1958’s "High School Confidential" is an exploitation natural made by two pros who knew the genre inside and out: producer Albert Zugsmith ("Sex Kittens Go To College") and director Jack Arnold ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"). Jerry Lee Lewis kicks it off with some barn-burning rock n’ roll and then surrenders the stage to a cast made in B-movie heaven including Bad Girl Par Excellence, Mamie Van Doren and Russ Tamblyn as an undercover agent investigating a drug ring at the local high school. Roger Corman regular Mel Welles contributed a few lines of satirical poetry presaging the beatnik doggerel he’d compose for Corman’s 1959 horror-comedy "Bucket of Blood."
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