Fascinating

 

KID MONK BARONI-1952-Street kid, Paul “Monk” Baroni (Leonard Nimoy with phony nose) doesn't like himself because of his looks. A priest (Richard Rober who was killed in a car accident soon after this) takes a shine to Paul and lets him and his gang use the church gym. Paul winds up helping the church a lot and even becomes a member of the choir. When his ex-gang attacks him, he accidentally knocks out the priest. With his faithful friend, Angelo (Jack Larsen), he becomes a bitter boxer. A pawnbroker (Maurice Cass) gets him into a gym run by Mr. Hellman (Bruce Cabot). Soon he's winning fights and listening to records from Italy. He re-unites with the priest and meets Emily (Allene Roberts), who later convinces him to have plastic surgery. Bad move! He takes up with gold digger June (Mona Knox), on who he spends all his money. She dumps him and he steps back into the ring and gets clobbered but the crooks who backed him lose all their money, the church gets a recreation center and Paul marries Emily. Even his klepto friend reforms! Kathleen Freeman plays his mother. 

Some “critics” have a problem with the ending. The future Mr. You Know Who is very good in his first credited role but this low-budget drama didn't have a wide distribution. Producer Jack Broder (BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, the same year) had planned this as the first in a series called “The Billy Goat Gang”, a Bowery Boys knock off. No more were ever made. Jack Larsen started playing Jimmy Olsen on TV's “Superman” the same year so that might have had something to do with it. Herman Cohen was associate producer and Aben Kandel who later wrote several AIP horror movies which Cohen produced, wrote the original screenplay. Director Harold Schuster made many B movies and then went into TV.

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