High School Big Shot
Encyclopedia
High School Big Shot is a 1959
film
starring Tom Pittman
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. The plot is remarkably similar to that of Stanley Kubrick
's The Killing, released only three years previous. High School Big Shot was featured on an episode of the popular comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000
. Shot in 1958 under the title Blood Money, executive producer Roger Corman
released the film as a double feature
with T-Bird Gang
in his first Filmgroup release.
At his part-time job at the docks, Marv overhears his boss plotting a drug transaction worth $1 million cash. 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 safecracker Harry March and another accomplice, and he secures $550,000 of the take for himself. He tells Betty about the pending robbery to entice her to marry him, and she apparently accedes. In reality she secretively tasks her boyfriend, Vince, to steal the money from Marv.
Marv and his associates steal the money, but Vince and two accomplices intervene. Vince shoots one of Marv's unarmed associates, and he is horrified. When Betty arrives on the scene soon afterwards, Vince accuses her of making him do this, and he kills her, too. Vince's accomplices flee, but the police soon arrive. Marv is arrested and the money falls into the water, being lost.
) is a window teller at a racetrack. He has a shrewish wife, Sherry (Marie Windsor
), who is bitter that he has not delivered on the promises of wealth he made at the time of their marriage. She is also cheating on him.
A veteran criminal approaches George about being the inside man on a $2 million heist at the racetrack. Hoping to please his wife, George agrees, and he also tells her about the robbery. Sherry does not believe him at first, but, once she learns that the robbery is real, she recruits her lover, Val Cannon (Vince Edwards
), to steal the money from her husband.
The robbery succeeds, but George and his accomplices are held up by Val and his. A shootout ensues in which all but George are killed. George goes home to confront his wife, and kills her before dying himself. The last man left with the loot attempts to flee by plane, but the suitcase full of money breaks open on the tarmac and the contents are scattered to the winds.
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
starring Tom Pittman
Tom Pittman
Tom Pittman was an American actor. He died aged twenty-six, described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of Hollywood's most promising young actors"....
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
Malcolm Atterbury
Malcolm Atterbury was a stage and vaudeville actor who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is probably most well known as Bixby in Wagon Train and Lee Reinhard in Dragnet...
, and his relationship with the most popular girl in school. The plot is remarkably similar to that of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's The Killing, released only three years previous. High School Big Shot was featured on an episode of the popular comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
. Shot in 1958 under the title Blood Money, executive producer Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
released the film as a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
with T-Bird Gang
T-Bird Gang
T-Bird Gang is a 1959 American film directed by Richard Harbinger. Shot in 1958 under the title of Cry Out in Vengence, executive producer Roger Corman released the film as a double feature with High School Big Shot as the first release of his Filmgroup company.- Cast :*John Brinkley as Frank...
in his first Filmgroup release.
Plot
Marv Grant 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 throws Marv over 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 transaction worth $1 million cash. 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 safecracker Harry March and another accomplice, and he secures $550,000 of the take for himself. He tells Betty about the pending robbery to entice her to marry him, and she apparently accedes. In reality she secretively tasks her boyfriend, Vince, to steal the money from Marv.
Marv and his associates steal the money, but Vince and two accomplices intervene. Vince shoots one of Marv's unarmed associates, and he is horrified. When Betty arrives on the scene soon afterwards, Vince accuses her of making him do this, and he kills her, too. Vince's accomplices flee, but the police soon arrive. Marv is arrested and the money falls into the water, being lost.
Similarities to The Killing
The plot was arguably adapted from that of The Killing. In that film, George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
) is a window teller at a racetrack. He has a shrewish wife, Sherry (Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
), who is bitter that he has not delivered on the promises of wealth he made at the time of their marriage. She is also cheating on him.
A veteran criminal approaches George about being the inside man on a $2 million heist at the racetrack. Hoping to please his wife, George agrees, and he also tells her about the robbery. Sherry does not believe him at first, but, once she learns that the robbery is real, she recruits her lover, Val Cannon (Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards was an American actor, director, and singer, best known for the roles of TV doctor "Ben Casey", and Maj. Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film The Devil's Brigade.-Early life:...
), to steal the money from her husband.
The robbery succeeds, but George and his accomplices are held up by Val and his. A shootout ensues in which all but George are killed. George goes home to confront his wife, and kills her before dying himself. The last man left with the loot attempts to flee by plane, but the suitcase full of money breaks open on the tarmac and the contents are scattered to the winds.