Allied Artists
Directed by Donald Siegel
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros.)
What starts out as a typical juvenile delinquency film turns into a character study of a boy on the verge of becoming a killer. John Cassavetes is the leader of The Hornets, a jacket-wearing gang of bored teens hanging out at the malt shop and harassing people. One day Cassavetes is particularly angered over one of the neighborhood residents for turning in a member of the gang to the police. They argue and the man hits him, sending Cassavetes into a silent rage. He takes three partially willing gang members and plots to kill him. Young Sal Mineo is the 15-year-old looking for acceptance into the gang and Mark Rydell may be the most unhinged among the three. The real story lies not in the streets but in the homes, if you can call them that, where Cassavetes struggles to cope. James Whitmore is the social worker trying to save him. It has several memorable exchanges: the talk between Whitmore and Cassavetes on the fire escape and again in his bedroom, the argument with his mother and the final scene with his brother. It's extremely well acted and packs an emotional wallop.
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