Let No Man Write My Epitaph * (1960, Burl Ives, Shelley Winters, James Darren, Jean Seberg, Ricardo Montalban, Ella Fitzgerald, Rodolfo Acosta, Philip Ober) – Classic Movie Review 8960

Director Philip Leacock’s disappointing 1960 drama sequel Let No Man Write My Epitaph is a rather sleazy, tatty and threadbare melodrama about Nick Romano Jr (James Darren), a tenement boy from Chicago’s wrong side of the tracks with a drug-addicted mother, Nellie (Shelley Winters).

Darren tries for classical piano fame and fortune, but is sucked back into the mire by dope dealer Louie Ramponi (Ricardo Montalban). The tenement residents try to ensure that Nick does not suffer his father’s fate.

With its unconvincing screenplay by Robert Presnell Jr and surprisingly unpersuasive acting, given the talent involved in an ensemble who also include Burl Ives, Jean Seberg, Ella Fitzgerald, Jeanne Cooper and Philip Ober, this is a poor and unenlightening follow-up to author Willard Motley’s Knock on Any Door, filmed as Knock on Any Door in 1949 with Humphrey Bogart and John Derek as Nick Romano Sr.

Let No Man Write My Epitaph is directed by Philip Leacock, runs 106 minutes, is made and released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Robert Presnell Jr, based on the novel by Willard Motley, is shot in black and white by Burnett Guffey, is produced by Boris D Kaplan and is scored by George Duning.

Let No Man Write My Epitaph has fallen into a deserved obscurity, but then Knock on Any Door is one of Humphrey Bogart’s least well known movies.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8960

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