The Cry Baby Killer ** (1958, Harry Lauter, Jack Nicholson, Carolyn Mitchell) – Classic Movie Review 7849

Director Justus Addiss’s 1958 The Cry Baby Killer stars Jack Nicholson, who makes his promising début as a juvenile delinquent at the age of 21, in this Roger Corman-produced quick flick, advertised as ‘YESTERDAY a Teenage Rebel… TODAY a mad-dog slayer’.

Nicholson gives a gripping turn as Jimmy Wallace, a teenage gunman, who shoots two hoods when they beat him up, runs from the law and takes hostages in a drive-in theatre’s storeroom.

This fairly effective little action crime thriller, pretty capably done on its low budget and incredibly fast shooting schedule, is still acceptable entertainment, and now a cult item. Harry Lauter plays Police Lieutenant Porter and Carolyn Mitchell plays Carole Fields.

Producer Corman had seen 21-year-old Nicholson on stage before giving him his break. ‘Jack was very good,’ he said later. Nicholson worked conscientiously away throughout the Sixties, but it was another 11 years till he became a real star with Easy Rider.

Corman appears briefly as a TV cameraman atop a van. Also in the cast are Brett Halsey, Lynn Cartwright, Ed Nelson, Ralph Reed, John Shay, Barbara Knudson, Jordan Whitfield, Claude Stroud, Ruth Swanson and William A Forester.

It runs 70 minutes, 75 minutes in the director’s cut, 62 minutes, or 61 minutes on DVD, with the TV version running 60 minutes.

The Cry Baby Killer is directed by Justus Addiss [Joe Addis], runs 70 minutes, is produced by Allied Artists Pictures, is released by Allied Artists (US) and Associated British-Pathé (UK), is written by Leo Gordon (screenplay and story) and Melvin Levy (screenplay), is shot in black and white by Floyd Crosby, is produced by Roger Corman, David Kramarsky and David March, and is scored by Gerald Fried.

Carolyn Mitchell was Mickey Rooney’s fifth wife but she was murdered aged 29 on 31 January 1966. They were married seven years and had four children. ‘I died when she did,’ he said.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7849

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