Youngblood

A young and talented cast portray their roles with conviction in a film that was light years ahead of its time. 'Youngblood' is about growing up poor on the streets of L. A. , no matter your skin color. Drugs, gangs and gunfire all figure in the mix of a story of a young boy just trying to navigate the mean streets as he grows into manhood. It's true some of the elements of the film are a bit trite, some elements even perhaps stereotypical. But the great cast transcend any of the script's faults (particularly Ren Woods as the love interest and Ann Weldon as the Mom. I wish both had had more screen time.) Surprising, really, that this film didn't find more of a cult audience - like 'American Graffiti ' or 'The Warriors.' The cinematography is quite good, the score is made up entirely of songs by the band WAR. Laurence Hilton-Jacobs commits 100% as a Vietnam Vet trying to pull himself away from gang life. It's really an Oscar quality performance - not a false note or moment. These elements help the picture a good deal. We never lose interest throughout and the last 15 minutes or so are a real nail biter. A film of exceptional quality. An independent feature that retains a rebel spirit while elevating itself to something relevant and special.

Caught this for free on YouTube and might primarily be some sort of nostalgia and maybe my memory is failing me but not a lot of movies about young black youth were made in the 1970's. Just enjoyed it for what it was. Young black dude making his way through the streets.

The admitedly great soundtrack by War is probably the official reason why YOUNGBLOOD has never been released on video or DVD (licensing issues.) However, I'm pretty sure the movie's current owners (MGM) see that there probably wouldn't be that much call for the movie if they were able to iron out the music rights. It certainly has its moments - some great fight choreography, for one thing, and the cast is pretty decent - but at the end you have to wonder what the point was, especially since that ending happens at a point when it seems that there is still a substantial part of the story yet to go! It's also pretty slow-going at times, and your impatience just increases by some unbelievably stupid decisions by the characters. All in all, it's just one more piece of evidence to prove that American-International was much better at making in-house product than contracting outside production companies to make product for them.

A solid movie from the late '70s. It had the heart and human element of Boyz in the Hood and better than most of the stuff that came to be in the mid & late '80s. I'm not in the know of black culture but I took this as an accurate slice of South Los Angeles made by black filmmakers and it did exactly what a movie is supposed to do which is introduced me to things I'm not familiar with. Great cast, likable / acted really well. Nothing hokey about it. In fact, I was really surprised with the quality of the action scenes.... The accompanying score was awesome and never spiraled into cliche '70s Starsky and Hutch background music. The soundtrack by War elevated the peace all that much. The filmmakers really made the most of the low budget by joining forces with some really talented people, all around, from the acting to fight choreography to the authentic sets. Some really great dialogue too. I have nothing bad to say about such a heartfelt effort.

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was the box office draw, but the focus of Youngblood is actually the title character, played with reasonable conviction by What's Happening! semi-regular Bryan O'Dell. He's a not so street smart kid who wants to run with the Kingsmen, a local gang headed by Hilton-Jacobs, a returned Vietnam vet. The Kingsmen spend a lot of time drinking, beating up rival gang members, and abusing each other, but that doesn't mean they don't have a social conscience: when they lose a member to smack, the hunt is on for the dope pushers peddling junk in the 'hood. The story is familiar but is helped along by a uniformly good cast. War's score is excellent, especially the title track and Galaxy, featured in a disco scene heavily reminiscent of Soooooouuullllll Train. Watch for Ron Neal (Superfly) in a brief cameo as a high school gym teacher.