High School Caesar

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.

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.

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.

Usually a big fan of these teenage 50s era flicks, I was not thrilled with this one. It shows the usual 20 something "teenagers" but no one much else is seen in the entire movie. For example, in one scene a phone call is made to the police for help by the owner of the local hangout, but no cops are ever shown in the entire picture. The only good point was the use of real rock n roll music instead of the usual jazz or swing sound which are often heard(incorrectly)as teen dance music of the day.

Girls in flared skirts, high school hops, big-finned cars and road races, so what else can geezer refugees from the 50's ask for. Okay, maybe the jd's don't look so tough throwing their weight around, but this is a middle-west, middle-class town, not Big City. Seems teen Ashley runs his classmates like a minor Al Capone. He's got his gang he keeps in line with threats and payoffs. Money comes in from test copies for sale, fees paid to the hops, and other services and shakedowns. Note that there's no mention of drugs or even alcohol among the teens, likely a Production Code result. Trouble is our teen Caesar's dedicated to a gold coin Dad gave him, and that leaves an ironical trail.

It's a well-crafted drive-in flick, but nothing memorable. Fortunately, Ashley mimics a high school hoodlum as well any Hollywood pretty boy could. For action, there's some knuckle bashing and pushing around. Too bad, however, the hop dancing is so modest- no swirling skirts or flashing legs, darn it. Then there're some not very convincing road races, maybe because of careless editing. Surprisingly, filming was done on location in Missouri; too bad we don't see more of the local neighborhoods. That would be an interesting non-Hollywood glimpse.

(In passing-- I just finished actor Steve Stevens' reminiscence on his acting years. In the movie he plays Cricket, Ashley's compliant go-fer. In the book, Stevens surprisingly describes having been a part-time go-fer for notorious LA gangster Mickey Cohen! Which I guess proves that old adage about truth being stranger than fiction.)

Anyway, the movie's a decent time-passer for 50's geezers like me, and maybe even those younger folks interested in seeing power plays among the well-scrubbed.

I bought a DVD from Best Buy that had several movies on one disc. There was a large rack in the middle of the aisle and all the movies were marked down to $5.99! There were two discs in the box with a total of four movies. This movie was one of those in the set. I did not recognize any of the people listed on the jacket but watched it anyway. I had a great time seeing all the old cars looking like new and the music took me back to the 50's. I turned 13 in 1959 and this was a great flashback. The main character was a spoiled, self serving, rich punk. A good example of how money can corrupt an otherwise decent person. I kept hoping he would get his just rewards. I always like to see those type take a fall. I won't tell you how it turned out, you'll have to watch it for yourself. It will give you a fairly decent look at how clothes, music, and cars were back then. I agree some of the acting was only a little better than my senior class play, but I still enjoyed it. I rate it 7* out of 10.

I usually like the JD movies from the fifties and sixties but this one is not very good.but had a good idea.high school Caesar deals with a spoiled rich kid played by John Ashley who is pretty much a racketeer at his high school while running for student council.there's car racing,an accidental death and fighting but really nothing really new or original.however i am a fan of John Ashley movies,he was sort of like the poor mans James dean.although his earlier feature Frankensteins daughter i found more enjoyable.high school Caesar is not a poor movie but i would say standard fare,mediocre at best.funny thing about this movie is John Ashley is the only well known star in this movie,I'm not sure if this was an American international picture since the copy i saw on internet movie archives was a bit choppy and jumpy.i can only give high school Caesar 3 out of 10.as for the title high school Caesar is kind of a take on the 1931 classic little Caesar with Edward G Robinson.but no comparison.