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Just For the Hell of It (1968)
In Herschell Gordon Lewis' famed yet shocking exploitational,
low-budget juvenile delinquent film - a violent discourse with numerous
examples of mindless, random, and amoral teen destruction, vandalism
and mayhem, appropriately taglined: "YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING
LIKE THIS!":
- in a small Florida town, the nihilistic actions
of a teenage gang (a "destruction crew" known as Destruction,
Inc.) led by sociopathic Dexter (Ray Sager) with his redheaded
girlfriend Bitsy (Nancy Lee Noble), and their friends Denny (Steve
White) and Lummox (Ralph Mullin)
- the many examples of their savage terrorizing of the
town including: completely trashing an apartment during a house party,
tormenting a blind man (Barry Whitmore) with a white cane, beating
up a bandaged, disabled man with his own crutches, assaulting a man
painting his house, beating up the owner of a bar, burning the hands
of the owner (Paul Jensen) of a corner coffee shop/diner on a hot
stovetop, tearing up magazines in a waiting room, destroying clothes
hanging on a clothes-line, interrupting a ballgame among young boys,
and other instances of innocent townsfolk being harassed "just
for the hell of it"
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Disabled Man Assaulted with His Own Crutches
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Shop Owner's Right Hand Burned on Hot Stovetop
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Baby Stuffed into Trash Can
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- the most outrageous, most-remembered example of
mean cruelty: snatching a woman's baby and stashing him in a trash
can, and then destroying the mother's stroller
- the Police Chief's (A.V. Dreeson Sr.) reaction to
the lawbreaking gang's reckless behavior: "These groups wandering
around today lookin' for trouble. Dropping out of school. Letting
their hair grow! Joining some darn-fool movement. Gettin' in trouble
somewheres along the line. We get 'em in here for assault and battery
all the time. They're getting into trouble all along the lines, so
you might as well go pick 'em up.They're restless. They're lookin'
for trouble! They're like a plague of rats!"
- the film's montage of newspaper headlines announcing
the gang's crime wave - each headline ended up being splashed with
blood or paint, slashed or cut, or finally burned
- during a party in Destruction, Inc's hideout, the
invitation to four high-school girls (Gail Lucas, Bonnie Henry, Dawn
Willis, and Alma Kamp) to attend, who were forcibly drugged, stripped
on the floor, humiliated, raped and then driven away and abandoned
- the senseless and cruel sequence of attacking a teenaged
couple making out on a beach, stripping and gang-raping the girl,
and leaving them both bludgeoned after ransacking their boat with
an axe
- the heroic efforts of Doug (Rodney Bedelle) and his
girlfriend Jeanne (Agi Gyenes) to stop the violence, leading to Dexter
and his gang's retaliation
- the sequence of the gang's abusive torment of pink
lingerie-wearing Jeanne (after luring Doug away) - beating her up,
stripping her, sexually mutilating her (with a knife blade) and leaving
her to die; the evidence of her torture was seen in a lingering pan
down her partially-nude body, showing a rat drawn on her lower abdomen
Jeanne's Horrific Mutilation and Death
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- the ending scene of Doug's revenge: a climactic
car chase in his convertible (joined by police) that resulted in
the demise of Denny and Bitsy after their motorcycle crashed and
the two were thrown to their deaths; a policeman asked Doug: "They're
done for. Why, son? Just for the hell of it? Just for kicks? Come
on"
- the last brief scene of Dexter's uncaring reaction
to news from Lummox:
Lummox: "You know, those guys may be in a lot of trouble."
Dexter (chuckling): "Who cares, man?"
- the final on-screen message: ‘THE END of this
Story..BUT NOT OF VIOLENCE’
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Trashing Apartment
Teenage Delinquency in Newspaper Montage
Police Chief's Reaction
Attack on Teenaged Couple on Beach
Gang Members Denny and Bitsy Thrown to Their Deaths
Vengeful Doug Apprehended
Sociopathic Dexter: "Who cares, man?"
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