The Cry Baby Killer

I actually had and read a vintage copy of the movie tie-in novelization (it wasn't a pre-existing novel), and faintly remember it being not-bad--at least it suggested the movie might be a nice little j.d. Thriller. Yet the film turned out to be surprisingly hard to see, so I didn't until just now. And it was a disappointment.

Yes, there's the curiosity value of seeing Nicholson in his debut role, and he's OK. But a decent story premise is poorly handled by the director (who did a whole lot of TV episodes, but this remained his sole theatrical feature), with little control over pacing, tone, the intended social critique, tension, a consistent level of acting, etc. Roger Corman apparently was disappointed too, because the film was a commercial failure (he'd never had one before), and he felt while he was busy with other things some of the more immediate participants made changes that weakened its potential.

It's a low-budget stab at something like "Ace in the Hole" or "Dog Day Afternoon," an indictment of police, press and public response to a crisis that could have been quietly defused rather than recklessly blown into a circus. But the moralizing point is confused, and the movie settles for halfhearted stereotypes and an air of watered-down sensationalism. It doesn't even have the vigor or vulgarity to be good drive-in trash. The music is often inappropriate (we get cocktail-lounge sounds when we're supposed to be wracked with suspense), and the title song is awful.

Nicholson tries to give a real performance, and some of the actors are OK as well, but the film undermines them by not seeming to trust its material--it seems to vaguely disdain this story, without having the wit to make fun of it, or the tangible smarts to suggest the makers are actually "better than this." Actually, they're worse--"Cry Baby Killer" could have been a neat little intersection of "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Sadist," but instead it's just a poorly made programmer with curiosity value because a future legend is in it.

This is a movie that you can watch despite its non existent scenario and dialogs, because it is well paced and producer Roger Corman, in an early effort, makes every dollar count in production value.

But of course one checks it out because it is Jack Nicholson's debut movie. And yes, one already didn't have Jack Nicholson's voice, and yes, one already didn't have Jack Nicholson's face, but, yes, one could have easily acted as badly as Jack Nicholson then. Knowing what was to come next, this makes it worth an idle glance.

Entertaining 50's B-Movie. In an era of over acting the B-Movies of this timeline occasionally strip that off a bit and come across more realistic. With saying that this was not completely void of that curse as some still had the theatrical urges to over perform.

Without beating around the bush, the movie dives straight into it with Jimmy getting a beatdown. Jimmy Wallace (Jack Nicholson) is a good kid, who has recently lost his girl to hoodlum Manny Cole (Brett Halsey). A serious of events transpire when Jimmy attempts to win back the absolute stunning Carole Fields (Carolyn Mitchell). Carole is the true tragedy in this film, whether she is easily led or is afraid to leave Manny for fear of what he might do to her or Jimmy, isn't fully deciphered, but it is obvious she still cares for Jimmy. And the poor girl is the brunt of blame from everybody, the cops, Jimmy's parents, the hoodlum's da and even Julie who works in the diner can't say a good word about Carole.

Can Jimmy win back his girl and can Lt. Porter (Harry Lauter) the most laidback cop in the history of television, bring the situation under control without lives being lost. Will they listen to Carole who could actually bring the whole hostage crisis to an end?

The acting is pretty good, especially the main cast and apart from Jack Nicholson, Brett Halsey, Carolyn Mitchell and Harry Lauter. Some others really standout including Ralph Reed as Joey one of Manny's punks with his own agenda and Julie played by Lynn Cartwright.

It does have its plot holes but a very good viewing, easy to watch and just over an hour long so you can squeeze it in when short on time.

For the cheesemeister fans: The police have a conundrum about approaching the building that Jimmy is held out in, in case he sees them, but the only window is about 8ft high.

6.5*

"The Cry Baby Killer" (1958) is at best a very mediocre film.

It revolves around 17-year-old Jimmy Wallace who is brutally beaten by a gangster and two of his teen-age punk friends, because one of them wants to move in on Jimmy's girl, Carole. Later, Jimmy shows up at the hangout of the teenage crowd to take Carole away, and challenges one of them , Manny, to a fight. Manny's two buddies move in with brass knuckles, and one of them pulls a pistol, which falls to the ground in the scuffle. Jimmy picks it up and shoots Manny and Al. A police officer orders Jimmy to surrender, but he panics, thinking he killed the pair, and dives into a small storeroom, and holds a man, woman and her baby as hostages.

The premise itself is intriguing but the film simply doesn't deliver in terms of either emotional weight or production value. It is poorly conceived, directed and not the best of films. However, this is Jack Nicholson's feature debut film, and as he would become notorious for in his career, he is nailing every second of his time on screen. Recommended only for film enthusiasts and fans of Jack Nicholson.

You'd know why you'd want to find this film, as it's the ultra-low budget, barely-a-drive-in quickie that features the great Jack Nicholson in his feature debut at the tender age of 21 (he was a mailman at MGM in his previous years in Hollywood). He plays a youth out of control, though also under duress. He's taken a woman and kid hostage, and outside the crowd builds in anticipation as the cops struggle to find a compromise to get everyone safely out. The film is complete with a theme song that just repeats 'cry-cry-cry, cry-baby killer', and in a style that is as polished as a junkyard dog. The story itself, by the way, is told in a way that is so simplistic and with over-acting (or maybe too trying-to-be-realistic acting) that is typical of this kind of un-pretentiously kind of fare. ''

But the reason in the end to reach into the recesses of ebay or elsewhere to find it is to see Nicholson in his early larval stage of a career, and somehow he does make the work fascinating to watch. Obviously not his best by a long-shot, and his first big break in the B-world would come later in Little Shop of Horrors and even later in Easy Rider. However I did like how he was keeping his scenes pretty well grounded, keeping to the situation at hand with all of the confusion and shattered rebellion that's in a youth of his real age. It's almost like checking out the Beatles when they were still the Quarry Men or something- it's not necessarily 'good', but you might be surprised at how it's not really bad either.