out the lead actor was a skinny, blond-haired, blue-eyed pretty boy. The whole movie is clearly awful, the lead actor wouldn't cut muster in a high-school production and the others aren't much better including Steve Bond, latter of General Hospital and Canadian Doug McGrath of the classic Goin' Down the Road six years earlier. Understand that lead actor David Kyle became a missionary, a complete about-face from his role here.The movie was no better than the usual drive-in fare being produced at that time but at least it's storyline, about high school gangs was a little more 'meaty' than the usual teen hi-jinks comedies of the time. A guilty pleasure? Not really, but at least it may have been trying to convey something about high school violence and dysfunctional families. Or not.Incidently this movie was released on video under the title Cruisin' High which made it sound like either the typical teen hi-jinks comedy or set in a gay high school. Either way it was misleading since very little of the action takes place in a high school and the cruising involves gang rumbles.May hold some interest to those who love movies of the time and the differing attitudes of today.

Retard-4 This is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen. Almost everything about it is awful, especially the editing. This is no exaggeration. Watch something like Nosferatu, which was made in 1922, and then watch this, made over 50 years later and wonder why editing technology hasn't advanced in such a large period of time. The only thing this film is good for is that it's so bad you may have wet yourself by the end (which is crap, as if you had to be told). One of the worst films ever.

CatSpringer So okay, I'm biased; they filmed this at my high school (Santa Maria High School) in '75, and I was one of the $15-a-day extras that walked up and down the corridors carefully not looking at the camera. Still...there *are* others who have seen this movie?! If you saw this movie, please send me a note, I'd love to know why..........