Lost, Lonely and Vicious

A little awkward in places, but kind of a sweet story. On the offbeat side. Love the slangy dialog : Ex: "That's right sell tickets. Make a big production out of it." Or: "You know, we might even get a newspaper plug out of it." In classic B&W.

Not bad as dumb B flicks go. Ken Clayton as Johnnie was actually a very good leading man. A James Dean lookalike, he seemed to have a big career ahead, but only acted in 4 other things and that was it. Hollywood must be rough. Same with Barbara Wilson as "Preach". Her career went by in a flash, although she had looks and talent.

Low-budget exploitation flick about "alienated youth" has an almost documentary presentation. The main focus seems to be the question of whether schizo Johnny, a James Dean-like overnight success, will pull himself together or crash and burn as he seems bent on doing with his unhealthy death wish. Johnny (Ken Clayton) alternates between violence and gentleness, sometimes sweet-natured and sometimes downright creepy. He all but kidnaps a young girl against her will, and winds up charming both her and her ailing father. Through it all, he seems curiously down to earth. A truly baffling character, unlike his compatriots who seem to have little talent and nothing but unrealistic dreams and little drive or ambition. It's not clear exactly by what means Johnny resolves his issues...but I suspect he expatriates to Italy, changes his name to Giorgio Ardisson, and has a flourishing career!

Very one track story line; no intriguing side story. Just very boring and slow moving overall with a rather underwhelming finish.

Directing was decent, but not outstanding. Same as the acting.

Lost, Lonely and Vicious (1958)

* (out of 4)

Really awful drama about Johnnie Dennis (Ken Clayton), an up and coming star in Hollywood who has some sort of weird fascination about death, which causes issues with some of his friends but mainly the woman (Barbara Wilson) who loves him.

LOST, LONELY AND VICIOUS is a pretty awful movie from start to finish but it also contains some really awful stuff that makes it worth watching if you enjoy bad movies. The lead character is obviously meant to be James Dean and this film is obviously trying to tell the story of a "deep" and talented young man but one with many issues.

The problem here is that there are so many dialogue scenes where characters just sit around talking but these chats are so darn boring that you can't help but get tired of them. Even worse is the fact that the performances aren't strong enough to really make you care about the characters or their situations. All of the talk leads up to a final ten minutes that are pretty strange and outrageous. As awful as the film is, these final moments almost make it worth sitting through.