High School Big Shot
| High School Big Shot | |
|---|---|
 One-sheet for High School Big Shot | |
| Directed by | Joel Rapp |
| Written by | Joel Rapp |
| Produced by | Stanley Bickman |
| Starring | Tom Pittman Virginia Aldridge Howard Veit Malcolm Atterbury |
| Cinematography | John M. Nickolaus Jr. |
| Edited by | Carlo Lodato |
| Music by | Gerald Fried |
| Distributed by | Sparta Productions Filmgroup |
Release date |
|
Running time | 69 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
High School Big Shot is a 1959 film starring Tom Pittman, in his final film role, as Marv Grant, a smart high school student whose plans for getting a college scholarship are threatened by his alcoholic father played by Malcolm Atterbury, and his relationship with the most popular girl in school. Filmed in 1958 under the title Blood Money, it was released by executive producer Roger Corman as a double feature with T-Bird Gang in his first Filmgroup release.[1]
High School Big Shot was featured on an episode of the comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Plot[edit]
Marv Grant (Pittman) is a high school student who lives with his deadbeat, alcoholic father. At school he begins dating the attractive Betty Alexander (Virginia Aldridge), who eventually manipulates him into writing her English class term paper for her. Marv does this, but the subterfuge is easily uncovered by the professor. Betty fails the class, and the professor withdraws his recommendation from Marv's college application, without which Marv has no chance of earning a scholarship. In anger, Betty dumps Marv and returns to her old boyfriend, Vince, revealing that she had only been using Marv from the beginning.
At his part-time job at the docks, Marv overhears his boss plotting a drug deal for $1 million worth of heroin. The money will be kept in the office safe prior to the deal. In despair, Marv plots to steal the money, with the help of local safecracker Harry March and his brother in law Sam Tolman, to cure troubles with his father and Betty and intends to get $550,000 of the take for himself. He tells Betty about the pending robbery to entice her to marry him, and she shows interest, but secretly tasks her boyfriend, Vince, to steal all the money from Marv.
Marv and his associates steal the money, but things then go horribly wrong. While at the heist, it's discovered Marv's father has hanged himself, and soon after Vince and his two accomplices attempt to take the money, shooting Sam, which horrifies his accomplices who flee from the scene. When Betty arrives on the scene soon afterwards, Vince blames her for making him do this, and he kills her, too. The drug dealers arrive and shot and kill Vince who is attempting to leave with the cash, dropping the money into the water. While attempting to get the money, police arrive where they shoot down one of the dealers before arresting the other along with Marv.
Cast[edit]
- Tom Pittman as Marv Grant
- Virginia Aldridge as Betty Alexander
- Howard Veit as Vince Rumbo
- Malcolm Atterbury as Mr. Grant
- Stanley Adams as Harry March
- Louis Quinn as Samuel Tallman
Production[edit]
The film was financed by Roger Corman who was particularly impressed by the performance of Tom Pittman in the lead.[2]
In February 1959 Filmgroup announced they would release ten films. Their first movies were High School Big Shot (1959) and T-Bird Gang (1959) produced by Stanley Bickman.[3]
Reception and legacy[edit]
Mystery Science Theater 3000[edit]
In 1994, the film was featured in a sixth-season episode of the movie-parody series Mystery Science Theater 3000 alongside the 1954 short film Out of This World. The main topics of ridicule were Marv's wimpy demeanor, huge lips and awkward appearance, his father's pathetic alcoholism, and the overall bleak nature of the film. There was also a running gag involving Tom Servo singing "Don't Pay the Ferryman" whenever characters reached the car ferry, leading to Mike Nelson throwing him across the theater out of frustration.
The ending in particular prompted the writers to dub it "one of the most depressing films we've ever seen" and include a skit where the characters of the show "kill" each other with water guns to mock the fact that most of the major characters were killed in a brief moment of time, nearly one after the other.
The episode was available on DVD by Shout Factory on March 28, 2017 alongside the original unriffed film as a special feature.[4][5]
See also[edit]
- List of American films of 1959
- Jam Handy - the production company responsible for the 1954 promotional short film featured on the episode Out of This World
References[edit]
- ^ p. 27 Ray, Fred Olen The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors McFarland
- ^ Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p 137
- ^ "Roger Corman Sets 10 to Nourish Filmgroup". Variety. 18 February 1959. p. 3.
- ^ MST3K: Volume XXXVIII - Shout! Factory
- ^ Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVIII (DVD Review) - The Digital Bits
External links[edit]
- High School Big Shot at IMDb
- High School Big Shot is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- The official MST3K treatment on Shout! TV
