High School Big Shot

I'd never heard of actor Pittman, but it turns out he was quite a talented, though ill-fated, young guy. Here he goes from painfully shy to confidently assertive in abrupt, but convincing, fashion. I just wish he and the rest of the cast were better served by the script that loses its way about halfway through.

Almost matching Pittman in the talent department is actress Aldridge. Her teenage vixen is enough to send Joan Crawford into fits of jealousy. Betty (Aldridge) is so good at using her wiles to manipulate the hapless Marv (Pittman) in the first part that I thought the movie would be exceptional for a drive-in cheapie.

Had the screenplay stayed at this sensitive level, namely the ordinary-looking Marv yearning for self-respect amid sneering peers, the potential for something sublime was great. However the script veers off into a sudden and wildly implausible tangent of Marv leading a gang of criminals on a million-dollar heist, ending in as phony a shoot-out as I've seen. Too bad, because the rest of the cast, with the exception of an awkward Veit (Vince), is also unusually good for a cheap production.

In my little book, this was a missed opportunity, a teenage film that could have distinguished itself from the many other drive-in specials of the time. Nonetheless, I now know who Tom Pittman is, and in spades.

High School Big Shot (1959)

** (out of 4)

Drive-in era drama about a nerdy teen who gets his shot at the big time when he hears about a million dollar drop off. If you're a fan of these teenage "B" films of the 50s then this here is certainly one of the better ones but we're certainly a long way off from Rebel Without a Cause. The film runs out of steam around the fifty minute mark but the bad acting leads to some nice laughs.

High School Caesar (1960)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A bully fixes a vote so that he can be elected Class President where he then plans on stealing even more money from students. Here's another drive-in era teen flick that tries to tell a message but even at just over 60-minutes this thing drags along. No camp value whatsoever and not bad enough to get any laughs. Just plain dull.

Date Bait (1960)

* (out of 4)

Romeo and Juliet type story of a rich girl who falls for a poor kid. Her father is against them dating as is her ex-boyfriend who just happens to be crazy and has a gangster for an older brother. Bad acting, bad direction and a bad script make for a pretty bad film that feels five times longer than it actually is. The title song is a real hoot however.

Several performances that young Tom Pittman did were released posthumously the following year after his tragic death in an automobile crash in 1958. High School Big Shot was the last of them and I feel bad that this is the epitaph of young Tom's career. He should better be remembered as one of Dean Jagger's sons in The Proud Rebel.

But for better or worse Pittman was the lead in this independent B feature probably popular in drive-ins at the time. He plays a poor and sensitive kid who for love of the high school vixen Virginia Aldridge embarks on a life of crime.

Truth be told he's not got much of a life to begin with, but he has a shot at a college scholarship that his English teacher Peter Leeds is going to recommend him for. But when Pittman is discovered doing a paper for Aldridge, Leeds withdraws his recommendation. I think that was a bit much. If Leeds had any understanding he would have known it was the kid's hormones in overdrive which they are at that age.

Anyway Pittman finds that the warehouse he works at after school is to be used as a drop for syndicate money, untraceable syndicate money to be used to purchase heroin. And Pittman finds a safe-cracker in Stanley Adams to help him with the job.

But it all goes wrong, not the least of which is that Pittman tells Aldridge and she tells her hoodlum boyfriend Howard Veit who decides he wants the loot. It all ends in a bloody mess.

Adams is good as the philosophical safe-cracker and Malcolm Atterbury contributes a nice performance as Pittman's alcoholic father. But the film such as it is belongs to Pittman who is a sensitive soul gone terribly wrong. And I'm sure Pittman knew this one was a Thanksgiving feast yet his performance in this very cheaply made film is good.

And this review is dedicated to Tom Pittman another sad Hollywood tragedy.

This movie essentially begins with a high school student named "Marvin 'Marv' Grant" (Tom Pittman) having to take care of his alcoholic father known simply as "Mr. Grant" (Malcolm Atterbury) because he cannot hold a steady job. As a result, he barely makes ends meet by working the nightshift at a warehouse operated by some rather seedy businessmen. To his credit, his manages to keep his grades up and even has hopes of getting a scholarship to a nearby college upon graduation. Recognizing this, the prettiest girl at the high school "Betty Alexander" (Virginia Aldridge) pretends to be attracted to him in order to have him write an important term paper which will allow her to graduate. Needless to say, her current boyfriend "Vince Rumbo" (Howard Veit) doesn't particular like it when he sees the two of them together, but he calms down when she explains what is really going on. Unfortunately, while Betty might be able to fool Marv, her luck runs out when the English teacher easily recognizes the fraud she has committed and flunks her on the spot. Naturally, no longer having any use for him, Betty immediately breaks things off with Marv and goes back to Vince. For his part, Marv misreads the situation and thinks that he can make things up to her if he suddenly acquires a lot of money. To that effect, after he overhears his boss talking about putting $1 million in the office safe, he comes up with a plan to steal it that very night. What he doesn't count on, however, is Betty telling Vince about his plans. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a very basic, low budget, grade-B movie which suffered from a weak script and somewhat moralistic overtones. Admittedly, I liked the performance of Virginia Aldridge who seemed quite convincing in her role. Even so, the scenes didn't seem to mesh together very well which gave the film a rather choppy feel to it. Likewise, the rather abrupt ending didn't help either. Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a bad movie necessarily, the flaws just mentioned were much too apparent and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

While I, like my fellow commentators, enjoyed the MST3K send-up of this flick, I also agree with them that "High School Big Shot" definitely had some redeeming values.

The biggest value: the acting. For such a low-budget movie, the actors did a very good job. Tom Pittman pulled off the difficult task of making the audience sympathize with Marvin Grant, but not excuse his behavior. As his world goes to hell, destroyed by petty greed (both his own and others), the pain is evident on his face. His father, played by Malcolm Atterbury, comes off as a mainly honest, good guy who's made a few mistakes that have continually haunted him. As Betty Alexander, Virginia Aldridge plays the perfect conniving ice queen, and Howard Veit breathes convincing life into brainless jock Vince Rumbo (now THERE'S a name!).

But the true standouts are Stanley Adams and Louis Quinn as Harry March and Samuel Tallman, respectively. Although they have limited screentime, they effortlessly make you believe that here are lawbreakers with honor. As Harry says, "I am a thief, not a crook." You know that if you hire these two as part of your caper, they won't doublecross you and will stay with you until the bitter end. To once again quote Harry, they are the "last of the gentlemen;" criminals with hearts of slightly tarnished gold. Adams and Quinn truly shine in the roles.

The writing and directing by Joel M. Rapp is serviceable, and Carlo Lodato's editing works fine. Gerald Fried contributes a very nice score to this picture.

Overall, I'd have to recommend checking out this picture, whether the original or the MSTreatment.