Teen-Age Strangler

Teen-Age Strangler is a 1964 horror picture set and filmed in the city of Huntington, West Virginia. There's a mysterious killer targeting young(ish) women by strangling them, leaving their bodies in the open and marking their foreheads with lipstick.

Said killer has also appropriated one of the club jackets from a local drag-racing gang, leading to the protagonist Jimmy being framed for the murders at first. Eventually, suspicion drifts to other members of the gang, until the real killer is found.

The movie is punctuated with a musical number in the middle named "Yipe Stripes."

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode see here.

"Dad: That's your job [to protect the children], isn't it? That's what you get paid for! Det. Anderson: And what's your job as a parent?"
 * Adults Are Useless/Parental Abandonment: The few parents seen in the film are probably among the worst examples you could find. Jimmy's father seems far more concerned with how Jimmy's criminal record affects the parents' social life than how it would affect the boy's future; meanwhile, Betty's mom is overly excited to meet a police officer, and her dad is definitely the "hands-off" type.

"Betty (as "Yipe Stripes" plays on a jukebox): Gee, that's a nice song."
 * Chewing the Scenery: The female protagonist's mother and Mikey are some of the most notable examples of what happens when "community theater goes to the silver screen."
 * Also, Jimmy and Mikey's angry dad, who manages to say "by Jupiter" with a straight face.
 * Clear My Name
 * Dull Surprise: A cop tells a woman that her neighbor has been murdered. Her "Oh, no!" is about as flat and lifeless as you possibly can get for any sort of response, let alone hearing your neighbor has been violently murdered.
 * The Fool: Non-comedic example in Mikey, though he was probably intended to be more a Littlest Autism Patient.
 * Inspector Javert: Anderson
 * Jerk Jock: Curly
 * Heel Face Turn: After and, Curly becomes a much kinder and gentler guy.
 * Large Ham: Mikey, especially his "He didn't steal no bike either!" moment. He's not even the only one in the cast overdoing it.
 * Ham-to-Ham Combat: He was only following the example of the gal who played Betty, as she was the only one in this film who had any kind of previous acting experience.
 * Motive Rant
 * Non-Indicative Name: There is no teenaged strangler, nor does the strangler kill teenagers. Likely intentional, not just to cash in on the "Teenage X" genre, but as a Red Herring (Would you look at anyone other than if you weren't looking specifically for a teenager?)
 * Theme and Variations Soundtrack


 * There Are No Therapists: That's okay, though, as apparently there's no such thing as grief or psychological trauma, either. Tony's girlfriend is killed, and he just goes to school the next day no problem. Betty is nearly murdered and her attacker is shot dead in front of her, but give her 24 hours and she'll be back at the malt shop shakin' her groove thang to possibly the worst song ever recorded.
 * You Are Grounded