The original novel by James T. Farrell was probably no Faulkner or Fitzgerald, but it's obviously one that was equally impossible to put on film correctly. Even with top notch studio support or casting or a masterful director, it probably would have come out looking as bad as it ends up here. The characters are the epitome of every 20's archetype, and the leading character played by Christopher Knight seems a bit challenged to say the least, certainly not a desirable choice for any nice girl, and yet they all think they can change him.
Mother Katherine Squire has enabled him much too much, to father Dick Foran's frustration, and he has two no-good pals (Jack Nicholson and Frank Gorshin). Of the women he encounters, the only one with the strength to get through to him is just another enabler, the tough as nails Madame Josephine (Madame Spivy), who could care less as long as she gets the money to run her speakeasy. When he's sentenced to prison for rape, it's obviously not the first time, with his being part of a group scene earlier where Nicholson insinuated gang rape towards a drunken floozy past her prime, searching for love far too late in her life.
This is one of the most disturbing films made in the years before the 1967 code change. The writing is exploitive, the acting melodramatic and the music far too much in its cry for emotional impact. Studs as a leading character is not likeable even when Knight desperately tries to find the good elements deep within him. There's a very laughable moment featuring the very butch Spivy who points him onto two mobsters who ask him subtly to commit a hit for them, knowing full well that he won't be able to go through with it. Spivy is up there with Athene Seyler ("The Loved One") and Edith Massey as unforgettable grotesque women in 60's and 70's cinema. A major flaw in the editing has jarring cuts between scenes. Still a film that once you watch, you'll never forget.
Mother Katherine Squire has enabled him much too much, to father Dick Foran's frustration, and he has two no-good pals (Jack Nicholson and Frank Gorshin). Of the women he encounters, the only one with the strength to get through to him is just another enabler, the tough as nails Madame Josephine (Madame Spivy), who could care less as long as she gets the money to run her speakeasy. When he's sentenced to prison for rape, it's obviously not the first time, with his being part of a group scene earlier where Nicholson insinuated gang rape towards a drunken floozy past her prime, searching for love far too late in her life.
This is one of the most disturbing films made in the years before the 1967 code change. The writing is exploitive, the acting melodramatic and the music far too much in its cry for emotional impact. Studs as a leading character is not likeable even when Knight desperately tries to find the good elements deep within him. There's a very laughable moment featuring the very butch Spivy who points him onto two mobsters who ask him subtly to commit a hit for them, knowing full well that he won't be able to go through with it. Spivy is up there with Athene Seyler ("The Loved One") and Edith Massey as unforgettable grotesque women in 60's and 70's cinema. A major flaw in the editing has jarring cuts between scenes. Still a film that once you watch, you'll never forget.