Cosh Boy

'Cosh Boy' (1953) - Lewis Gilbert.

Highly regarded writer/director Lewis Gilbert's gloomy, surprisingly gritty expose of violent opportunist street crime is certainly no less hard-hitting an experience today than upon its initial somewhat more controversial theatrical release in 1953. Due to Gilbert's tough-edged feature's rather blunt, relatively unfiltered examination of criminality it was granted an 'X' certificate, its abrasive depictions of anti-social teenage delinquency, petty larceny, violent street crime, and the increasingly criminal machinations of the gang's milk-faced, gimlet-eyed, plainly sociopathic gang leader Roy Walsh (John Kenney) and his greasily subservient entourage of shiftless, pallid-looking hoodlums were, perhaps, a little too vividly rendered for the time!

The existentially bleak 50s melodrama 'Cosh Boy' is a consistently fascinating thriller, being a remarkably grim, wholly unsympathetic view of teenage terror-twerp 'Walshie's' extraordinarily callous crime spree, his ill temper and frequent immorality seemingly boundless, robbing his own family, dispassionately getting his innocent girl (Joan Collins) in the family way, and fatefully shifting from a leather-bound cosh to a deadly firearm in the film's frantic, razor-edged, nerve-strafing climax! There are especially frank moments in the punchy narrative when it is almost as though Gilbert is foreshadowing the socially conscious, agitprop cinema of Alan Clarke and Ken Loach, since his intense young protagonist Kenney roils with the similarly splenetic rage of a young Gary Oldman! 'Cosh Boy' is far more than a nostalgic cinematic curiosity, aggressively maintaining a dark febrile energy undiminished by time with the breathtakingly beautiful Joan Collins expressing a heart-wrenching fragility as the naïve Rene Collins.

This was known in England as "Cosh Boy."

A cosh is a blackjack or bludgeon and cosh means mugging someone.

Nice performance by James Kenney as a juvenile delinquent who runs a gang that beats up little old ladies and steals their money. Kenney played the lead on the London stage and does an excellent job.

He becomes involved with one of the gang members' sister (Joan Collins) with disastrous results.

Both of the Hermoines are in this film. Gingold looked like a drag queen.

Post-war juvenile delinquency was going on everywhere, including Britain.

Amazing to see 20-year-old Joan Collins, who as of this writing is still with us 70 years later. The film is worth it just for that.

Don't miss this, now available as THE SLASHER as part of a Kit Parker Films DVD double bill under the moniker British Film Noir (along with TWILIGHT WOMEN). Strictly speaking I would class neither of these two productions as 'film noir' - more social problem and crime films. THE SLASHER is actually the American renaming of good old COSH BOY, a title which has occasionally surfaced on UK's C4. It's the main reason why I, and I suspect others, will want this disc - a minor cult item featuring a memorable central turn for James Kenney - who also appears, to less effect in another recent release (from the UK this time) GELIGNITE GANG. Kenney plays Roy, the anti-social, selfish, cunning and manipulative thug, about whose short career as a petty criminal the film is about. Highlight of the film is the corporal punishment meted out to Roy by his new stepfather in the final scenes - something strikingly and splendidly un-PC: much more more intense and yes, satisfying in effect than any amount of more establishment-accommodating endings familiar from other films of this ilk. I'm no supporter of the belt, but by God you will be crying out for Roy, who has betrayed his girlfriend (a very young Joan Collins) his mother, his grandmother and almost everyone else, to get the taste of it by time of the end! THE SLASHER may have its weaknesses, including an obvious black-and-white view of behaviour, but with such a powerful ending, together with Kenney's memorable performance it is a must-see. Those who criticise some of the acting (viz: one of Roy's stooges, a particularly whining individual) miss the point - this is British exploitation at its best. The DVD quality is excellent btw except for one or soundtrack drop outs with the present release.

It's a shame that COSH BOY (strangely re-titled THE SLASHER) is so extremely dated, holding back what's promised by the edgy image of British teen actor James Kenney as a street thug "teddy boy" (name of youth gangs in England)... because Kenney not only delivers his dialogue strongly, but listens just as intensely...

Too bad most of his words are aimed at his dotting mother, about to marry a man who can't wait to punish her oldest son... and she's more important than the fellow gang members, who sporadically hit the streets to "cosh" (violently mug) their victims...

On the peripheral is a romance with Joan Collins, injecting the kind of wispy hysterics to suit what's ultimately more a melodrama with crime genre elements than the sleek crime-noir it could/should have been instead...

Yet despite the flaws, director Lewis Gilbert, during the few scenes that matter involving the young gang working together before turning on each other, brings the viewer straight into the action... that is, when the distractions haven't taken over, in this case, almost entirely.

"Cosh Boy" (also known as "The Slasher") is an incredibly Oedipal picture that takes advantage of post-war worries that the youth were running amok. It begins with Roy Walsh and a friend committing a mugging (a 'cosh') and soon getting caught. They are placed on probation and Roy acts very contrite and decent in court...and almost immediately after, he's planning his next crimes! His idea is to use the Youth Club his probation officer wants him to attend. He and his gang will go there...and use it as a cover for their criminal activities. In the process, Roy discovers a pretty young lady (Joan Collins)...who he treats like dirt.

Through the course of the film, Roy continually ups the ante--with his criminal behaviors getting worse and worse. He clearly is without a redeeming quality...though his co-dependent mother makes excuses for him. The only one who sees right through the punk is his mother's boyfriend...he knows that Roy needs a very firm hand. But here is where it gets rather Freudian...as Roy throws a weird temper tantrum and swears no one will have his mother as she is HIS! What's next? See this weird little film.

James Kenney is quite good as Roy--snarling, nasty and incredibly two- faced..as well as hopelessly in love with his mother..though he and his mum don't seem to realize it. My biggest complaint, however, is that the film tries to say that who Roy is turns out to be because he has a super-permissive mother. In fact, the preachy prologue says exactly that! Oversimplified to say the least! Overall, it's not a great film at all...but it IS entertaining and worth seeing!

By the way, although the film seems very tame by modern standards, it received the brand new X-rating--which was very unusual for the 1950s. Perhaps this was because the film talks about teenage pregnancy and is a tad violent...all of which would lead to a PG or PG-13 rating today.

"Get up you little rat...you're making me sick!!!"--best line in the film.