The Young Savages
Director: John Frankenheimer
Year Released: 1961
Rating: 1.0
Burt Lancaster investigates the complicated murder of a blind boy by a rival gang in New York - think of an aggressive West Side Story but without the dancing and romance. Overwrought and loaded with social commentary, it goes far to provoke you - long monologues about racism, Italian teens trying to drown a helpless little boy, a teen verbally insulting his mother (Shelley Winters) and prostitution are all involved at one point or another. The courtroom finale is loud and improbable, with everyone behaving hysterically (courtroom battles, in real life, are never this flamboyant - it makes the Dahmer case look relatively calm in comparison).
