Jungle Street

We all know that Ducky looks like a young Illya Kuryakin. But see this picture just to see an even younger Illya who speaks with a Cockny accent.

There are other reviews which summarize the picture better than I could. I will say this though. The Adam and Eve club is supposed to be a low class, low money, dive. It can't afford good acts. That's why the girls acts are bad.

JUNGLE STREET is a low rent British crime film from prolific director Charles Saunders. It has a fair share of problems but nonetheless works thanks to some strong acting from the leads and the narrative itself, which is a fun mish-mash of timely themes and the occasional bit of suspense.

The film incorporates some of the burgeoning 'kitchen sink' drama genre into its running time in its depiction of the home life of youthful tearaway David McCallum, a man who despises his family and his whole class and wants to make something better for himself. This means turning to crime to make ends meet, and you can guess how that ends up. Like a lot of low budget British crime films, much of the action centres around a nightclub, or rather a strip club in this instance.

This is where much of the padding comes into it. The first half of the film in particular is full of tame striptease sequences which show no nudity but are nonetheless quite racy at times. They go on forever and they parade many attractive actresses around which is no bad thing really, particularly when the chief stripper is the young and lovely Jill Ireland, a really arresting presence here.

The plot is further complicated by police investigation and the release from jail of a seasoned criminal, played with relish by Kenneth Cope. Cope and McCallum have some good scenes together which makes the story work. There's an inevitable heist sequence which is well directed and an effective climax. No classic, but more than watchable for what it is.

Four years before becoming a man from UNCLE, David McCallum is a punk in London. His father spends most of his paycheck on beer, and so McCallum has taken to mugging old ladies. Now, however, he's killed one, and the police are looking for him. Add in stripper Jill Ireland, and her boyfriend just come back in a stay in prison for a job he had pulled with McCallum, and suddenly Dave is looking to get out of town.... but he's purely a city creature.

There's clearly a liberal edge to this movie, as McCallum's vicious nature can be attributed to a bad environment, rote uncaring parents and bad companions. yet in order to make that point, there needs to be some sign of possible reform, and director Charles Saunders is more interested in showing us the censor-compliant strippers at the local grindhouse; McCallum is a lost cause, vicious and blaming his bad choices on everyone except himself. With no reason to sympathize with this marauding creature, why should anyone care what happens to him?

Not a patch on the gritty film noir of the time, Taste of Honey, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, et al. Gave up after 15 minutes. Seedy and just plain poor.

This is a taut if predictable little film starring a pre-stardom David McCallum and Jill Ireland and a young Kenneth Cope ten years before he would gain fame in 'Randall & Hopkirk (deceased)'.

The story, of a low life criminal (McCallum) getting his comeuppance through his own fault and some solid police work has been done before, notably in the vastly superior 'The Blue Lamp' a decade previously. However, despite the low budget and sometimes hackneyed dialogue, it is still a watchable little film. It's certainly fun to see McCallum portray a baddie for once, although I must admit he does feel slightly miscast. Jill Ireland doesn't have a massive amount to do other than look pretty and scream a lot at the end but she still does it well.

This film now feels hugely dated but it's still quite watchable and certainly enjoyable despite it's flaws.