Jacktown

Jacktown (1962)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Frankie (Richard Meade) is a small town punk who refuses to work and usually lies to his mother about what he does at night. What he's out doing is hanging with other wannabe tough guys and pulling off small crimes. His luck runs out when he's caught making out with a young girl who turns out she lied about her age. Frankie is sent to prison where the warden takes pity on him and gets him a job in the yard where the prisoner then meets his attractive daughter (Patty McCormack) who wants him to go straight.

JACKTOWN was shot in Michigan and is your typical juvenile delinquent movie, although being released in 1962 put it pretty far behind in the game. The film has some pretty campy moments that makes it worth sitting through and there's also a subplot dealing with the history of the prison. The state prison was the location for one of the most violent prison riots in history and stock footage from it is thrown into the film.

With that said, if you're looking for an Oscar-winning type of movie this here certainly isn't that. The film does work as a cheap "C" movie that has some pretty campy moments including all of the scenes dealing with Frankie getting picked on by the older men in the prison who don't like his type. These scenes are actually pretty funny as is another dealing with a woman's scream after she runs into a body on the street. These scenes certainly help carry the picture and make it entertaining.

The film's third act because a preachy morality tale and it brings the film down a little. The performances are decent for the most part as we also get real people thrown into the mix including a real prosecutor. JACKTOWN isn't the greatest film ever made but it's slightly entertaining if you enjoy these types of low-budget movies.

Richard Meade is convicted of statutory rape and sentenced to 'Jacktown', the Michigan state prison in Jackson.

It's a rambling story about him, his buddies on the outside, and the attempts of the warden and his pretty daughter (played by Patty McCormack) to rehabilitate him. He runs into some rough types in prison as he tries to keep his head down. The acting is pretty poor, the dialogue is well-meaning but amateurish, and the deliveries range from reading-it-of-a-board-with-no-comprehension to simple; blame writer-director William Martin, who seems to have never heard that if you want to deliver a message, try Western Union. Still, the camerawork, editing and score are pretty good. If the actors were better, it might have worked.

This C movie from 1962 is forgettable except for the appearance of Richard Meade in this, his only movie role. Meade portrays badboy "Frankie" in this delirious tale of a young hunk who goes to prison for having sex with an underage girl--who lied about her age. In some ways, "Jacktown" attempts to show the hideous conditions of prison in which the hero, Frankie, is condemned to serve his time. We see newsreels of a prison riot and then we see the losers that Frankie has to contend with while an inmate. The big fight scene between our hero and some jerk is hilarious to watch since none of the body blows matches up to being realistic. We see Frankie jerking his head back before his enemy even throws his punch and the enemy flies back without a fist connecting with him. Another reason why I found this forgotten movie effort fascinating is that I was also a teenager during the sixties and living in a small Southern town and it was interesting to see the clothing and hair styles of that era. I would think the cast members probably wore their own clothes since there was no wardrobe credit and they probably took care of their own hair styles, as well. The boys looked like those I used to have crushes on, as well as the way they acted. But it's the very handsome, charismatic Richard Meade who always holds the viewers interest and with his mane of gold hair, handsome torso and warm personality it's a tragedy he never again appeared in another movie. He conveys the electrical warmth of the then teen idol James and Elvis Presley and the director gives us at least two scenes of a shirtless Meade that proves he had at least the looks to have been a contender for bigger things. As it is, we have at least this minor film to preserve forever images of a young actor who should have gone far in the movie industry.

The film begins with the opening narration sternly informing us that "What you are about to see is based on fact", while the title refers to the prison in which our hero is banged up for statutory rape (the arresting officer makes the highly evocative demand "Alright young lady, you'd better put your slacks on") and finds himself surrounded by fifty-seven varieties of arrested development.

Richard Meade couldn't be less ingratiating if he tried and promptly starts rubbing the other inmates the wrong way. Salvation comes in the form of warden's daughter Patty McCormack shorn of the pigtails that made her famous.

And the moral of the story is... ??? This is a true story but I wonder why they felt the need to make it into a movie. It's good nonetheless. It's an entertaining story that doesn't really get boring. My favorite parts were when the man in the cell next to our main man Frankie tries to get under Frankie's skin. One time he pretends to be a ghost just to freak Frankie out. It's kind of funny.

I wish they could have shown scenes from the Jackson Prison riots in the 50's, but apparently they are so shocking and gruesome that they cannot be shown in public. Instead, they just show people tripping over boxes and wandering around in clouds of smoke.

If you think about it hard enough, I suppose the moral of the story is to give people a chance to prove themselves, even if it makes you uncomfortable. If you think that you are too good for someone, they probably will catch on. Give them a chance to show you that they aren't so bad and maybe you will be pleasantly surprised. ?? 5/10