Mon père, cet étranger

Clean-cut but wisecracking teenage boy in Beverly Hills causes a minor stir in a movie theater, scuffles with a too-strict staff and ends up punching the manager in the face! Somewhat mechanical yet heartfelt melodrama, a thinly-disguised plea for the misunderstood teen, does manage to touch on some interesting child-parent issues. Filmed in just 25 days by debuting director John Frankenheimer (who practically disowned the thing later on), it's an occasionally effective second-feature written by Robert Dozier, who adapted his own TV play "Deal a Blow". James MacArthur is green but compelling in the lead, James Daly and Kim Hunter excellent as his parents. Relatively minor, but the straightforward handling and still-relatable angst result in several fine sequences and a moving finale. **1/2 from ****

A teenage James MacArthur stars in this film dealing with the age old theme of listen to your children as well as try to believe them.

From an affluent Beverly Hill home, MacArthur finds himself being harassed in a movie theater after a patron complained about his putting his legs on a chair. The problem is that there were plenty of people saw the harassment by the manager of the theater but no one was asked to say anything. This is a definite problem in the screen writing.

I had actually forgotten that James Daly was an actor. I remember him in television commercials. As his wife, Kim Hunter looks like she is annoyed with the whole plot. We suddenly find out that she has been contemplating leaving Daly for 5 years. What's stopping you lady, your life of luxury?

While John Frankenheimer always dealt with social problems, this one is cliché ridden.

Acting kudos goes to James Gregory as a hard-nosed police officer who adds to the problem by giving MacArthur a bad time. I think this picture was a cheap stunt to continue the theme of "Rebel Without A Cause." That Sal Mineo masterpiece also deals with wayward youth and a loss of interaction between parent and child. "Young Stranger" is adequate but certainly not in the league of "Rebel."

Whit Bissell is effective as the theater owner who is fed up with the behavior of all teenage movie-goers and wants to use MacArthur as an example. Usually a cowardly co-star in grade B films of the 1950s, Bissell shows his adeptness of really being a weakling.

With regard to Gregory, Frankenheimer would get a brilliant performance out of him in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate." Remember him as the moronic senator married to Angela Lansbury?

When the story begins, Hal (James MacArthur) and his friend are at a movie theater and Hal is behaving a bit like a jerk with the man sitting in front of him. He SHOULD have taken his feet off the chair and that would have been the end of it. However, Hal wouldn't back down and the man goes to get the manager. At this point, Hal backs off and tries to just leave the theater to diffuse the situation. But the theater owner has an usher grab him and drag him back into the theater and, not surprisingly, a scuffle breaks out. Hal slugs the manager, as he was trying to get away. Soon, he's arrested and the police and the boy's father both refuse to listen to him and hear his side of the story.

Following this incident, Hal is very mouthy and angry. Much of it you can understand--his father, in particular, would not listen nor support him at all. And, in addition, it seems that Dad's way of handling things is to lecture and then bail his son out of trouble...but the boy is longing for a real connection with the man. At the same time, it becomes obvious that the father has also alienated his wife, as he is very closed emotionally with her as well. It becomes obvious that Hal and the family could use some therapy...not the police.

This is a really exceptional family drama. The characters and dialog seem very real and the story is very moving. Well worth your time.

From the very beginning this movie is a classic of the teens-in-trouble genre - or of any genre. In many respects it is better than "Rebel Without a Cause" with its stunning black and white cinematography, far less pretentious and overwrought plot, and scrupulous avoidance of anything smacking of exploitation. Performances are absolutely breathtaking, even those of secondary characters. The music is just perfect, a dream. Stylistically this is as good as it gets. The plot matches the subdued, sensitive style. But there is a fly in the ointment. The movie overplays its cards, pleading for so much compassion for a young man who doesn't quite merit it, that one tends to side with the theater manager whom he assaulted. The boy's feelings are so tender, that even when he escapes punishment he wants his victim and parents and society in general to admit that he wouldn't have deserved it, had he been so unlucky as to have gotten it. That is going too far. That is emotional blackmail. It's a nasty, bullying streak that the writer feeds and rewards. The implication seems to be that all the sensitive youth are concentrated in the upper strata of society. The wealthier the more "sensitive" kids are. That's occasion for mirth. Poor youngsters are as entitled to say "we are also sensitive", we are also going through phases, and we also need understanding and tender loving care.

... because by 1955 RKO was a sinking ship and Howard Hughes was tired of the play toy he had broken. He ended up selling to General Tire and Rubber who, opposite of Hughes, completely neglected it. They simply did not care that their product was a laughingstock because they were planning to use it as a tax write-off, which was very important in the days of 90% taxation.

But this film is pretty good. You have John Frankenheimer in his directorial debut, James MacArthur in the lead in only his third film appearance as the "young stranger", with veteran Kim Hunter as his mother. Character actors Whit Bissel and James Gregory turn in fine supporting performances.

Although this film is allegedly about juvenile delinquency, it isn't really. James MacArthur plays Hal Ditmar, the 16-year-old only child of movie producer Tom Ditmar and his wife Helen. Today such a teen would be completely isolated from all normal problems and normal people but, in the high taxation days of the 1950s, his family lives well enough and has a big house and a maid, but Hal goes to public high school, drives a beater of a car, and is friends with the most middling of middle class kids.

Hal goes to the movies one night with his best friend. A guy and his date sit down in the row in front of him. When Hal puts his feet up on the seat in front of him and next to the guy with the date, words are exchanged. The guy gets the theater manager who ejects Hal and his friend from the theater, but not before he demands that they go to his office for a reason he won't disclose. When Hal tries to leave the theater, the manager grabs him and Hal defends himself by punching the manager.

Of course, this is not the story the theater manager tells the police. He said he was assaulted without cause. So Hal is arrested after - 1. Exchanging words with an obnoxious fellow patron. 2. Being accused of delinquency by the manager in retaliation for all of the actual delinquents the manager never managed to catch 3. Being detained for no particular reason. 4. Defending himself when grabbed. The police and Hal's father believe the manager and won't even let Hal say what really happened. Complications ensue.

This is a really good examination of the price of post war success often being borne by the children of said post war successes who don't take time to get to know their own kids. In this case the wife feels left out too as success can be a demanding mistress. I'd recommend this entertaining yet rather obscure film.