The Violent Years

Moviecut—The Violent Years

source: The Violent Years

This film was written by Ed Wood, visionary, artist and social commentator, In this film, Ed shows us the rise of the feminine self empowerment and how it collapses without the guidance of the male species to provide foundation. What Ed and the director were trying to say is, hot chicks have two choices, become bored housewives, or embark on a life of crime wrought with hedonistic pleasures. What the film so effectively shows the viewer is the road less traveled is really exciting, but only leads to a dead end. With unusual and many layered cues, the film shows us that the girls attire speak for them on a subconscious level. The tight sweaters over the pointy coned brazier make the statement, these are weapons and you will poke your eye out if you get too close. My only complaint is that for this film really reach me, we needed more" Sapphoistic " actions by the girls, because let's face it, it never enhances a storyline, or adds to an unseen depth of the character. It's just hot. This is a week sister of films like Faster Pussycat, and any chicks in chains prison flick, but it is pretty good on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Never let it be said that Ed Wood was afraid to tackle some burning social issues and he does so again here with his usual skill. The Violent Years talks about female delinquency as wealthy, but bored Jean Moorhead gathers around her some followers and they form a girl gang. These chicks are out for action and with them being masked, the law thinks that it's after your typical male holdup gang as the girls start going through all the local filling stations. But these brazen harlots don't stop there. Unmasked they terrorize couples in a frequented lover's lane and tie up the women and then force men to their sexual wills. I don't know about you, but that's normally the kind of thing that is not best done under pressure at the point of a gun. In the end Moorhead is pregnant and commits murder and the wages of sin are exacted by the long arm of the law in the person of noted character actor I. Stanford Jolley who looks like he's needing some laxative as he intones the sentence and his views on parents who do not give good supervision and values to their kids. Poor Jolley who is the only person in this cast who has a decent resume probably fired his agent after he signed him up for this. Ed Wood, they'll never be another like you.

I must have seen a different version than other commentators. In the one I saw, the guy's date was not stripped naked; she was forced to remove only her sweater and skirt. And there is no statement that the guy was raped. Old Ed Wood leaves that totally to the viewers' imagination. Same with the identity of the father of Paula's baby. What makes this another great Ed Wood film is again the pocket-change budget. I love the changing police car, especially the one with no markings on the doors. The continuous changing from day to night to day in a sequence is another Ed Wood "water mark." This budget was so small I'm surprised the actors were not required to shout "bang!" instead of using real blanks.

Another social commentary from the mind of Edward D. Wood Jr. As in _Glen or Glenda_, Ed tries desperately to make an _On The Waterfront_ or _Wild One_ and, as usual, fails again. In _The Violent Years_, Ed addresses parental neglect and small-town boredom as the motivations behind a girl-gang's reign of terror. Ed emerges as a moralist who doesn't shy away from the hard issues arising from the result of criminal actions. The parents must face their failure, but the girl must face the results of her actions. As a filmmaker with a social conscience, Ed is truly without peer. A confirmed liberal, Ed also understands the balance between the needs of society and the needs of the individual. The problem is, he can't translate his inchoate emotion into a functional script. This film hangs together better than the (surprisingly) later film _Plan 9_, having consistent story and less than painful acting. And the rape scene is truly a unique moment is cinematic history. A strong film marred only by the Curse of Ed Wood.

Please note: My score of 2 does NOT mean that this film isn't fun. In fact, THE VIOLENT YEARS is a wonderful film to watch. Just don't assume this makes it a good film or a picture made by competent film makers! No, its watchability is because it is so bad...so incredibly lacking in any subtlety that make it a must-see for bad movie fans. In other words, if you like laughing at films such as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, then this film is definitely for you! The film begins with a judge lecturing two parents and basically saying that any time a teen goes bad it is because the parents are to blame! While this is true in some cases, the film pounds home this contention with all the subtlety and grace of a 2x4 being smacked repeatedly against your head!! As the judge is talking, the mother begins to think back about recent events and wonder if she DID have anything to do with her daughter becoming a menace to society. This daughter turns out to be like a Jekyll and Hyde sort of person--acting sweet in front of Mom and being an evil thrill-seeking idiot outside the home. For kicks, she and her three friends rob gas stations, destroy schools and rape men. Oddly, however, they are not caught for the longest time because you can only assume everyone in the town (especially the cops) are idiots! The girls leave lots of fingerprints and other evidence behind but the cops conclude at one point that it's the work of a gang of men from another town!! While the girls DID disguise themselves for one of the robberies, it's pretty obvious they weren't guys!!! And, when they raped a man and left him and his girlfriend as witnesses, don't you think they could have identified the girls?! And, later in the film, when one of the father's co-workers comes to the house and one of the girls' boyfriends pulls a knife and threatens the visitor, don't you think perhaps this MIGHT have clued somebody in to the fact that the girl and her friends were up to no good?! Regardless, the bad acting and silly script is very watchable in a salacious and laughable sort of way--particularly if you enjoy laughing at such films as REEFER MADNESS, SEX MADNESS or HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. Plus, it is just funny seeing the actors(?) having trouble with their lines (such as the judge who appears to be reading his lines as he talks to the parents) and the inconsistent and brainless writing (for which Ed Wood was responsible). I particularly loved it when two of the bad girls just told a crook that they shot a cop---and then this crook picks up the phone and tries to call the police! Didn't they just say they killed a policeman?! Didn't you think perhaps they might do the same if you made this phone call?! Duh. Overall, because the film is so earnestly stupid, it holds a near and dear place in the heart of every bad film fan--you know, the sort of people who enjoy laughing at horrible films as an exercise in self-torture. If you aren't the sort of person who likes to do this, then my advice is to steer clear!!

A bit heavy handed and moralising but certainly has some feisty moments. I loved the girl gang with their big pointy bosoms and snarling expressions and guns. Holding up petrol stations for kicks and in the end wrecking schoolrooms and getting into a gunfight with the police. Actually they didn't do much more than push over the chairs and wipe the blackboard clean, even replacing the duster on the shelf afterwards. But they talked big, had those big bosoms and did seem keen on a bit more action than seemed to be promised elsewhere. Somewhere writer Ed Wood is trying to make some comment about all the juvenile delinquency being the fault of the parents, but there is a fine scene when a guy's girlfriend is made to take off her sweater (angora?) and skirt and then be bound in her shiny underwear whilst aforementioned guy is chased into the woods by the four bosom pals for some naughtiness. Our leading bad girl is removing her top in full frame as the picture fades and the young man protests.

Not as delirious as "Plan Nine from Outer Space" or "Bride of the Monster," the "Violent Years" is certainly outrageous in its own "cool" 1950s way. Watch out for those tight sweaters! And don't miss the "party" scene! The delinquent girls are at least 10 years older than they're playing, but... hey... it's Ed Wood were talking about.

Four teenage girls, who are well into their twenties, disguise themselves as boys (they wear bandannas) and "run rampage" through the city by pushing their sexual advances on a weaselly boy on Lovers' Lane and hitting a gas station employee with a handgun, not killing him of course, but, as one policeman remarks, "Not for lack of trying." After enduring a friend of her father's who shows up at their slumber party, trying to hold a conversation with the "teens" as they make out robotically, Paula leads the gang on their most heinous crime of all: breaking into their classroom in order to slightly disrupt the furniture and even erase the blackboard! Fortunately, the cops show up before they can finish the job, and a shoot-out ensues. One of the girls, after being blasted with a shotgun, announces, "It wasn't supposed to be like this," before lying down gently with no visible signs of damage whatsoever. The other three girls high-tail it out of the school but stop directly in front of the cops to chat long enough for another girl to be shot down as well. Day and night lose all meaning as the remaining two girls speed off at a snail's pace past the police. After another shooting, the girls have a wonderfully ridiculous car crash into a plate glass window, killing one of them. Paula receives some cuts on her face, but manages to live just long enough to give birth to her illegitimate child. A judge refuses to grant Paula's parents custody of the child and further punishes them by reading a speech so long and pointless that even he seems to be dozing off by the end. In short, it's the fault of the parents that Paula turned to a hobby of crime because they didn't give her enough love or force religion upon her. Let this be a lesson to us all. "The Violent Years" isn't nearly as inept as "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or "Glen or Glenda?" (possibly because Ed Wood only wrote it, didn't direct it) but it's still terribly entertaining.