High School Confidential! (1958) on Netflix
A young cop named Mike Wilson goes undercover as Tony Baker, a new student, to investigate a drug ring. He flirts with Joan Staples and angers teacher Arlene Williams.
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- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.1/101,270 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes70%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mike Wilson is a young police officer working undercover. Posing as Tony Baker, he enrolls at a high school to investigate a narcotics ring. He shares a place with Gwen Dulaine, who calls herself his aunt around other people but privately makes advances toward him. At school, Tony flirts with Joan Staples and irritates teacher Arlene Williams. When he learns that Joan smokes marijuana, he asks where she buys it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about High School Confidential! (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jerry Lee Lewis opens High School Confidential! singing the title song, which he co-wrote with Ron Hargrave. He released it as a Sun Records 45 that became a Top 40 hit, reaching number 21 on the Billboard charts.
- Director Jack Arnold recalled that producer Zugsmith wanted High School Confidential! to be an out-and-out exploitation picture with a straight, preachy anti-drug message, and told him nudity in it would be great. They did not agree on everything, but Zugsmith did not insist.
- George Raft had been cast in High School Confidential!, but in March 1958 MGM announced that Jackie Coogan would play the part instead. The studio gave no explanation for the switch.
- White Zombie sampled High School Confidential! four times on their album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, taking the "Do you want to start a rumble?" conversation, the "Drop it, buster!" line, the "tomorrow's a drag" poem and the Columbus speech.
- Cast member Phillipa Fallon performed a nihilistic beat-style poem called "High School Drag" in the film; it was released as a single in 1958 as the B-side to John Drew Barrymore's "Christopher Columbus Digs the Jive".
