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Yalkae, a Joker in High School

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Wikipedia article




'Yalkae, a Joker in High School' is a 1977 South Korean comedy film starring Lee Seung-hyeon, Kim Jeong-hun and Hah Myung-joong, and directed by Seok Rae-myeong. Based on Cho Heun-pa's bestselling novel 'A Legend of Urchins (Yalgaejeon)', it is the original movie that spawned the wildly popular 'Yalkae series' in the 1970s and succeeded in drawing an audience of 250,000 during its impressive theatrical run.

Plot



Na Du-su (Lee Seung-hyeon), nicknamed "Yalkae" (meaning "cheeky, cocky person"), is in his second year of high school and acts like a troublemaker. Together with Yong-ho (Jin Woo-young), they play pranks on their friends and teachers and neglect their studies, thereby earning a notorious reputation as "problem" students.

One day, Du-su goes to his teacher Baek Sang-do's (Hah Myung-joong) boarding house for tuition and falls for In-suk (Kang Ju-hee), daughter of the grocery store owner from whom Mr. Baek rents a room. When a classmate Ho-cheol (Kim Jeong-hun) tells on him to Mr. Baek, he decides to retaliate.

During class, he notices Ho-cheol is sleeping and paints his glasses red and yells, "Fire!". Ho-cheol wakes up and seeing "red" everywhere causes a commotion in panic and broke his glasses. When approached by Ho-cheol, Du-su refuses to compensate him. Suspicious when Ho-cheol fails to show up at school, Du-su goes to his house and learns that Ho-cheol fell and injured his leg while making his milk deliveries without his glasses.

Feeling remorse, Du-su takes on the milk deliveries in secret and even takes notes in class for Ho-cheol, and learns the joy of studying. While continuing to run the milk deliveries, he gets into a car accident and hurts his arm. Du-su's good deeds come to light because of the accident, winning him the approbation of his family and his teachers.

Cast



* Lee Seung-hyeon as Na Du-su

* Kim Jeong-hun as Ho-cheol

* Hah Myung-joong as Baek Sang-do

* Jeong Yun-hui as Na Du-ju

* Kang Ju-hee as In-suk

* Jin Woo-young as Yong-ho

Sequels and spinoffs



'Yalkae, a Joker in High School' spawned numerous sequels and spinoffs in the early 1980s, including 'Wild Scoundrels of College (Daehakyalgae)' (1982) and 'The Scoundrel Rookie (Sinipsawon yal-gae)' (1983).

Korean film stamps



In 2009, Korea Post issues 'Yalkae, a Joker in High School' as part of the third series of Korean film stamps, which also includes 'The Road to Sampo', 'Never Ever Forget Me' and 'Chilsu and Mansu'.

References




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