Teenage Gang Debs (1966)
Starring: Diane Conti, Joey Naudic, John Batis, Linda Gale
Director: Sande N. Johnsen
Synopsis: Classic Juvenile Delinquency shocker has all the desired ingredients
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Being in a permanently arrested state of Juvenile Delinquency one tends to gravitate towards titles such as Teenage Gang Debs and the temptation to purchase this film on a double bill DVD with Teen-Age Strangler proved beyond irresistible. A shrewd decision it proved too as the film turns out to be nothing less than a gem, complete with fabulous 50's style dance situations, hair raising catfights, violence laden "rumbles", murder, torture, sleaze, perversion, drugs, leather - you name it, it's all there in abundance.

But the outstanding feature is the splendid performances, the stunning dances and the ultra-stylish soundtrack featuring two brilliant dance-craze numbers "Don't Get Me Mad" and "Black-Belt" both of which make the film worth several repeat viewings. The hand held camera and the gritty black and white scenery lend a verite style to proceedings which begin on the typically cruel streets of downtown Brooklyn. Rosie, on the game for a trick finds none in the offing and so decides to take the $10 that (30 year old) school boy Johnny offers her. When up at her place she finds Johnny a little too excitable, calling him a "creep" she tells him to take a hike but suddenly she is confronted by three other rather elderly looking schoolboys all belonging to the notorious and much dreaded street gang "The Rebels" and together they proceed to humiliate her before raping her one by one.

This opening is just to establish the basic ghastliness of the Juvenile street gangs and their sheer callousness and complete lack of morality. A few days later sassy and smart Terry arrives at the Rebels local hangout where her smouldering looks and engaging personality make quite an impression. Terry has just moved into the neighbourhood from Manhattan and takes up on the offer of running with The Rebels despite objections by the gangs established line up of Debs. In this gang there is only room if you kick somebody else out and so an extended catfight takes place from which a victorious Terry emerges with her position as the new Deb guaranteed. But it's not enough for Terry just to be a top gang Deb so after flirting with studly Nino she makes the move on the Rebels prez, Johnny who is a geek of enormous proportions.

It's not long before Terry charms Johnny who drops his previous girl like a hot potato to be with the new chick but later Terry becomes extremely alarmed when she finds that Johnny intends on branding her with a knife or cigarette as he does all his other chicks! "Nuts to you Buster, nobody's gonna cut me up" she mutters and hatches her plan to dethrone Johnny and take over the gang herself with the compliant Nino as her puppet King. However before she gets on with her nefarious plan she still has time to have Nino's previous girl Annie subjected to a "line up" (gang rape) as torture. She then has the ill-fated Annie's body thrown out by the trash!

The evil Terry manages to win Nino over with her considerable charms and after he eliminates Johnny by brutally knifing him, together they rule the roost as the Prez and First Lady of The Rebels. Still life isn't exciting enough for Terry so she decides to start taunting Nino so that he gets involved in some heavy "rumbles" leading to several deaths along the way. Then she brainwashes him into killing one of his own members who wanted to quit the gang. Finally, when the other Debs realize that it's just a matter of time before Terry attempts to wipe them out too, they decide to take action. The final scene when the vengeful Debs confront Terry is truly a memorable stunner and a fitting climax to a typically sexciting trashsploitation classic.

The film is a delight from beginning to end featuring a great performance by Diane Conti as the malevolent Terry, a fiendish plot (for the Juvenile Delinquency genre) and some spectacular and cheap dance routines set to the stunning music and songs provided by Steve Karmen. The performances are enhanced by the fact that the teenagers' roles are all played by actors twice that age and the vocabulary used is utterly groovy with expressions like "flip out", "dig", "rumble", "beat it", "don't bug me", "it's a drag", "I'm hip" etc littering most lines. Highly satisfying Juvenile film - a minor classic - no pun intended.