Teenage Gang Debs (1966) – Sande M, Johnsen.

'Nuts! To you, Buster! No one's gonna cut me up!!!!'

Any twitchy low-fi B/W roughie that commences with a Tempest Storm reference, and some douchey flop-haired cads slapping the tar outta some smart mouth strumpet can only get better, or much worse? Scheming hot tamale from Manhattan (Diane Conti) makes a righteous play for Rebel prez Johnny, who I assume is leader material due to his spiffy-looking 4-button, Bing Crosby cardigan? While the dishy Debs are feistier than a hornet highball, their dude's are a milky mess of button-down goofs, not one looking like he could make a dent in a day-old rice pudding? Presenting itself like a cheapnis, back-alley Macbeth, tough broad Terry connives and cat-fights her way to the big-time, but, perhaps, she has bitten off more than she can screw?

The plenitude of soft-boiled beatnik banter is no small part of Teenage Gang Debs skeezicks charm, and the bongo-happy, jazzoid score nails this quickie gang-flick indelibly to the era it was shot. I'd like to think that Coppola saw this, and made a concerted effort that nothing of it should influence his Rumblefish! I have absolutely no doubt Teenage Gang Debs would have been perceived as being squaresville at the time, seen today, it camply offers a nostalgic look at 60s fashions, ephemeral dancing fads, and a delectably down and dirty NYC. I wasn't hugely surprised that the first dude to get iced wore a cardigan, even back in the day Marlon knew no one was gonna make a poster boy rebel out of some schmendrick in a cardigan!