Malibu High

Malibu High; 1979 · USA · 92m
Body count: 8
Directed by	Irvin Berwick
Produced by	Lawrence D. Foldes
Written by	John Buckley; Tom Singer
Starring	Jill Lansing; Garth Howard; Tammy Taylor; Alex Mann
Cinematography	William DeDiego
Editing by	Dan Perry
Language	English
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Kim makes the grade.

Director Irwin Berwick (Hitch-Hike to Hell, Strange Compulsion) had begun a new chapter in his long career: as the instructor for the UCLA course 'Low Budget Film Production.' One of his students, Lawrence D. Foldes (Don’t Go Near the Park, Nightforce), scored a deal with Crown International to produce a script about a young girl who trades high school for prostitution and prostitution for a handgun; Foldes would hire his teacher to direct (and defacto produce) the film.

Released onto the drive-in/grindhouse circuit in May 1979, Malibu High marked the 15th and final collaboration between director of photography William DeDiego and director Irvin Berwick. Berwick would die 18 years later of heart failure. Malibu High would be his last directorial credit.

Night of the Living 80's starring Linnea Quigley and Rambone Jr.

The film climaxes with a chase across the same piece of Malibu shoreline used in J.R. Bookwalter's no-budget wonder Witchouse 3: Demon Fire some 22 years later. The chase itself is punctuated by an oft-used piece of 70's stock music, "The Heist", written by composer Alan Tew and now forever known as the theme from "The People’s Court".

Foldes helmed a sequel to Malibu High in 1983. Originally titled "The Graduates of Malibu High", the film was released as Young Warriors by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan’s Cannon Films. The Cannon partners’ involvement goes a long way in explaining the derivation of the word 'Warrior' in the retitling; conspicuous by their absence however, are the words 'Ninja', 'Missing' and/or 'Action.'

Young Warriors was financed with a tiny portion of the enormous windfall Cannon had yielded in 1983 through various pre-sales to companies like Columbia Pictures (who released Young Warriors theatrically in Australia) and MGM/UA, the film's U.S. video distributors. In fact Cannon had earned $12 million in video pre-sales alone in 1983. MGM/UA had signed a deal with Cannon for exclusive U.S. distribution rights (both theatrical and video) for all future titles but renegotiated their agreement within a year after feeling burned by the quality of Cannon's offerings. One can hardly blame them as, even by Cannon standards, Young Warriors is only engaging in its moments of unintentional hilarity.

Taglines

Every Teacher in School Wanted to FLUNK HER... But Nobody Dared!

Quotes

Better than giving it away?

Kim: "I was hoping I'd turn you on a little Mr. Donaldson. I dressed this way just for you. Don't you know you're my favorite teacher Mr. Donaldson and I've always had a thing for you?"

Lucy: "But you're a hooker!" Kim: "So what, it's better then giving it away isn't it?"

Kim: "As Sherlock Holmes would say Mr. Donaldson 'you've left out one minor detail.' That small detail happens to be the half-moon birthmark on the cheek of your ass! I wonder how your wife would feel about my knowing about that, Mr. Donaldson? So I get an "A," right?"

Kim: "Hey Tony? This is Kim. Yeah, I got a message for you pal: GET FUCKED!"

Kim graduates.

Lance: "Hey look baby, don't sweat it, I take care of my girls. We just simply get some puppet to take the rap. There's always some fink the boys are trying to get rid of."

Kim: "Y'know it's weird, almost scary... I don't feel bad. I feel almost good about it. For once I didn't just sit back and get hurt. I struck back."

Kim: "I can't do it, Lance. I mean I may be a hooker but I'm not a hitgirl." Lance: "Well then it's time you graduated."

Kim: "You should've seen that old bastard, he was shaking like a bowl of jelly. Y'know, I don't know if he was more terrified of dying or disappointed because he couldn't grab a handful."

Kevin: "Bitch! Goddamn stupid fucking broad, why don't you just shoot that thing?" Kim: "Sure creep, why not?"

External reviews

TV Guide?!? What a
buncha fuckin' squares!

"A high school girl is a prostitute with a penchant for murder. One client is killed, which sets off the bloodletting that comprises the body of the film. Some sordid attempts at psychoanalyzing the poor girl make this cheap exploitation movie all the more vile. The title implies a happy-go-lucky teen sex film, which just goes to show one cannot always categorize these lower market features by name alone." --TV Guide

Jill Lansing "really works wonders with the complex role of Kim. An attractive brunette with prominent tan lines and the [sic] fashion sense, Lansing seems to be channeling Divine’s 'Dawn Davenport', gleefully shocking her mother by smoking and cursing at the breakfast table, dressing like a streetwalker for school, and popping Annette in the nose when she makes the unwise move of calling her a "slut"! She really handles her dialogue beautifully, with a cold, hard edge to her line delivery, and her explanation of her new high-paying job to her mother (“I do relief work!”) is priceless. Lansing never made another movie, unfortunately, but it’s not hard to imagine her in bitchy villainess supporting roles on "Charlie's Angels" and "Welcome Back Kotter"." --DVD Drive-In

Distributors

Crown International Pictures (1979) (USA) (theatrical)
Wm. Lange & Associates (1979) (USA: Midwest) (theatrical)
Saguenay Films (????) (Canada) (theatrical)
Unknown distributor (????) (UK) (VHS)
Jef Films/MVD (2004?) (USA) (VHS)
Brentwood Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
BCI Eclipse/Deimos (2007) (USA) (DVD)
Navarre Corporation (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Image gallery

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Movie poster.	Unknown distributor's UK VHS.	Jef Films/MVD VHS.
Brentwood Home Video DVD.	Deimos DVD promo (see notes).	BCI Eclipse/Deimos DVD.
Navarre Corporation DVD.	Title card.	Sleaze by breasts.
Kim assesses her situation.	1: Death by hanging (self-inflicted).	Sleaze by breasts.
Sleaze by upskirt.	Sleaze by breasts, sex.	Sleaze by breasts.
Sleaze by breasts.	Video below.	Sleaze by breasts.
Video below.	Sleaze by sex (unfulfilled).	Sleaze by breasts, sex.
Sleaze by sex, breasts.	Sleaze by breasts (unwilling), breasts (unfulfilled). Reverse Hulkamania FTW.	2: Death by icepick.
3: Death by gun.	Sleaze by striptease (unfulfilled).	4: Death by gun.
	Sleaze by breasts.	Video below.
5: Death by heart failure. Video below.	Sleaze by breasts.	Sleaze by sex, breasts.
She couldn't get any sexier.	I stand corrected.	6: Death by gun.
Now who's the piece of shit? 7: Death by gun.	Video below.
"I ain't so tough..." 8: Death by rifle.