Lucybespro
It is a performances centric movie
MusicChat
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Michael O'Keefe
Joel Rapp writes and directs this low budget flick about teenagers making trouble for themselves. Tom Pittman plays the role of Marv. He's a good guy, but lacks money. Marv is bright and is depending on getting a college scholarship by recommendation from one of his professors. The prettiest girl in his English class, Betty(Virginia Aldridge), manipulates Marv into writing her term paper. Promises of romance has Marv writing the paper; but when the professor realizes that he wrote the paper, he pulls the college recommendation. Betty tells Marv that her affections depend on money and lots of it. Otherwise, she will go back to her old boyfriend, Vince(Howard Veit), who believes he is the high school big shot. At his part-time job, Marv overhears his boss plotting a drug transaction that will be worth a million dollars in cold cash. Being desperate for money, he tells Betty he will come into money soon. Of course, Betty tells Vince, who plans to intercept the robbery. Is this girl worth all the trouble? Other players in the cast: Malcolm Atterbury, Peter Leeds, Byron Foulger, John Barrick and Stanley Adams.
Cristopher_Jeorge
My favorite riff from High School Big Shots airing on the best show ever. While being aired on MST3K is a sure sign of being a clunker this film actually has a bit to offer and the story has been regurgitated countless times in bigger budget modern day action pictures, Dead Presidents and Revevoir Dogs (which is itself a shot by shot rip off of a Hong Kong action picture) to name a couple. Not to say H.S.B.S was any sort of originator but it's certainly watchable without the zingers flying from Mike and the Bots. This thing oozes cheese but it also maintains a nice grit. Poor Marv gets screwed out of a sure college scholarship after being duped by some bimbo, dad's a suicidal drunk, the big heist is an obvious debacle waiting to happen and when it does unravel people die. Like I said , High School Big Shot wasn't an originator but it has it's imitators and thats something you can't say for many MSTied movies.
jerome_horwitz
Make no mistake about, High School Bigshot is a bad movie.High School Bigshot is about a geek who makes a plan to become rich and get the girl. However, he goes about it all wrong, and of course by the end of the movie ends up dead along with a few other people, thankfully including the girl.The moral of the story is all women care about is wealth. Also for us men, I guess we're just supposed to accept we either "have it" or "we don't have it"! I could easily see how this movie could be rated a 1, however it is above that of the very worst of movies. The acting's not totally horrible, and production values aren't ultra-terrible. Over all it's a bad movie and not worth viewing for many reasons. If you insist of course at torturing yourself, watch the MST version. 2/10 (maybe a 1.5/10)
johnboy1
This could have been so much better than it turned out. Tom Pittman gives a good performance and some of the older actors do well with what they have to work with, but it just doesn't work.First, the actors are much too old to play high school students, especially Howard Veit (Vince). He looks about thirty. Second, it's hard to sympathize with poor Marv, especially since Betty is not all that hot, to start with.*******Spoilers****** The ending is so strange. It looks like the director intended for Pittman's character to get shot, but there are no gunshots...he's just knocked to the cement, where he lays there until the ambulance drivers pick him up and place him on a stretcher (face down!). What were his injuries? A skinned knee? Goofy! Vince has just shot his girlfriend dead without any remorse whatsoever, yet he simply shoves Marv to the ground and rushes off, despite the fact that he makes no secret of the fact that he hates the kid. And to make matters even sillier, Marv begs the police to tell his father he's sorry. (Duh! Hey Marv. You just got knocked around. I think you will have plenty of opportunities to tell your father you're sorry...in person). And this writer didn't get an Oscar nomination? Skip it, unless you get to watch it on MST.
