This is one of the most obscure films of the late and not-so-great low-budget film director Al Adamson. At their best Adamson's films can be fun and moderately entertaining ("Satan's Sadists", "Nurse Sherri"), but at their worst they are unwatchable dreck that would probably violate the Geneva Convention if they were to force POWs to view them. This movie falls somewhere in between.
It's a very atypical Adamson film in that it rather than being a half-assed Western, blaxploitation flick, or incomprehensible monster mash-up, it is instead an even more low-budget version of the late 70's teen films churned out by companies like Crown Pictures and aimed squarely at the drive-in market (i.e. "The Pom Pom Girls", "The Van", "Malibu Beach"). The late 70's always seemed like a cool time to be a teenager and that really comes across in the aforementioned Crown movies or in stuff like "Jailbait Babysitter", but no so much here. Adamson is out of his element (although some might argue he had no element). He lacks even the meager budget of the average Crown picture. And instead of actors like Robert Carradine, Rainbeaux Smith, Susan Player, and Jennifer Ashley, he's saddled with complete unknowns with only a brief cameo by a decrepit John Carradine.
The plot involves s nerdy student who becomes part of the popular crowd after he pulls an end-of-the year prank on the principal. He and his new friends get involved in a campaign to save their local beach from greedy condo developers. There's the usual teen hijinks. There's a couple tricked-out vans. There's a healthy amount of "T", but a definite shortage of "A" (which certainly wouldn't have been the case if Suzie Player or Rainbeaux Smith had been in the cast).
I read a book once about Adamson. He seemed like a colorful characters and he and his group had a lot of fun making films. Watching some of them is a different story though. This would probably be marginally better with a better transfer and a legitimate release (it was a lost film for many years and the version I saw was very rough), but it's definitely not a lost classic.
It's a very atypical Adamson film in that it rather than being a half-assed Western, blaxploitation flick, or incomprehensible monster mash-up, it is instead an even more low-budget version of the late 70's teen films churned out by companies like Crown Pictures and aimed squarely at the drive-in market (i.e. "The Pom Pom Girls", "The Van", "Malibu Beach"). The late 70's always seemed like a cool time to be a teenager and that really comes across in the aforementioned Crown movies or in stuff like "Jailbait Babysitter", but no so much here. Adamson is out of his element (although some might argue he had no element). He lacks even the meager budget of the average Crown picture. And instead of actors like Robert Carradine, Rainbeaux Smith, Susan Player, and Jennifer Ashley, he's saddled with complete unknowns with only a brief cameo by a decrepit John Carradine.
The plot involves s nerdy student who becomes part of the popular crowd after he pulls an end-of-the year prank on the principal. He and his new friends get involved in a campaign to save their local beach from greedy condo developers. There's the usual teen hijinks. There's a couple tricked-out vans. There's a healthy amount of "T", but a definite shortage of "A" (which certainly wouldn't have been the case if Suzie Player or Rainbeaux Smith had been in the cast).
I read a book once about Adamson. He seemed like a colorful characters and he and his group had a lot of fun making films. Watching some of them is a different story though. This would probably be marginally better with a better transfer and a legitimate release (it was a lost film for many years and the version I saw was very rough), but it's definitely not a lost classic.