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Paula (Jean Moorhead), an 18-year-old high school student, is by and
large neglected by her parents (Barbara Weeks, Arthur Millan), so just for
the thrill of it, she has become the leader of a girl gang (the other
members being Theresa Hancock, Joanne Cangi, Gloria Farr), and together
they rob gasstations at gunpoint, force girls to give them their sweaters
on open streets and in one instant rape a guy (this being the 1950's of
course, the scene is anything but graphic and rather hinted at). The gang
is never caught mainly because Paula's dad works for a newspaper
chronicling the exploits of the girls, and oblivious to the fact that his
daughter is one of them, daddy always tips her off about the traps the
police is going to set for them - perfect set-up.
Eventually, Paula learns that all police stations are to be guarded, so
she and her girls go to Sheila (Lee Constant), their employer of sorts but
on the outside a wealthy society lady, for a new job ... and she tells
them to vandalize their own school - for big bucks (though it's never
explained why anyone would pay the girls for trashing a school). However,
when the girls are in the middle of fulfilling themselves every high
school student's dream, the police closes in on them, and by and by, all
of them die in the shoot-out and ensuing chase, all but Paula, who is
captured, convicted to a life in prison for murder (she killed a few cops
and Sheila too), and in jail she learns she is pregnant. Eventually she
dies during childbirth.
Paula's parents want to adopt their own grandchild, but the judge
(I.Stanford Jolley) denies their request, because they pretty much jumbled
up Paula's upbringing.
A film about a girlgang raping a man scripted by legendary Ed Wood -
now if that doesn't sound mouth-whetting ...
Violent Years however does not quite live up to its promise,
even though it was scripted by Ed Wood, it would have needed a far-out
director like him too and maybe some of his regular weirdo actors to be
catapulted into cult heaven. That said, Violent Years is still fun,
a typically cheap juvenile delinquency film playing the girl-gang-angle
and exploiting the girls' ruthlessness to the fullest, and then there are
these typical Ed Wood dialogues and monologues we all love the man for
that are often incredibly treaded out and jump from one topic to the next.
Then there are the many inconsistencies in the script. And don't forget
the low production values ...
In all, a typical so bad it's good film - even if it could have
been great but isn't.
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