The Explosive Generation

A small gem
The Explosive Generation's lurid cover and promo posters promise wanton, defiant delinquents ("Never has youth gone on such a rampage.... Never has a motion picture gone so far in telling their raging story! They're kids with grown-up ideas and grown-up urges, and sometimes they may go too far!").

Not so. The Explosive Generation is a realistic portrayal of the inter-generational tensions that were changing American society in the 1960s. It's about teens experiencing adult feelings and fears, looking for guidance in a world that still treats them as children, and beginning to demand respect -- and fight for it. The issues are real and the characters are realistic.

And William Shatner's sensitive performance, a few years before Star Trek turned him into a blowhard, is a treat.

Students "back-up" a controversial teacher
Basically, William Shatner (in his pre-Captain Kirk days), portrays a high school teacher who dares to answer/address the concerns of his students regarding (GASP!) sexual intercourse, human biology and reproduction.

The other adults in this movie lambaste the hapless teacher (who believed in what he was trying to do for his students), while the students publicly (but silently) protest the treatment that his peers are giving him.

It's definitely worth watching, if for no other reason than to see what happens when students demonstrate their love and respect for someone whom they feel has their very best interests at heart.

It's a "feel good" picture of high school life in small-town America, during the early 1960s.

"Well, there you see the results of your creative teaching methods. How do you like it?"
Tonight, on a very special Blossom... When this high school melodrama was released in 1961, maybe it did trigger a ruckus or two, launched a debate or two. To you and me, THE EXPLOSIVE GENERATION is about as edgy as SISTER ACT and we're wondering what the big hullabaloo is. But fifty years ago, this was probably a touchy subject matter.

Welcome to the good life, California, USA. Where moms are contented homemakers and, sometimes, even president of the local PTA and dads bring in the bacon and rush off to make their tee time. But in Mason High something's brewing. A senior class has convinced its easy-going teacher to conduct a sex survey and engage his students in a frank discussion of teen sex problems. When word of this leaks out, imagine the commotion as panicked parents swarm the principal (Edward Platt), him what's stricken with crumbling resolve, weighed under by bureaucratic duress. What are the odds he'll have his teacher's back?

I guess you can label...

Click to Editorial Reviews