Teenage Gangs

THE REBEL BREED-1960-Police Lt. Brooks (Gerald Mohr) sends two rookie cops into a tough high school to infiltrate two gangs there. Frank Serano (Mark Damon) is posing as half Mexican-half African American and Don Walters (Douglas Hume) is a white guy. There's a black gang (the word Negro is used throughout the movie) called The Ebonies led by Satchel (Al Freeman Jr.), a Mexican gang The Caballeros and a white gang called The Royals. Almost immediately Frank gets beat up by The Cabs because Lola (Rita Moreno) the sister of gang leader Manuel (Richard Laurier) is assigned to a school project with him. Meanwhile she's making time with Jimmy (Don Eitner), a white guy (and Royal). Of course the real bad guy is Buck (Richard Rust), pot pushing leader of the racist white Royals who report to Mr. Elliot (Charles Franc). Manuel is a good gang leader though. He won't let his boys use grass. Later Buck accidentally kills Jimmy in a fight but makes it look like Manuel did it. He’s so bad he gives Satchel's little brother a joint to smoke. Many other things happen: Lola is pregnant, Buck finds out his slutty white girlfriend is actually black and the Royals paint Satchel white. Things come to a head at a pot party thrown by Buck that Lola joins trying to find evidence that Buck killed Jimmy. Frank infiltrates the party and Lola’s dad (Jay Novello) also shows up (he found out she’s preggers) to get harassed. Things really get out of hand when Muscles rats that Buck killed Jimmy and Frank and Don reveal their real jobs. Mr. Elliot appears with a gun. Thank god, the Cabs show up to help save the day. When Lt. Brooks gets there he lectures them (“When are you going to learn?!”). Love blooms for Lola and Frank. Everyone else is forgotten.

 I like the fact that THIS REBEL BREED lays most of the blame on the shoulders of the kids involved because they can't get along simply out of prejudice. The editing is a little sloppy but two directors are credited which could have something to do with it. The first Richard L. Bare had directed shorts and a few movies but was doing the TV western “Maverick” around the same time. He later directed all 166 episodes of the TV comedy “Green Acres”. One of his last films was the split screen slasher melodrama WICKED, WICKED. The second was William Rowland, a producer/director of low budget films (most of which I know nothing about...). Some mild “soft-core” sex scenes were added to the 1965 re-release of THE REBEL BREED and dubbed THE BLACK REBELS.

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2012/01/wicked-stuff.html

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Lock Up Your Daughters!

DELINQUENT DAUGHTERS-1944-This movie purports to be a warning to audiences about teenagers running wild due to their parents' uncaring ways. It's similar in style to REEFER MADNESS and I ACCUSE MY PARENTS in it's serious but corny and unintentionally funny tone (It probably also influenced Ed Wood's THE VIOLENT YEARS).

After the suicide of a high school girl a police detective (Joe Devlin) investigates. The innocent June (20 yr. old June Carlson) gets involved in robbery, drinking and wild dancing through her friend Sally (22 yr. old Teala Loring; also in THE RETURN OF THE APE MAN and a couple of BOWERY BOYS movies) at a club called "The Merry Go Round" run by Mimi (Fifi D'Orsay) and sleazebag partner Nick.

One charcter proclaims: "Nobody ever gives a darn about us kids. We have feelings just like adults". Although the script, acting and direction in this sleazy and sappy story are sub-par (Hey! It was produced by PRC!) the worse parts are the night scenes that are too dark to see what's going on! I haven't seen the DVD version shown above but the print I saw was choppy and worn.

Director Albert Herman made a bunch of low budget movies I'd like to see (THE PHANTOM OF 42ND STREET, SHAKE HANDS WITH MURDER) and later did some TV work.

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Violent Playground

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND-1958-While a string of fires created by arson plagues a Liverpool community, a police Sgt. (Stanley Baker) tries to help a young brother and sister who are ac-cused of shoplifting and kind of takes shine to their older sister (Anne Heywood). Their older brother (David McCallum who was in A NIGHT TO REMEMBER the same year) is the leader of a gang of teenage thugs with mental problems. At one point he does a wild weird dance.The local priest (Peter Cushing) tries to help too. Also with Tsai Chin and Michael Chow.

This is a fairly serious look at teenage delinquency directed by Basil Dearden who went on to make THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, THE MIND BENDERS, KHARTOUM and THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF.

“No man is ever old enough to know better”…Holbrook Jackson

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