L'étrange destin de Nicky Romano

What a film! A classic or a thriller, I don't know, but it sure is one of those films for you not to miss. It is already one of my favorite classics. A story that makes you understand how it is important to pursue a dream, a dream of not letting a child follow the footsteps of a criminal father. A story that teaches us some important values. It is a struggle for life and an excellent opportunity for us to think about this problem. Drugs, violence and alcohol are some of the matters that make this film an important issue to discuss about. Good casting and acting also help to make this film a must-see. It is a classic worth watching.

With the recent death of Shelley Winters, all the principals in this movie are now gone, with the exception of Montalban. Having looked it up, I had forgotten what a fine cast it had, including the surprise of Ella Fitzgerald playing a heroin-addicted blues singer. Sadly, although this was a remake of a previous film, this great film could not be remade or even updated for today's market---simply because our society has changed to where the story in this picture (compelling as it is) would no longer be something people would consider important or even divisive. This plot could not even make the producers of Jerry or Maury take notice. Still, this picture will always be one of my two or three personal all-time favorites, and I will recommend it to anyone who reads these words I write: This is greatness that Hollywood can create...when it really wants to.

Kind of a cross between "West Side Story" (though it's Chicago's West Side) and "Golden Boy" without Clifford Odets' lyricism, this sleaze-obsessed melodrama benefits from location filming that shows how awful the Chicago slums looked in 1960 and a motley, oddball cast. James Darren is the sensitive hood/concert pianist (and though he's proficient at the keyboard, he's hardly the prodigy the script makes him out to be), being raised by Shelley Winters at her Shelley Wintersiest, screaming and sobbing and unhinging easily. She and an assembly of longtime slum pals, including an uninteresting Burl Ives as a drunken ex-judge, are trying to give the kid a decent upbringing amid all the squalor. There are also Ricardo Montalban, excellent as an insidiously evil-charming dope peddler; Ella Fitzgerald, who gets to act a bit and isn't bad; and Jean Seberg, not quite credible as the Lake Shore girl Darren loves. The direction is uninspired, and the screenplay a little contrived (when it wants us to know Ives loves Winters, it just has him confess to the camera), but what's fascinating is the brio with which the filmmakers depict all the sex and violence and addiction and grimness. It's as if they were trying to show how grownup they are by thrusting all that misery in your face. It moves fast, and if your attention starts to wander, be assured, Shelley Winters will be erupting again soon.

I was pleasantly surprised by all of the comments on this film. I haven't seen it for many, many, years, probably 15 or more. However, I remember it well and had believed for a long time that I was the only one who knew of it's existence. *laughing* This is one of my favorite Shelley Winters movies. And of course Miss Ella Fitzgerald was an added treat. I first saw it when I was about 15 (mid-1970s), so you can imagine what an impact it had on me. I'd had a crush on James Darren from his role in the television series "The Time Tunnel". I wish I could find it on video or DVD somewhere; but that's unlikely. I was just looking over the credits and saw a couple of familiar names; Bernie Hamilton(who starred in a lot of the so-called Blaxploitation films of the seventies) and Jeanne Cooper,whom I adored in the seventies as Mrs. Chancellor in the popular soap, "The Young and the Restless". Try as I might, I cannot remember them in the film. Which is why it is a must I see it again! *Laughing* I'll be armed with "TVio" and "VCR" the next time it makes it's appearance on cable....TCM are you listening???!! Miss "P"

James Darren (as Nick "Nicky" Romano) grows up innocently, in the slums of Chicago. He's the illegitimate son of the original "Nick Romano", from "Knock on Any Door" (1949). Gin-medicating mom Shelley Winters (as Nellie Romano) does the best she can raising Mr. Darren; she hopes his musical talent will help him to achieve a better life, unlike his father. Ms. Winters, to her credit, organizes a nurturing group of deadbeats. Chief among them is boozing co-dependent judge Burl Ives (as Bruce M. Sullivan). Together, they raise Darren well, but the Chicago underworld threatens to drag him down…

Interesting "sequel" (of sorts); actually, this is an adaptation of Willard Motley third novel, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph", which was a follow-up to his first, "Knock on Any Door". The earlier film starred John Derek and Humphrey Bogart, and lacked much of the realism needed to accurately tell the story. There are some allusions to the earlier film; the shot of the adult Romano (Darren) ascending a stairway recalls the earlier film, as does a picture of the original Romano. This film is much better scripted; and, importantly, Chicago denizens could be shown selling, and using, Heroin. The drug use becomes a very big part of the picture.

This film isn't without flaws; and, for most of the early running time, it teeters so close to plodding, soapy melodrama, you might get disenchanted. However, growing characterizations from the three leads, and nice location photography, enhance the production. Additionally, there are good supporting performances; from, for example, smarmy Ricardo Montalban (as Louie) and legless Walter Burke (as Wart). And, of course, Ella Fitzgerald (as Flora) sings beautifully.

Around the time (at about 1:11) Mr. Ives has a saloon scene with Ms. Fitzgerald in the background (after a fix), the film really takes off. Situations become significantly more obvious. Darren, Winters, and Ives have big dramatic, well-played scenes. The intensity of the film heightens, to quite a very exciting conclusion.

******* Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) Phillip Leacock ~ James Darren, Shelley Winters, Burl Ives