Just for the Hell of It

Just for the Hell of It

Just for the Hell of It

source: Just for the Hell of It

This movie - his attempt at a whole new genre that was the * of destruction - is completely unhinged and out of control, even a half-century after it was made. Just watch the opening, where a gang of teens go from partying to suddenly decimating everything in their path, trashing an apartment in a moment of joyous destruction. As Lewis says on the intro to the film on its new Arrow Video release, "Watch this and think about how much fun everyone had making it." The gang Destruction Incorporated are here to terrorize small towns in Florida just for the hell of it, according to their insane leader Dexter, who has brought together Denny, Bitsy and Lummox as his crew. They beat up a bartender, splash a man with paint and set a woman's newspaper on fire. Cops? They just make fun of the cops. These kids aren't square. They just like messing things up for everyone else. Not even cozy little coffee shops are safe. They just provide an arena for fist fights and grabbing store owners and burning their hands on the very stove that they make java on. The police try again to stop the gang, but no witnesses want to come forward. The violence only stops for a moment before the gang goes wild all over again, beating blind people, attacking men with their own crutches, throwing a baby into a garbage can and then destroying its stroller. They don't care about anything or anyone, only the feeling of breaking things and the thrill of getting away with it. Then, the gang invades a little league baseball game and starts attacking the children before Doug gets involved. Sadly, when a senile old woman calls the cop, he gets blamed. While he's in jail, the gang beats a man on a beach blanket and assaults his girlfriend before they're murdered. If the police aren't going to stop things, Doug and his girl Jeanne will. Bitsy, the mascot of the gang, lures Doug out of his house in the hopes she'll testify against the Destruction boys, but it's just a trap. His girlfriend is brutally attacked and left for dead with a drawing of a rat carved into her stomach. You know, for as kind of a man as Lewis seems while introducing this film, he's an absolute maniac behind the camera. Doug chases Denny and Bitsy, which leads their motorcycle into an explosive accident and our hero, such as it is, gets arrested. However, Dexter and Lummox have escaped and when told that two of the gang are dead, he answers, "Why cars, man?" The movie ends with blood written on glass that says, "THE END... of this movie, but not the violence." This is a movie that doesn't care that you find it worrisome or troublesome or problematic. If it could sneak into your parents' house and beat them up with pool cues, it would do it right now. In fact, it just might be.

A young teenage boy is blamed for a Florida neighborhood being terrorized. But the real culprits are a gang of four punks leading a group of local delinquents on a nihilistic lifestyle of destruction and mayhem. What strikes me about the film is the parallel with "Clockwork Orange". This is obviously not intentional, but the gang accosting an old (apparently blind) man seems very much like the droogs attacking homeless men. Lewis approaches it in a far more gruesome manner, however, with some of the violence very much Ripper-esque. Alex (in "Clockwork") is somehow sympathetic, despite being a murderous rapist. But Dexter (played by Ray Sager) is just a pure sociopath. Worthy of note is the appearance of musician Larry Williams. Williams is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie", "Short Fat Fannie", "High School Dance" (1957), "Slow Down", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (1958), "Bad Boy" and "She Said Yeah" (1959). John Lennon was a fan, and the Beatles and several other British Invasion groups covered several of his songs.

Herschell Gordon Lewis has made some memorable films in his time. 1968's Blood Feast introduced the film world to the wonders of gore and although it is an undeniably terrible and amateurish film, it certainly had it's charms. They came thick and fast after that, and his CV added the likes of 2000 Maniacs!, Color Me Blood Red, The Gruesome Twosome, and The Gore Gore Girls. Again, these are all terrible films, but his horror output is genuinely wildly entertaining due to their zero-budget sets, awful scripts, worse acting, and extremely ropy gore make-up. The other films he made in and around these did not share these charms - they were quickies made on a half-idea based around a specific exploitative subject - in this case, juvenile delinquents. They were even given their own sub-genre, known as 'J.D.' films. Just For The Hell Of It is based around a gang of young men and women as they participate in a lot of anti-social behaviour, seemingly only for cheap kicks. Beginning at a party that soon deteriorates into the absolute destruction of the room, they abolish it with fists, feet, hammers, and whatever else they can get their hands on. Their acts become more outlandish, as they throw water over passers-by, set fire to things, throw a baby into a bin, beat an injured man with his own crutches, and hit a blind man with his cane. Innocent, bronze-skinned meat-head Doug (Rodney Bedell) seems to be caught up in it and frequently finds himself crossing paths with the gang, especially leader Dexter (Ray Sager). What is basically an interesting idea is dealt with by H.G. Lewis' usual graceless and heavy-handed approach. The film is nothing more than one act of anti-social behaviour after the next, and it goes on for 90 long minutes. The most ridiculous thing is that the gang does all this in broad daylight, in front of lots of witnesses and bystanders, yet they seem to manage to evade the cops. Even when they attack a bunch of kids playing baseball, Doug runs over to help - yet an old woman passing by somehow manages to mistake the whole gang for Doug, who she ends up blaming. The laughable moral message at the end ('This is the end of the movie, but not of the violence') seems ridiculous coming from the man who directed Blood Feast. I really don't want to waste any more words on this film because it simply doesn't deserve it. Simply horrifying film- making at its very worse. But I somehow still love you, Herschell. www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

I rented this film on DVD, as part of a double feature. Netflix packages lots of their classic films, on DVD this way. In addition to the feature films, the DVD also included some extra film clips. Some of the extras were fun to watch, especially the old Drive-in Intermission clips. They sure brought back fond memories, of trips to the Drive-in during my childhood days. Just For The Hell Of It, was little more than a melodramatic yarn about violent, delinquent teens. This film stood-out from others of it's kind, by portraying the teen violence as particularly vicious. There was even a scene where a toddler was snatched from it's carriage, and put in a garbage can, by one of the teens. The incredible mayhem that these teens indulge in, is way beyond youthful hijinks. It's obvious that the producers of this movie, were trying to shock the sensibilities of the older generation in the 60s. Seems like back then, the under-30 crowd were forever keeping their elders bewildered. But very few young people, were actually as brutal back then, as they're portrayed to be in this movie. So the premise of the film, really stretches the bounds of credibility. This movie doesn't even work as a campy film. It's just too grisly, and lacks any real element of humor at all. Only those who like gory slasher films, might enjoy this movie.

White did not throw the baby in the garbage can and at Tarantinos Beverly theatre it opened the Grindhouse Film Fest so it must be recognised by the Grindhouse elite community somehow, so maybe to some it is not as bad to some as it appears to you. In Berlin, knock off copies are still available, it still plays regularly in subject appropriate theatres and there has been recently been gang actions mirroring the illness that the gang in Just For The Hell of It portrayed, again, using the opening figure with the knife on T-shirts. If it can get Berliners crazy enough, maybe we get back into the international scene again. Linking up with the Russians that are fans, maybe we can get our demands faster. Maybe we need a wacko like Denny Fortune to run for Anti-Christ. His attitude is not unlike our (and the Russians) early leaders who could of taken over the world.

Not being a fan of exploitation films, but for years after violent, extreme, provocative films in general, I stumbled upon this little flick from the 1968. I hadn't yet seen any other film from Herschell Gordon Lewis {shame!), so I thought I should give it try. It's quite strange this is not more popular, because, if this is what Herschell Gordon Lewis films feel like, then I would like to see more. It is probably one of the earliest samples of mindless politically incorrect cinema done pretty sloppy but effectively, a classic exploitation, if you ask me, and even if you regularly don't take it too seriously, it's quite daring for 1968. Some scenes might raise a smile to some, intentionally or not. So, this quite unknown film is recommended for those after a nice old party film for a night with friends, pizza and beers {the music just feels great with this one), exploitation fans {this is a must) and in general, those who are looking for mindless fun, not shocked by somewhat explicit material.

This film has about the naughtiest juvenile delinquents ever shown in a motion picture. They do horrific things to their poor neighborhood. They destroy property and their school, dumb paint on people, torment a blind man, attack elementary kids playing soccer, put a baby in a trash barrel and roll it away, and axe and splatter paint all over newspapers about these things. What's their excuse? "We did this just for the hell of it." This is incredibly violent, and it sure served as a lesson to me when I saw it, I totally stopped carving my name on benches, writing messages on mirrors with marker, and drag racing.