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?

Cry Baby Killer, The (1958)

*** (out of 4)

This is somewhat of a Holy Grail for me because I've been dying to see this flick since I became a fan of Jack Nicholson back in the late 80s. I've been pretty lucky to know people who own rare movies but not a single one ever had this film and in fact, I never he knew anyone who had actually seen it. In the film Nicholson (in his debut) plays a hot headed teen who is upset when the town's tough guy steals his girl. After being jumped, Nicholson gets ahold of a gun, kills the tough guy and then takes another man, a woman and her baby hostage. A tough as nails cop (Harry Lauter) tries to talk him out as the television station and onlookers gather outside. This moral/teenage flick is in the same vein as Rebel Without a Cause but it stands out due in large part to being Nicholson's debut. I wouldn't say he gives a good performance as he goes way too over the top in a few scenes but you can see certain trademarks that'll show up in some of his classic performances. The scenes with him screaming at the crying baby get some unintentional laughs as does a few other scenes but this just adds to the cult appeal. Since this film is on DVD now I'm sure it will become a cult classic of the Drive-In teenage films. Producer Roger Corman and screenwriter Leo Gordon have cameos.

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*

I actually had and read a vintage copy of the movie tie-in novelization (it wasn't a pre-existing novel), and faintly remember it being not-bad--at least it suggested the movie might be a nice little j.d. Thriller. Yet the film turned out to be surprisingly hard to see, so I didn't until just now. And it was a disappointment.

Yes, there's the curiosity value of seeing Nicholson in his debut role, and he's OK. But a decent story premise is poorly handled by the director (who did a whole lot of TV episodes, but this remained his sole theatrical feature), with little control over pacing, tone, the intended social critique, tension, a consistent level of acting, etc. Roger Corman apparently was disappointed too, because the film was a commercial failure (he'd never had one before), and he felt while he was busy with other things some of the more immediate participants made changes that weakened its potential.

It's a low-budget stab at something like "Ace in the Hole" or "Dog Day Afternoon," an indictment of police, press and public response to a crisis that could have been quietly defused rather than recklessly blown into a circus. But the moralizing point is confused, and the movie settles for halfhearted stereotypes and an air of watered-down sensationalism. It doesn't even have the vigor or vulgarity to be good drive-in trash. The music is often inappropriate (we get cocktail-lounge sounds when we're supposed to be wracked with suspense), and the title song is awful.

Nicholson tries to give a real performance, and some of the actors are OK as well, but the film undermines them by not seeming to trust its material--it seems to vaguely disdain this story, without having the wit to make fun of it, or the tangible smarts to suggest the makers are actually "better than this." Actually, they're worse--"Cry Baby Killer" could have been a neat little intersection of "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Sadist," but instead it's just a poorly made programmer with curiosity value because a future legend is in it.