The only thing worse than a dull exploitation movie is a pointless homage to one, like this update of AIP's 1957 juvenile-delinquent shocker produced for Showtime’s jejune "Drive-in Classics" series.
Orphaned Los Angeles teen Donna Patterson (Aimee Graham) makes it her business to protect her younger sister, Kathy (Ashley Lister), from the lecherous designs of their guardian, Uncle Harry (Harry Northup). Good-girl Donna works as a waitress, but hangs out with delinquents in her free time. When pervy Uncle Harry tries to impose a curfew, Donna’s date, Vince (Matt LeBlanc), gives him a good thrashing. That's about the extent of his thuggish chivalry: When he runs down a pedestrian while fleeing the police in a stolen car, Vince lets Donna take the fall. Sentenced to a term at the McCarthy Institute, Donna quickly befriends other wayward teens but can't stop worrying about Kathy. And she soon has more to worry about: Sleazy Vince stops by on visiting day and warns that unless Donna keeps quiet about his involvement in the hit and run, he'll seduce the underage Kathy. Meanwhile, Warden Evelyn Turnbull (Carolyn Seymour), a former Olympic champion, recognizes that Donna is a born athlete and offers her early release if she participates in a competition between the
reform school girls and students of the snooty all-girl academy that once refused to hire Miss Turnbull.
Screenwriter Bruce Meade and director Jonathan Kaplan -- who cut his teeth on authentic B-movies like WHITE LINE FEVER (1975) and BAD GIRLS (1994) – favor salaciousness over grit, and the result is stultifying. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
