Customer Reviews

Naked Youth [VHS]

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Far from the best youth gone wild pic, and not nearly the worst, this film finds watchable middle ground. I don't find these teen angst flicks inherently campy, like sci-fi flicks from the same era, but they are nostalgic fun in a trashy way. With this one, too, camp value is derived not so much from any histrionic silliness as it is from situations or logic that just seem somehow off-kilter.

The only true belly laugh comes when the girl tries to use her "charms" to hitchhike. Well, Sir Mixxalot may have been intrigued, but even he would have ultimately passed her by. Because from how she was walking, he would have been more worried about her having an accident on the seat in his ride.

The cast does offer a couple of B-movie faves for fans, in the forms of Robert (Slime People, Man Without a Body) Hutton as a dedicated drug enforcement agent and Carol (House on Haunted Hill, Spider-Baby) Ohmart as a heroin-addicted moll. Plus, the tape is hosted by Mamie Van Doren herself, looking somewhat ridiculous (intentionally, I'm sure) yet well-preserved on a malt shop set. And there is at least one very good hard-boiled line of dialogue. (Yeah, I know, one whole line! Watch out, Billy Wilder!)

The plot involves teen felons who escape rather easily from a Texas juvy camp. They are picked up by the naughty girlfriend of one of them, and they drive off. Her car breaks down after what seems like a third of a mile. They are soon picked up by a heroin dealer and his squeeze, Ohmart, who themselves just barely evaded the border patrol in sneaking a sizable quantity of the stuff up from Old Mexico in a piñata. The kids are on the run, on their way TO Mexico. That's irony, you see, and you just knows things just won't work out for this little klatch. Soon THAT car breaks down, too. The kids and the druggies run afoul of each other rather quickly, and the more hotheaded kid takes the piñata along when they part ways, after knocking Ohmart's boyfriend out.

So the druggies are after the kids, and Hutton is in hot pursuit of them all. Never getting very far down the road, things reach a head, Ohmart gets her fix, the girl chooses between the two teen cons, some of our cast finds redemption and others only find death. But you knew that. Switchblades figure heavily in the story, especially in the finale, which occurs in a cattleyard. This location makes an interesting (and slightly amusing) backdrop for our crime tale's close.

The direction isn't too static, and the acting is ok. The few wooden performances even lend an air of realism to this low-rent story of low-rent people. The title is neither relevant nor especially irreleveant; you know full well why it was chosen. There are also quite amusing trumpet hits to punctuate actions or dialogue meant to be arch, and are nearly Batman-like in their comical intrusiveness. The story is fine, and is vaguely reminiscent of 50's TV cop shows like Highway Patrol and films like Hitch-Hiker. But its low ambitions sink it.

Overall, this routine movie is a good step below High School Confidential and Untamed Youth, a step above really boring stuff like Hot Rod Girl. It's not good enough or bad enough to get terribly excited about. Worth a watch; probably not a purchase.

P.S. IMHO, it could have used some disembodied brains or broccoli-headed alien invaders.

Take a low budget 1960 exploitation film about dope smugglers, throw in a couple dozen bizarre juvenile delinquent trailers and an insane introduction by host Johnny Legend, and you've got Deadly Doubles Vol. 1 - Naked Youth / Teen Mania. Fix yourself a rum & coke, grab a pack of smokes and settle in for two bizarre hours of cinemania. (For those who care, though it shows some wear, the print quality is razor sharp)

This movie is sooo campy, yet soo good.