The Cry Baby Killer

There's one reason to watch The Cry Baby Killer, but it's a good one: to see Jack Nicholson's film debut. Most people remember he played the dentist's patient in Little Shop of Horrors, but few know he made a slew of teen flicks around the same period. It's low-budget, simple, and not something you'd ever really choose to watch - but it's Jack Nicholson at twenty-one years old! And you don't have to worry that you might not recognize him. Some people just look exactly the same throughout the decades, and Jack's one of them. His cute little pouty face is the same little pouty face in his last film in 2012. As you can expect from the title, you'll see a lot of pouting and crying.

He plays a punk kid who gets in a brawl over a girl and shoots a couple of other kids. He flees the scene and takes hostages, afraid he'll get arrested. He's such a little kid! He doesn't realize that he's making it worse, and his sweet little face just melts your heart - even though he's taken a baby hostage and killed people. Trust me, as the film unfolds, it turns out he's not as evil as he sounds. He's just a punk kid who made a mistake and is afraid of getting in trouble. Don't you just want to give him a hug? Or maybe three Academy Awards in the next thirty years?

I wanted to see THE CRY BABY KILLER since very long (probably 2020) because it's Jack Nicholson's debut and in that period of time he used to look a lot like me. Last October I finally saw it and while I didn't loved it I found it just ok.

Jimmy Wallace (Nicholson) comes in contact with Manny Cole (Brett Halsey) and his gang when he is in a diner and tries to defend his girlfriend. After Manny and his thugs beat him and take his girl, Jimmy goes in the usual hideout of Manny's gang and after stealing a gun Jimmy shoots to Manny's cohorts. Since he's afraid of having shot them he flees in a grocery store that was about to close and takes hostage the clerk, his wife and kid. Police arrives and a large crowd waits outside the store with the police trying to make Jimmy go out, and they'll eventually succedd but it's best if you see the movie for yourselves.

The plot is typical for an exploitation movie of that time but what makes this one unique is not only Nicholson's debut but his performance in that it looks like he was phagocytizing some of his next characters (especially ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and SHINING) and as usual he didn't disappoint. And just for this I'd recommend this.

Entertaining 50's B-Movie. In an era of over acting the B-Movies of this timeline occasionally strip that off a bit and come across more realistic. With saying that this was not completely void of that curse as some still had the theatrical urges to over perform.

Without beating around the bush, the movie dives straight into it with Jimmy getting a beatdown. Jimmy Wallace (Jack Nicholson) is a good kid, who has recently lost his girl to hoodlum Manny Cole (Brett Halsey). A serious of events transpire when Jimmy attempts to win back the absolute stunning Carole Fields (Carolyn Mitchell). Carole is the true tragedy in this film, whether she is easily led or is afraid to leave Manny for fear of what he might do to her or Jimmy, isn't fully deciphered, but it is obvious she still cares for Jimmy. And the poor girl is the brunt of blame from everybody, the cops, Jimmy's parents, the hoodlum's da and even Julie who works in the diner can't say a good word about Carole.

Can Jimmy win back his girl and can Lt. Porter (Harry Lauter) the most laidback cop in the history of television, bring the situation under control without lives being lost. Will they listen to Carole who could actually bring the whole hostage crisis to an end?

The acting is pretty good, especially the main cast and apart from Jack Nicholson, Brett Halsey, Carolyn Mitchell and Harry Lauter. Some others really standout including Ralph Reed as Joey one of Manny's punks with his own agenda and Julie played by Lynn Cartwright.

It does have its plot holes but a very good viewing, easy to watch and just over an hour long so you can squeeze it in when short on time.

For the cheesemeister fans: The police have a conundrum about approaching the building that Jimmy is held out in, in case he sees them, but the only window is about 8ft high.

6.5*

"The Cry Baby Killer" (1958) is at best a very mediocre film.

It revolves around 17-year-old Jimmy Wallace who is brutally beaten by a gangster and two of his teen-age punk friends, because one of them wants to move in on Jimmy's girl, Carole. Later, Jimmy shows up at the hangout of the teenage crowd to take Carole away, and challenges one of them , Manny, to a fight. Manny's two buddies move in with brass knuckles, and one of them pulls a pistol, which falls to the ground in the scuffle. Jimmy picks it up and shoots Manny and Al. A police officer orders Jimmy to surrender, but he panics, thinking he killed the pair, and dives into a small storeroom, and holds a man, woman and her baby as hostages.

The premise itself is intriguing but the film simply doesn't deliver in terms of either emotional weight or production value. It is poorly conceived, directed and not the best of films. However, this is Jack Nicholson's feature debut film, and as he would become notorious for in his career, he is nailing every second of his time on screen. Recommended only for film enthusiasts and fans of Jack Nicholson.

You'd know why you'd want to find this film, as it's the ultra-low budget, barely-a-drive-in quickie that features the great Jack Nicholson in his feature debut at the tender age of 21 (he was a mailman at MGM in his previous years in Hollywood). He plays a youth out of control, though also under duress. He's taken a woman and kid hostage, and outside the crowd builds in anticipation as the cops struggle to find a compromise to get everyone safely out. The film is complete with a theme song that just repeats 'cry-cry-cry, cry-baby killer', and in a style that is as polished as a junkyard dog. The story itself, by the way, is told in a way that is so simplistic and with over-acting (or maybe too trying-to-be-realistic acting) that is typical of this kind of un-pretentiously kind of fare. ''

But the reason in the end to reach into the recesses of ebay or elsewhere to find it is to see Nicholson in his early larval stage of a career, and somehow he does make the work fascinating to watch. Obviously not his best by a long-shot, and his first big break in the B-world would come later in Little Shop of Horrors and even later in Easy Rider. However I did like how he was keeping his scenes pretty well grounded, keeping to the situation at hand with all of the confusion and shattered rebellion that's in a youth of his real age. It's almost like checking out the Beatles when they were still the Quarry Men or something- it's not necessarily 'good', but you might be surprised at how it's not really bad either.