The Delinquents

Delinquents, The (1957)

** (out of 4)

Tom Laughlin plays a good teenager who suffers heartbreak when he must break up with his girlfriend because her parents feels she's too young to go steady. The boy then gets mixed up with a group of delinquents, which could cost him his life. This here was director Altman's first feature length film and with that in mind the movie really isn't too bad. I've seen countless juvenile films from this era and a lot of them work because of their campy appeal but this film here doesn't have any of that. In fact, the thing plays pretty straight forward and Altman's direction is good enough to keep it out of the camp range. There are several problems with Altman's script including some stupid narration and the start and end of the film but the biggest problem is with the girlfriend character played by Rosemary Howard. For one thing, Howard gives a really bad performance and comes off quite annoying because of it. Another problem is that she's written as such a spoiled brat that it's hard for us to care about her problems with Laughlin. Laughlin turns in a pretty good performance as does Peter Miller as the leader of the gang. There's really nothing too groundbreaking here but the film remains mildly entertaining through its 72-minute running time.

Familiar story of nice guy Scotty (Tom Laughlin) and his sweet girlfriend Janice (Rosemary Howard) being taken in by a gang of hoods led by Bill (Peter Miller). This is the type of movie which shows bad behaviour as being smoking, drinking and starting fights. I know I was in trouble when it starts off with a narrator telling the audience that this is a cautionary tale of where their kids might end up! I saw this only because it was Robert Altman's first film--he wrote, produced and directed it. It was made on a VERY low budget and it shows. It's horribly edited with inappropriate music cues (there's some thundering music when Scotty just comes out of a cab!). Also the script has lapses--especially when Bill inexplicably wants to help Scotty. Why? There's no rhyme or reason. For some reason Bill acts like he's sexually attracted to Scotty! All the actors were unknowns when this was made. The only one that went on to become famous was Laughlin when 15 years later he did "Billy Jack". As it is his acting here is actually pretty good. He's obviously WAY too old for his role but he's handsome and muscular and has a lengthy shirtless scene. Howard as his girlfriend is just awful. Whiny and obnoxious. This was her only film--it's easy to see why. Miller wasn't bad as the head of the gang and everyone else was OK. This is really of interest only as Altman's first film. Other than that it's just a run of the mill "bad boys" film that was done countless times in the 1950s.

Very seriously dated Prolog and Epilog Eisenhower era nonsense aside, there is some interesting and slick stuff in the middle of this JD (Juvenile Delinquent) Movie. The JD scare of the Fifties turned out to be mostly hype and a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Progressive Evolution unleashed in the post War Younger Generation by Atomic Radiation (just kidding), but it did manifest itself nonetheless.

It seems the folks who fought and won the War wanted nothing more than to settle down and hatch some young-ins and enjoy the spoils. But they were not prepared for their Kids to spend their newly found pocket money on, God forbid, Monkey Music and Passion Pits (Drive-Ins). They even wanted to "go steady". So there was quite a hoopla about what and who to blame for all this "independent thought and rebellious attitudes". Kids these days.

So there was a lot of Social commentary about Rock n' Roll, Comic Books, and Communists brainwashing these innocents (no one mentioned TV, that was the flickering glue that kept good Folks home with its radiating hypnogogia).

The celebrated Maverick, Robert Altman's first Film, is better than most of its ilk. There are some touches that are remarkable. Some bloodletting and a vicious fist fight in the Kitchen and a forced liquor overdose in the Living Room (contrasting Suburban Sanctuaries). The Movie is more accomplished than other low-budget Teensploitations and is quite compelling at times and is definitely worth a view for its time-stamped allure and for the Rookie Writer/Director.

After some screenwriting assignments, Altman debuted as film director in this disappointing juvenile delinquency saga. Similarly, Tom Laughlin is merely okay as the nominal good-guy hero whose unbelievable naivete gets him into trouble. His emergence as a a major independent filmmaker and icon a decade or so later was certainly not telegraphed here.

Altman brings some realism via location filmmaking and especially the Julia Lee blues singer opening but his screenplay is standard '50s corn. With Peter Miller and especially Richard Bakalyan as the stereotypical young villains, the quality and drama of say Nick Ray ("Rebel Without a Cause") is way beyond Altman's reach.

Altman's daughter playing the future Billy Jack's cute young sister impressed me, but otherwise it's a dreary, contrived movie. Add the preachy narration and it's way too dated to be an enjoyable watch.

Although United Artist released The Delinquents in 1957, it was filmed in Kansas City in the summer of 1955. That helps explain the musical choice of jazz over rock. When it was shot, the ground just been broken on the juvenile delinquent sub-genre with The Wild Ones and The Blackboard Jungle. A more timely release would likely have made it more successful at the box office and more influential on other rebelling teen films. Even with the late release, the film made a tidy profit for the studio.

Altman later said Tom Laughlin copped an attitude during the filming and was very difficult to work with.