kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Making an outer-city or rural "Blackboard Jungle" there's Harrison High new history teacher Neil Hendry played by a very youthful looking-looking more like one of his students then a 31 year old teacher- Dick Clark getting involved with a number of his students off campus that almost gets him canned or fired from his job. Among those that Hendry takes an interest in is troubled student Griff Rimer,Michael Callan, who as we soon see has more troubles going for or against him then even Hendry can imagine.This all comes to a climax when Griff gets involved in a wear-house robbery with his mentor and father figure the local supermarket butcher Chris, Rudy Bond, and his fellow crook local gang banger Patcher, Chris Robinson, that goes wrong with Griff, the getaway driver, taking off in all the confusion. If that's not bad enough later Griff is confronted by another troubled student Buddy McCalla, Warren Berlinger, who's mad at him for taking his girl Anne Gregor, Tueadsy Weld, away from him despite his cave man tactics to win her back. As the two troubled youths have it out, in a wild fist fight, with each other in the school stairway.This leads both boys being suspended from school with added trouble on Griff's part in that the knife wielding Patcher is now after him for leaving him and his his friend Butcher Chris high and dry at the robbery site! ***SPOLIERS***Dick Clark's first dramatic role has him play more or less what he's in real life a role model to America's youth not in just showing them how to behave like adults but providing them with rock & roll music as well as entertainers live on stage. We get to see guitarist Duane Eddy and his Rebels as well as singer James Darren do their thing, sing and play music, live on stage halfway through the film. We also get to see that adults like Griff's mom and Butcher Chris are no better or even far worse then the troubled students in the movie. If fact their the very reason that most of the students have the serious troubles that they find themselves in and are suffering from!

dougdoepke I'm not sure what the producers were aiming for here. On the face of it, it would seem a Dick Clark showcase, taking his TV fame and segueing to movies. But the cast is much too large and the storyline too sprawling to showcase one individual. As a dedicated teacher, Clark keeps his TV role as shepherd of struggling teens, and despite his thoroughly white-bread presence, does pretty well in the acting department. Anyway, as a teen angst film, the film's okay; as a juvenile delinquency movie, it lacks bite until the end; as a R&R showcase (Duane Eddy, et.al.), it's lame and tame with only two bland selections. What it does have that's noteworthy is the gay context surrounding the older man, Chris. It's subtle, but pretty daring for 1960 and especially for a film introducing Clark. (Thanks reviewer fordraff for your extended discussion.) Taken as a whole, however, the movie's too sprawling with too many sub-texts to achieve anything like focused impact. And except for cult figure Tuesday Weld, the array of featured youngsters has largely faded into obscurity. But not Clark, who went on to a stellar TV and producing career.

moonspinner55 Dick Clark strays too far from the Bandstand in this misguided youth flick, which is one-half benign high school opus and the other half a "Rebel Without a Cause"-type drama. Based on John Farris' novel "Harrison High", the plot has been reworked in schoolteacher Clark's favor, turning the teenagers of the piece into 'problems' this sensitive adult can solve. The newest teacher at a high school primarily home to the wealthier teen set gets involved with the principal's secretary while straightening out entangled young lives. Worse off seems to be Michael Callan as a working-class boy who doesn't fit in; his love-hate relationship with a touchy-feely butcher who wields a mean cleaver has to be seen to be believed! Tuesday Weld, suffering under the thumb of her harping, bed-ridden mother, is anxious to shed her trampy reputation, crossing paths with bad-boy Callan for the second time. Clark has problems of his own, nursing a wounded ego after a car accident has left him unable to play football--oh, and the wreck killed his brother and sister-in-law, too! The stilted dialogue throughout, courtesy screenwriter James Gunn, renders the teen conversations utterly false, while the only animated thing about Dick Clark is his eyebrows (and when he jiggles them around, his forehead becomes lined with curious criss-cross wrinkles). The film's third act becomes intentionally mired in juvenile delinquent melodramatics, with moody lighting and mad bongos on the soundtrack; however, since none of the characters have managed to elicit our sympathies, one is inclined not to care who makes out all right and who doesn't. *1/2 from ****

bkoganbing Because They're Young marked Dick Clark's dramatic big screen debut and while it didn't electrify the cinema world, he doesn't turn in a bad screen performance as the high school history teacher involved with his kids and with school secretary Victoria Shaw.The plot of the film centers around a high school triangle with jock Warren Berlinger, cheerleader Tuesday Weld, and troubled youth and James Dean knockoff Michael Callan. Hints of the less than Ozzie and Harriet background of the three of them can be seen it brief vignettes of their troubled homes.Clark's also having issues with principal William Genge who wants him to stick to teaching and leave the social work alone. Before Joe Clark was ever heard of, this principal has a once strike and you're out policy in the school. Dick Clark takes more of the Father Flannagan approach.Two of the supporting cast, Doug McClure and Roberta Shore, would later be together on The Virginian television series. But that wouldn't be for another five years.Look for a good performance also by Rudy Bond who's got a Fagin like role as the leader and fence of a juvenile heist gang in which Callan is a member. Music by Duane Eddy, James Darren, and Bobby Rydell place the film firmly in 1960, the year of its release. The first two make guest appearances at a school dance. I know we didn't have names of that caliber at anything my high school ever ran back in those days.It's not a bad film given the obviously low budget for it. It does have some nice noir touches and sincere performances by its cast.