Movie Review: Malibu High (1979)

Once upon a time, there were a great many low budget films that were
able to get into movie theaters nationwide. In fact, there was a B
Movie theatrical circuit consisting of theaters that showed nothing
but low budget movies. This circuit consisted of some big city
theaters of the sort that were often dubbed by critics as
"exploitation houses." In the rural and suburban areas, the circuit
consisted mainly of drive ins. Due to the fact that drive ins came to
constitute the bulk of the B Movie theatrical circuit by the dawn of
the 1970's, there arose a brand of low budget flick that was commonly
known as "drive in movies."

Drive In movies were flicks that were specifically created for drive
ins and their unique audience. By the dawn of the 1970's, drive in
theaters had earned a reputation as being havens of iniquity. This
was because local law enforcement was loath to disrupt a movie showing
to do their duty. Thus drive ins became nighttime centers of such
things as underage drinking, illegal drug use, youth violence and
sexual perversion. Naturally, the low budget aka "grindhouse"
filmmakers decided to make movies that catered to hedonistic youth.
Just as naturally, these wayward high school & college kids gravitated
to these flicks, making both the drive in operators and the filmmakers
rich.

One such drive in movie is the subject of this review, the 1979
endeavor Malibu High. Malibu High is about the
adventures in criminality of a young high school age girl named Kim
(Jill Lansing). At the start of the movie, Kim's life is a mess as
her father has recently committed suicide and her mother is a nag.
Her boyfriend Kevin (Stuart Taylor) dumps her for a rich girl and she
is in danger of not being able to graduate from high school. Her
solution is to seduce her male teacher to earn top grades, induce her
principal to have a heart attack, become a prostitute and ultimately
become a mafia hit woman. Yes, you read that right. Truly, this
movie is an exercise in improbability.

Jill Lansing's performance as Kim is so good that it makes her
character's unlikely behavior more than halfway believable. This is
especially noteworthy since Lansing looks more like 30 years old than
a teenager. A viewer in 1979 would have concluded that Lansing had a
good shot at stardom in the offing. Instead Malibu High proved
to be her one and only movie and Lansing herself seems to have
disappeared completely. There have been rumors over the years that
Lansing was raped towards the end of production by director Irving
Berwick. This may have resulted in her deciding not to have anything
further to do with the movie scene. Lansing's failure to appear in
any more movies is even more puzzling when you consider that Malibu
High was a blockbuster by drive in movie standards.

Given the fact that the makers of drive in flicks were usually
interested in profit first and quality dead last, it comes as no
surprise that this movie was also marketed under several different
names. Among these were Death in Denim, High School
Hit Girl & Lovely But Deadly. Too bad that the marketing was better
conceived than the flick itself.

In the end, Malibu High is basically a trashy flick without
much to recommend it. Its cinematography was much better than most
drive in flicks. Other than the performance of Jill Lansing as Kim,
the level of the acting was bad even by drive in movie standards.
The level of directing and script is pretty bad. The same goes for
the general lack of logic guiding the character's actions, especially
those of Kim. In the end, this particular production is lackluster
unless you want to see an example of late 1970's youth culture or are
nostalgic for drive in movies. If you must see it, do so only as a
rental.