 618 - HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT with short: OUT OF THIS WORLD
Genre: Good Teen Goes Bad (S: 1954, Color;
F: 1959, B&W)
Short: The short that starts this experiment called Out of this World is a strange little sales promo about an Angel
(White) and a devil (Red) who have a bet over a particular bread salesman on whether he stays a good salesman or can be influenced to do evil
(i.e. be lazy and not try to push the bread).
Full of dated ’50s values, the riffing – disappointingly – is not nearly on the same high level of every other short of this type.
M&tBs are funny, but really should have been a lot funnier, given how goofy this short is.
Synopsis: The feature is one of those
’50s era troubled teens (played by thirty-year-olds)
flicks. This one is about a morose boy named Marv who gets good grades but is forced to support his deadbeat, drunken loser of a father.
Betty, the hottest girl in school (mainly because there’s not much competition) suddenly takes a liking to Marv and begins to date him
– which angers her old boyfriend, the brutish Vince. But it turns out Betty is using Marv so he can help her get a passing grade in their Shakespeare class (trading sex for grades
– nothing wrong with that). When the teacher finds out that Marv wrote
Betty’s term paper for her, he fails her.
So she instantly dumps the now love-stricken Marv and goes back to Vince.
Marv wants to win her back, however. So when he overhears at his job that $1 million is going to be locked in the safe by the Mob to pay for some illegal dope, he works out a plan to steal the money with some ex-criminals he somehow knows about at the local liquor store.
Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of trying to win back Betty by bragging to her about the heist, so she goes off and persuades her “real” boyfriend Vince to take his buddies and steal the money after Marv & Co. get it out of the safe.
Of course, the whole heist ends disastrously with most of the cast getting a severe case of lead poisoning and poor, pathetic Marv going to jail.
Don’s Review: Bad movie, but not nearly as bad as the worst films seen on MST
– I mean, at least this one had some production values and some actual editing.
The primary flaw was that none of the characters are appealing: Marv is just a
pathetic and morose loser who, if he was really as smart as his teacher says, would have figured out that he should stay away from that greedy, conniving little bitch Betty.
And Marv’s dad is even more of a loser – when he finally ends his pathetic little life, it was the boldest thing
he’d ever done.
The riffing by M&tBs on this, however, is great as I laughed throughout this feature.
Add to that some good host segments (the best is the spoof of the bread selling short) and it adds up to a pretty good episode.
Don’s Rating: 
[ S: 
F: ]
Forrest’s Review: Ever been depressed, and yet, you can still laugh like an idiot?
Then you may have seen the MST3K episode High School Big
Shot. This episode opens up with a fun short, full of good wholesome bread, and good wholesome values, and some good wholesome riffing.
But the feature is hilarious! The riffs on Marv's dad rival the best they've done.
There are plenty of laugh out loud moments throughout, and good solid riffing in between.
The host segments were pretty good, overall, so this is a very funny episode, and somehow, I feel it will get better on more and more repeat viewings.
I totally agree with Don on this one, this is a great episode!
Forrest’s Rating:
[ S:
F: ]
Josh’s Review: Many of the movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 can easily be considered depressing.
Be it due to a confusing or non-existent plot, terrible acting, or laughable special effects, many of the films could actually be considered real downers if not for the aide of Mike and the
Bots. High School Big Shot is one of the few films aired on the show that actually intends to be terribly depressing.
Some of the horrible events that happen throughout the movie are so over the top that it almost gives them an unintentional humorous spin.
The dad hangs himself at the same time that his kid is out getting everyone else he knows and loves killed.
What are the odds?! Sure, if there is any humor to find in this
it’s of the extremely dark variety, but I’m really not sure how else to watch this film without becoming terribly depressed
myself.
That said, I actually enjoyed this movie relatively speaking.
The plot was engrossing enough to keep me interested in the content of the film and the story seemed to move along at a rather reasonable pace.
Even so, the movie is horribly flawed in so many ways that you
can’t help but feel a bit empty after a viewing.
The director’s intentions are never very clear. Who’d want to make a depressing movie just for the sake of making a depressing movie?
Also, none of the characters are at all likable. The main character Marvin is pathetic enough to feel a little sorry for, but everyone else featured in the film range from creepy to despicable.
The father might be the most disturbing character in any of the featured movies, followed closely by Mrs. Heinz of
Time Chasers fame.
The episode itself featured reasonably strong host segments, with an entertaining bit before the movie in which Servo is turned into a giant.
The effects wear off disappointingly quickly. I’ve always wondered what kind of riffs a giant, hormonally imbalanced, mentally challenged Tom Servo would come up with, but he never got much of a chance.
A bit of a shame really.
The short before the feature is a classic.
I enjoyed the riffing here immensely, but the short itself is so goofy and enjoyable, the riffing is really a bonus.
The riffing on the feature is good too, but not strong enough to block out the despair of the movie.
Overall, a very good episode that I strongly recommend.
Josh’s Rating:
[ S: 
F: ]
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