Descriptions of this zero-budget exploitation indie might as well be promising THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE meets 21 JUMP STREET (the earnest ‘87 series, not the winking 2012 film). Drug-fueled, racially-charged High School on the edge of violent gang-led implosion admits a pair of undercover cops posing as (very remedial) students to investigate the problems. And damned if this description ain’t accurate. At last, truth in movie advertising! But directors Richard L. Bare & William Rowland so incompetent, the product so dreary, so starved of invention, there’s hardly a bit of fun to be had. Worse, in trying to squeeze out an extra dribble of cash (from where? - Drive-In triple-bill rentals?), they tacked on a few make-out sequences which pop up at random moments for half-minute orgasmic rug rolls with skimpily-clad sexpots & horny boyfriends not in the rest of the film.* Even a belly dancer as Special Guest Boob. Rita Moreno is in here for the big dramatics as a Hispanic with a taste for White boys. One knocks her up before getting knocked off. (And why not? When Moreno knocked off work she presumably was nailing her audition for WEST SIDE STORY/’61.) BTW, Moreno already 29, and all the other speaking parts cast with ‘teenagers’ also nearing 30 who’d soon be seen on tv; like Mark Damon in swarthy Mexicali make-up; Al Freeman Jr. there to give racial peace a chance; Richard Rust trying to hook the whole school (and selected kid brothers) on ‘Mary Jane.’ This ought to be a hoot. Instead, it’s a pass.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *The re-release with softer-than-soft-core trimmings retitled THE BLACK REBELS. Pretty insulting; especially as the Black gang gets less footage than Whites or Hispanics.
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