Juventude Selvagem

Solid drama of racial tension and prejudice well directed by Frankenheimer and acted with feeling by the cast. Lancaster is earnest but he is put somewhat in the shade by Shelley Winters in a strong supporting performance full of sad resignation and vulnerability, when she was on her game as she is here and reigned in her inner ham they were very few actresses as good at presenting the human condition. Edward Andrews is very good as usual in a small part as an ambitious politico, another underrated and unfortunately obscure actor who was always good whether in drama or comedy. As a study on the effects of poverty on people it is sadly still a timely story.

The sixties were John Frankenheimer's heyday:he directed three classics "birdman from Alcatraz" "the Manchurian candidate " and "seconds" ,all unqualified musts for any cinebuff.

"Young savages " is at first sight ,a more realist "West Side Story" (the Thunderbirds and the Horsemen replacing the Jets and the Sharks),but hindsight shows that ,in the end ,Frankenheimer's work is not more convincing than Wise's -which has other assets anyway- ,as far as social depiction is concerned.The script promised great things.Which counts in favor of Frankenheimer is his impartiality:he never really sides with one of the groups.Some scenes are impressive :the first meeting Lancaster/victim's mother-but the second one gets in the way-,the murder seen thru glasses -which borrows from Hitchcock's "strangers on a train" though,the pack assaulting a young boy at the pool...The magpie syndrome comes back in the scene when Lancaster's wife is assaulted in the elevator :the same thing happened to Glenn Ford's wife in "blackboard Jungle" .

Some ideas or theories are dubious indeed:because Di Pace (what a name!) has a very high IQ -which is not obvious at all,considering his behavior and his conversation-,he might possibly be less guilty than the others.Ah ... and he is also Lancaster's former sweetheart's offspring !The last confrontation Lancaster/Di Pace is supposed to be an almighty fuss:but anybody past infancy has understood the "knife trick" long before the dialog ends.

"Young savages " is not a bad movie ;it's simply politically correct to the core,which the three works I mention above are not.That said ,there are enough surprises,unexpected twist ,and good performances (of course Shelley Winters outshadows Lancaster's bland wife)to sustain interest till the end.

The Young Savages (1961)

Released six months before "West Side Story," this elegant story of New York gang violence in the ghettos of uptown Manhattan is as powerful, and as beautiful. And the title makes clear that the movie is pointing to a new social problem, the immigrant gangs (Italian and Puerto Rican in this case). But in most ways "The Young Savages" couldn't be more different.

At the heart of it all is district attorney Hank Bell, previously Bellini, played by Burt Lancaster in what struck me as possibly the most subtle role in his career. That's an absurd thing to know for sure, and Lancaster is so good so often it's easier to just say he is terrific, but if you know him from some noir films or from "Birdman of Alcatraz" or "Judgement at Nuremberg" you might know a more overtly dramatic actor. Here he is restrained in a perfect way, his pauses and his turned head adding depth to his apparent struggle with how to get at the truth as the events and the witnesses start to swirl out of control. A virtuosic performance.

The themes are hot topic issues layered with good old fashioned love and loyalty. Mostly we have first and second generation immigrant trying to define themselves, to stake out a place in the city, and to fend off competing immigrant groups and sometimes invade their territory. Bell's own Italian-American background makes him understand the problems of youth violence from the inside, but he has avoided being identified as Italian, and even his wife doesn't quite accept him as an immigrant, but wants to see him as more like her, a Vassar girl. Which he is not, even if sometimes he passes as a Yankee or as an old stock New Yorker.

Much of the movie is that wonderful quite and deliberate investigation of the crime, the facts, the witnesses, the evidence. And we see this through Bell's eyes. The last long section is pure courtroom drama, and it's as good as courtroom dramas get, gutsy and tense. In the biggest sense, real justice is achieved, even at the expense of some reputations or expectations around the D.A. (who of course is supposed to always want and get the death penalty). By the final turns of events, you see the story is really about a single man who struggles against his own bias and does the right thing, and does it well. Director John Frankenheimer once again pulls off a movie with social significance that doesn't forget it's roots in theatrical drama.

Cinematographer Lionel Lindon is an old pro, starting with some 1940s boilerplate movies sprinkled with some gems ("The Blue Dahlia" is a great one) and then scores of television shows. And the next year, 1962, he shot "The Manchurian Candidate" which succeeds partly for its amazing visual pizazz. Here, there are both moments of beauty and of cacophony. The fight scenes, and the dazzling murder that starts the movie off, are mini-masterpieces. But even quiet moments are given anxiety and drama by shooting at sharp angles or by moving in close. It's quite a beautiful experience to watch this, even as the events are tumultuous.

John Frankenheimer directs this intense story of three teenage killers in New York City's Spanish Harlem and the idealistic DA(Burt Lancaster)given the job to prosecute them. Young gang members trying to protect their turf see no use in cooperating with the law. Lancaster plays the part as if he were Jack Webb. (That is meant to be a compliment). This movie also gives Lancaster the chance to work with Shelley Winters. (Wink, wink) Also in the cast are Dina Merrill, Chris Robinson, Edward Andrews and the debut of Telly Savalas. Very little actual violence, but some pretty good drama.

For The Young Savages Burt Lancaster went back to his roots. The actor was born and raised in the East Harlem section of Manhattan. At that time it had not become a Latino neighborhood, it was predominantly Italian where he grew up. To this day there are still a few Italian families in the area in and around Pleasant Avenue and neighboring streets. His had to be the only WASP family in the area at the time.

In 1961 just as you see in West Side Story the neighborhood was divided with racial and ethnic tensions. But these kids don't sing and dance between rumbles. They are a hard bitten bunch of punks on both sides.

In fact that's where our story begins as three Italian kids leave their turf and go and stab a blind Hispanic youth. It's a crime that shocks the city. Ambitious District Attorney Edward Andrews sees this as a case when successfully prosecuted could make him governor. He relies on one of his best men, ADA Burt Lancaster to bring home a victory and a trip to old Sparky as they called the electric chair in Sing Sing.

Of course there's a lot more to the case than meets the eye both in the crime and in Lancaster's conflicted loyalties. He's happily married to pretty Dina Merrill from the suburbs. She's what you call a limousine liberal, one who's ideas are shaped by books instead of living the poverty she's studied in school about.

I've met many like that and it really is true many conservatives are liberals who've been mugged. When one of the gangs gives her a bad experience, she sings a different tune.

But where The Young Savages falls apart for me is the fact that Lancaster was once involved with Shelley Winters, the mother of one of the three defendants. I'm sorry, but right then and there Lancaster in real life would have recused himself from this case. Of course Winters appeals to him for old time's sake and Lancaster starts doing his own investigation and prods the police to do more on their end.

In the film also Lancaster is from that neighborhood. His character's family name of Bell was once Bellini. Many families with ethnic names of all types anglicized them or had them anglicized by immigration officials.

The film which according to a recent biography of Burt Lancaster was shot in 35 days on location in New York City. It was a project Lancaster did while waiting to do Birdman of Alcatraz. The Young Savages is notable for being Telly Savalas's big screen debut and for Lancaster using TV director John Frankenheimer on his first big assignment. Purportedly Lancaster was pretty rough on Frankenheimer, but in the end he impressed the star so that he did four more films with him including Birdman of Alcatraz. And Telly Savalas was in that one too.

Though the film is based on one horribly bad premise, the acting and directing are not bad. I had the same criticism of 12 Angry Men in which another young talented director, Sidney Lumet got his first break. The Young Savages remains a graphic look at a seamier side of New York City during the Kennedy years.