Side Order of Ninjas

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Deliquent Daughters (1944)

Accent on Crime


Cast:

June Carlson is June Thompson
Fifi "I was in Nabonga" D'Orsay is Mimi
Teala Loring is Sally Higgins
Mary Bovard is Betty Smith
Margia Dean is Francine Van Pelt
Johnny Duncan is Rocky Webster


What the IMDB says about the plot:

A town is shocked when a high school girl commits suicide. A reporter and a cop team up to investigate and find out exactly what is going on among the youth of the town.


Plot:

Newspapers announce the suicide of a local teenage girl. A flock of 1940s teen girls discuss Lucille in the 1940s slang. Later, the principal and the police question the girls.

That night, we see how wild the teens are when they decide to do a little robbery. The police learn about a robbery and chase after them. Jerry and girls accidentally run the hot rod over some guy. Nick, manager of a nearby roadhouse, has Jerry ditch the car. By the time the police catch up and question Nick about the hit and run and don't get anything.

At the Merry-Go-Round, Nick's club, let the wild life ensue with bobby-sox fu and wild dancin'. The cops even spot some of the girls they questioned earlier. Sally, the wild girl, calls June's dad to cover for her.

A reporter talks with police lieutenant about trying to shut the Merry-Go-Round club down.

Later, Nick talks with Jerry about stopping the petty robberies and ditch his car to work for him. Rocky, another teen, pawns a gun to Nick.

June has Rocky drop her home. The police are looking for Rocky who ditches out of the club. Nick has to shut the club down early.

Nick volunteers to take Sally and June home. Unfortunately, June's dad is waiting for her and has realized she was lying. Running her out of the house, June wanders out in the night and find s Rocky who prposes to marry her. The Lieutenant catches them and is going to take them to see Judge Crane. He finds Jerry and Sally, too. Jerry pushes him into the lake and escapes. The teens split up.

Jerry and Sally decide to commit a couple of robberies for "kicks."

Another newspaper montage ensues about the dangers of juvenile delinquency.

Jerry wants to leave the town. Sally agrees to pack before leaving. Sally gets a ride and robs the driver. She tells Jerry she's staying after flashing the pile she got off the driver. Her parents are waiting for her and can't get any answers from her. She has gone wild child after her parents kept her from her "true" love Jimmy.

The cops take June and Rocky to see the judge who also meets with the teens' parents. Let the lecturing ensue on how parents aren't being responsible enough as well as the kids.

Later, Rocky has been working to buy a car and asks June out on a date.

Nick recruits Jerry for a heavy robbery to take a payroll. He gives Jerry a gun, strangely the one he bought from Rocky earlier. That night, Nick and Jerry hit the payroll. After winging a guard, Jerry gets shot. Sally and Nick drive off.

The cops question Rocky's dad about the gun. Mimi, the super-French accented lady, swears that Nick wasn't involved in the robbery. The cops bring Rocky and June in. Rocky admits to pawning the gun to Nick earlier. The cops are after Nick. Rocky and June decide to follow the cops.

At the club, Mimi warns Nick about the cops. Mimi and Sally get into a catfight before Nick clubs Mimi and heads off with Sally.

Rocky and June follow the Nick and cop chase. Heading off at a pass, Rocky forces Nick's car off the side of the road and down a cliff.

The Merry-Go-Round is still up and running with new owners including Judge Crane and number of the parents as the teens continue their dance-fu.


What I say:

What was the only thing more terrifying in the 1950s than communists and invading aliens in UFOs? If you guessed teenagers you deserve to be promoted to Fifth degree ninjapprentice. However, not Teenagers From Outer Space or Teenage Zombies. Extraterrestrial teenagers or zombie teens aren't horrifying enough. But a decade earlier, what was the most terrifying thing in the 1940s...Wild teenagers. Look out!!! Juvenile delinquent teens, talk about Lovecraftian horror.

Teens running wild around the local community as Hot Rod Girl or Teenage Crimewave... Have to admit, I was surprised that some hotrodders didn't knock over some little old lady carrying her groceries home. These are the kind of movies that have teenagers running amuck through a town before Marlon Brando's biker gang in the Wild Ones. The teens runs over people and rob several stores. The typical wild teens use so much slang you almost need a translator.

It is hard to look back at movie more than 60 years old and see what they consider wild behavior next to what gets announced on the news everyday. For the Hays production code, which had set out what was acceptable and not acceptable in movies, it is kind of hard to see how some of these low-budget movies were ever made. Many of these were the kind of movies that showed or beat the audience over the head with the dangers of wild teens, lack of morals, etc...OK, I'll get off the soapbox.



2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"Nick's a plenty tough guy..."
"You sound just like Dick Tracy..."
"Something that goes Boom-Boom-Boom..."


Morals of the Story

Forgery is a required class in school.
Catfighting is genetic.
The legal age to get married is 21.
Attempted drowning is not a crime.


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