The Violent Years
Directed by William Morgan
Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.
1956/USA
Headliner Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
Paula Parkins: Hi, Mom. Got time to talk a minute? It’s rather important.
Jane Parkins: Good gracious, no! I’m an hour late already! “Charity First” and all that sort of thing, you know. Besides, what can be so important in your young life as to warrant my attention so drastically?
Ed Wood’s writing nicely balances the overall quality of this film.
The story is framed by what turns out to be a petition by grandparents to adopt their daughter’s baby. The judge castigates the parents for poor parenting and we segue into flashback. Paula Perkins wants to talk but her mother is too busy with her charities. Father is a newspaper editor who works 24/7. Lately he has been covering the rampages of a gang that has been robbing gas stations. Of course Paula is the ring leader.
Paula’s girl gang robs a young couple in lover’s lane and rapes the man. They have wild pajama parties with boys. Finally, their fence gets them a job with “foreigners” vandalizing high schools. It is this last crime that escalates to murder. Paula narrowly escapes the death penalty because of her youth. She had been complaining of strange “cramps” which turns out to be the baby to be. We segue back to the courtroom and the judge delivers a long lecture on juvenile delinquency and its roots in poor parenting and lack of religion. During this tirade we get clips highlighting scenes from the movie we have just watched.
I thought this had potential to be amusing and I did chuckle and groan a couple of times. It lacks a lot of the weirdness of Wood’s own work, though, and is more boring than a good “bad” picture should be.
Trailer – back when terrorism meant high schoolers knocking over a few desks
