Curfew Breakers

The heroin trade gets a Dragnet-style handling, with a poorly written narration breaking out at odd moments when Paul Kelly, whose beat is narcotics isn't offering them.

It's another of the long string of exploitation movies, telling the audience how bad the dope trade is, and it certainly doesn't glamorize this tale of a nice boy (Cullen Wheelas) who meets a cute girl from the wrong side of the tracks and invites her to a party at his house. Eventually the cops get involved, and can they do anything about narcotics, which leads into another spate of exposition.

Just when I thought it was going to be like that to the end, with seven minutes to run, the talking stopped and there was about five minutes of almost pure actin, well performed and edited. Then we had the closing narration....

There are some good, if low-pay performers here, including Byron Flouger, Regis Toomey, and Cathy Downs.

The film is about drug problems among teens in an unnamed town. A lot of nice looking kids are out getting their thrills--and dying as a result. So it's up to the cops to try to work their way up the chain to the dealers supplying this stuff--and there is a lot of legwork and tree shaking to get the break they need.

This is a very uneven movie. On one hand, the excellent and under-appreciated actor Paul Kelly is in the film and, as usual, he does a good job--playing a strong-jawed detective in the Narcotics Unit. Also, the film has a lot of realism and a grittiness that I liked--making it seem like a cheap Film Noir movie. However, the film also has a lot of bad. The acting and dialog of many of the teenagers in the film is just terrible. Poor delivery, occasionally dumb characters (such as the guardian who is totally clueless) and wooden acting all the way. I think the good outweighs the bad, though, as the overall package isn't bad despite a very, very low budget and a lot of amateur actors. Sort of like a poor man's "Dragnet".

AKA...Narcotics Squad

Well Intentioned Low-Low-Budget Look at Heroin Addiction Among America's Teenagers.

Paul Kelly in His Next-to-Last Movie Heads a Police Investigation into Heroin Pushers Targeting Young Addicts and Users.

The Film is a Hard-Core Look at a Group of Southern-Accented Youths Participation and Pain.

Code Defying Scenes of Addiction Withdrawal Interspersed with Dance-Club and Social Gatherings.

Cut with a Sharp-Edge of "Jazz" Music and Desperate Behavior.

The Film has a Gritty Street-Wise Look at the Downward Spiral of Addiction, Crime, and Consequences of Becoming Hooked on "Horse".

It Tries Hard to be "Realistic" with Drug "Jargon" and the Jitters both Physical and Psychological.

Given the Budget and the Number of "Amateur" Actors, the Film Succeeds in its Message-Movie Mantra.

The Release Date of 1957 Runs a Collision Course with the "Acceptable".

Should be Given Credit as it Combines Exploitation with Genuine Concern and Succeeds.

One of the More Serious Attempts.

When Played Today Does Not have the Camp Trappings that Many of its Ilk Suffer.

Above Average for its Type and is Quite a Shocking, at Times, Experience of the Time-Capsule Variety.

Curfew Breakers (1957)

** (out of 4)

With heroin use and crime on the rise, Police Lieutenant Lacey (Paul Kelly) decides to work with the local school to try and track down the man who is giving the drugs to the students. Before long another popular student is dead but it's one clue closer to the criminal pushers.

CURFEW BREAKERS is a mildly entertaining mix of REEFER MADNESS like propaganda mixed with the narration style of the Dragnet television show. If you've seen any of the drug pictures from this era (or the ones from the 1930s) then you're not going to see anything new here. While the film is far from being a good one it's at least got a few good things going for it that makes it worth watching to fans of the genre.

The main reason to check this out is due to Kelly. He's certainly the best thing about the picture as he turns in a good performance and you've got to give him credit for actually doing the job and not just sleepwalking through the picture, which would have been understandable considering the production values. I'd also say that there was some pretty campy dialogue that managed to get a couple laughs.

Outside of that the film was obviously produced rather cheaply as there's a lot of stock footage, no direction at all and there's no question that the performances are rather bland to say the least. There obviously wasn't too much effort put into the picture but fans of the genre will get a few kicks out of it.

The title "Curfew Breakers" is spliced into the title credits of this early 50s crime/drug/JD film originally called "Narcotics Squad," a title still seen in the credits. Starring the distinguished film and stage actor Paul Kelly, in one of his final roles, the film has a great shadowy yet naturalistic look to it, a "dragnet"-style narration in parts (common in post-dragnet 50s crime films), and hard-boiled performances from all. It harkens back to such 30s narcotics crime films as Cocaine Fiends, yet also foreshadows High School Confidential in some ways (although I'm not claiming it influenced HSC). Parents discuss drug issues with concerned school authorities (shades of Reefer Madness), overaged highschool students act tough and use dope, and hardboiled police officers are on the trail, led by the steel-jawed Kelly. The two musical sequences are quite interesting, the first featuring a Jimmy Cavallo/Mike Pedicin-styled jive combo with a rubberfaced, mushmouthed frontman, the second featuring the band's female drummer howling a bluesy tune. I'd love to know who these performers are. Anyone know? Overall, this is a satisfying 1950s drug-crime melodrama.