Wild Youth (1960) User Reviews

A deceptive title for a film much better than its title implies

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 7 November 2009]

NAKED YOUTH is an odd film--one that appears at first to be a stupid exploitation film and nothing more. However, despite the word 'naked' in the title, there is nothing naked at all in the film and it's just a low-budget thriller--one that is very good considering the amount of money they had to spend on the production. While it won't be mistaken for the work of Truffaut or Hitchcock, this cheapie picture isn't bad at all.

The film begins in Mexico. A vicious killer stabs a man who is carrying a package filled with heroin. The killer and his drug-addicted girlfriend plan on smuggling this into the States and making a fortune. However, in an odd (and very contrived twist), these two pick up three wild young people--two of which just escaped from prison. Now the idea of the killer stopping to pick up hitchhikers when they've got a package filled with drugs is dumb--a huge plot problem. However, when the three youths get into a fight with the crazed killer, the film heats up and becomes tense and exciting. You'd think the three young punks would be at a distinct advantage, but this crazy killer is more than a match for them!! Add to this tension involving the worst of the three trying to repeatedly rape the young lady and you've got quite a tense film.

Overall, despite low production values and a very poor DVD print, this film is well written (generally), very well directed and some of the acting is actually good. While it's far from a must-see film, it's a great example of a movie with limited means that manages to be entertaining and rise above the usual low-budget dreck.

Naked Youth

[insanecrzygrlie · 5/10 · 6 July 2006]

2 guys in Mexican juvie run away with help of a very fickle girl. While at the same time some guy buy's heroin at a bull fighting stadium somewhere in Mexico. After safely crossing the border back to the U.S. the guy with the heroin and his girl (a heroin addict) pass some hitch-hikers. They give them a lift, these hitch-hikers happen to be the 2 guys that ran away from juvie and the fickle girl. Now when you put juvenile delinquents, drugs, and a fiending addict in a car what do you get? You'll have to find out what happens from there. It's an OK movie, nothing great. It was pretty raunchy for it's time, but that's not saying much for today. No blood, no realistic deaths, no showing of actual drug use, no nudity, no sexual anything but the fickle girl kissing everyone. The only person in the movie I recognized was Carol Ohmart, from House on Haunted Hill and Spider Baby. She plays a somewhat believable heroin addict. It was an all right movie and completely worth the 2 bucks my boyfriend paid for it.

Call The Guys 'Switchblade Brothers'

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 8 May 2007]

"Naked Youth" generates a modicum of suspense as it intertwines two stories about criminals on the lam in the dusty southwestern United States. First, a couple of youths at a State Honor Farm--Switch (Steve Rowland)and Frankie (Robert Arthur)decide to escape and rendezvous with Frankie's cute girlfriend who has a car waiting for them nearby under a bridge to make their getaway. Second, Rivas (John Goddard) is a drug smuggler in suit and tie who kills a Mexican dope buyer with a knife at a deserted bullfighting arena and then flees Mexico with his own girlfriend Madge (Carol Ohmart)carrying a doll packed with smack in the nick of time before the authorities lock down the border.

Meanwhile, tension between Switch--he wields a switchblade but appears to be all gab and no guts--and Frankie develop over his girlfriend. This tension grows after their getaway car overheats and forces them to walk the rest of the way on foot in the hot, arid desert. Goddard and his girlfriend pick them up in their station wagon so that they will look like one big happy family and fool the cops. Goddard spots a roadblock, loses his nerve, and swerves off onto a back road. Eventually, the kids and he tangle. Frankie slugs him from behind, and they rip out the distributor cap from their car and force the adults afoot, too. It seems that Switch--nicknamed for his reliance on an illegal switchblade knife--and Rivas are both edgy about blade fanatics. The chief difference is that Rivas is ready, willing, and able to stab at the least provocation.

Robert Hutton, once a popular character actor in Warner Brothers' World War II movies such as "Destination Tokyo" and "Hollywood Canteen," plays a Federal agent named Maddo who tails these reprobates. This low budget juvenile delinquent/narcotics exploitation drive-in feature maintains a fast enough with okay performances and authentic on-the-road realism. Nothing in the way of memorable lines of dialogue make up for their predictable shennagians, but none of it is idiotic either. In fact, "Naked Youth" doesn't qualify as one of those "so bad it's good" thrillers with hundreds of gaffes. This represented director John F. Schreyer's only directorial outing; he was better known for editing westerns and war movies, such as "Hostile Guns," "More Dead Than Alive," and "Ambush Bay." Nevertheless, he knows when to cut back and forth between the pursued and the pursuers. You can tell that the Production Code Administration was still enforcing some of its self-censorship rules because when Carol Ohmart injects herself with heroin in the forearm, we get to see the reaction shots of those watching her shoot up.

Ironically, Ohmart's character is the most sympathetic of the bunch. She guns down her dastardly boyfriend rather than see him murder a Maddo. The worst thing about this exploitation meller is that the music is a blatant rip-off of Elmer Bernstein's "The Man With The Golden Arm" and Bernard Herrman's "Vertigo." Otherwise, "Naked Youth," which boasts neither nude scenes nor sex scenes to speak of and refrains from preaching its crime does not pay message, is passable.

Not a hint of nudity

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 18 April 2012]

I'm sure any number of prurient drive-in viewers had their appetites whetted by the title of Naked Youth, probably renamed such so a few more cars would get into the parking spaces. A little stimulus before getting down to business in the back seat. If that was the case they were disappointed because Wild Youth or Naked Youth hasn't even a hint of nudity.

What this film is about is a trio youths Robert Arthur and Steve Rowland who busted out of an honor farm and Jan Brooks the girl who helped them running into a hardened killer and dope peddler Robert Hutton and his strung out girlfriend Carol Ohmart. Hutton robbed and killed a drug mule in Mexico took his supply of heroin and smuggled it back across the border before the cops on both sides caught on.

Arthur and Brooks are basically decent kids, but Rowland is a punk and learns too late he's playing way out of his league.

Wild/Naked Youth was shot on a chump change budget in the Southwest and no one covered themselves in any glory here.

Drugs on the run, not much fun

[FilmFlaneur · 10 March 2002]

The most startling thing about Schreyer's drugs-on-the-run piece is the brazen 'lifting' of Elmer Bernstein's striking Frankie Machine title music, almost unchanged from 'The Man With The Golden Arm', as well as a recognisable chunk of Herrman's 'Vertigo' music .. such borrowings give this film a suggestion of artistry which it completely fails to justify.

In fact it is all very humdrum stuff, neither too wild or much naked either, come to that (and the 'youths' are getting on a bit as well). The most recognisable face in this rather tedious piece is Robert Hutton, who plays the unperturbable and cop. Of course it is he who buys the Mexican dolls into which the heroin is secreted, and then transported across the border, so poetic justice demands that it is he who has to find it again. Hutton was better used in such cult films as 'The Slime People' (1962), 'Colossus of New York' (1958) and a handful of others. Here he just looks vaguely engaged.

As Switch the knife happy thug on the run from the Honor Farm,(in a film in which, oddly, knives are the weapon of choice - even when a gun is around) Rowland is serviceable enough, although he could have made his performance more menacing. As it is, Switch veers uncertainly between aggression, indecisiveness and whining.

The best scene? Madge's swaying vision as her withdrawl sets in, done to Herrmann-'inspired' music. But even she's seen better days in William Castle's great 'House on Haunted Hill' (1958) or Hill's crazy 'Spider Baby' (1964).

A film mostly of interest for completists or those fanatical about this part of exploitation history.

Despite the movie poster, there is no chick in a bathing suit

[scsu1975 · 3/10 · 24 November 2022]

Thus, you can turn off your television right now.

Steve Rowland (as "Switch") and Robert Arthur (as "Frankie") play a couple of 30-year-old juvenile delinquents who escape from the "State Honor Farm." They are helped by Frankie's underage girlfriend Jan Brooks (as "Statutory"). Meanwhile, in Juarez, drug agent Robert Hutton is tracking down a heroin dealer, played by John Goddard. Hutton bumps into Carol Ohmart, who is buying a doll. Guess what she plans on stashing inside the doll.

In short order, the delinquents' car breaks down, and they hitch a ride with Goddard and Ohmart. The delinquents are trying to get to Mexico; the other pair is trying to get to Dallas. After awhile, I lost track of where anyone was going, but I did conclude the film was going into the toilet.

Eventually, the overage kids commandeer the car and take the doll, unaware of what's inside it. They disable the car and walk off, which makes no sense, but hey, if it made sense, I wouldn't be writing about it. Ohmart is now dying for a fix, but the couple has more pressing issues, like finding the nearest comfort station. They find a gas station, and Goddard steals the owner's car after knifing him. While all this is going on, Hutton is wandering aimlessly around the scenery trying to catch a break.

The juveniles hole up in an abandoned house, which, oddly, is well-furnished. After Switch attempts to deflower Donna and Frankie slugs him, they discover the doll is loaded with horse. Somehow, Goddard and Ohmart manage to find them, and the cross-country tour continues. By this time, viewers are car sick. Finally, and not a moment of these 70 excruciating minutes too soon, we see the climax at some stockyards (yes, cows, hay, all sorts of stuff). Some bullets fly, a knife is inserted, and everyone leaves the theater demanding a refund.

Ohmart, who was extremely sexy as Vincent Price's wife in "House on Haunted Hill," does a pretty good job as the heroin addict. She should have gotten better parts in her career. She was alluring, with a sultry voice, and could act. Hutton is bland as ever. How he managed to get work for several decades is beyond me. Goddard is okay as the drug dealer scumbag. Rowland, with his curly-top hairdo, looks like the poor man's Sonny Corleone. Arthur brings nothing to the table. When he hears Brooks screaming, he hesitates as he decides whether to drop the firewood he's holding. Ladies, this guy is a real keeper. Brooks is not attractive, has no discernible talent, and her character is poorly written. When we first see her, she acts like she is the town mattress; in short order she becomes the innocent chick.

The music score may be the most bizarre thing about this film. Composer Dick LaSalle seems to be using motifs from "The Man with the Golden Arm," "Vertigo," and a Courageous Cat cartoon. The IMDb credits list Steve Rowland as singing the title song. But there is no title song, unless I missed it while I was shooting up.

Not to mention an old junkie.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 4 May 2022]

I wouldn't want to be in a car with any of these people, all of them in trouble for differing reasons, heading from Mexico to Dallas. A group of teenagers end up hitchhiking after escaping from a work farm add are picked up by a very shady Robert Pattinson and his heroin-addicted girlfriend, Carole Ohmart. At gun point, for some reason, they steal a doll that Ohmart has been holding onto for dear life, and later discover that inside the head of the doll, it contains a supply of heroin that she dips into to meet her kick. With Hutton intending to kill them, and the police are on their trail, it's a violent hide and go seek or come out and get killed game between the teens and the vicious Hutton who seems destined to meet a violent end. As for what happens to the tired looking Ohmart (a film noir vixen that never quite made it in the mid 50's), only major rehab or an overdose would be her imminent conclusion.

Fast-moving, crisp drive in tlentry is pretty campy, but they overdo the jazz score that plays loudly throughout. Filmed on location in Texas and New Mexico, this has great outdoor scenes and we'll certainly keep the viewer's attention, but it's melodramatic exploitation structure makes it off and laughable. Steve Howland, Jan Brooks and Robert Arthur do credible jobs as the three teams, with Howland and Arthur getting into several fights over Brooks that don't make sense. Ohmart does create an interesting characterization, and it's notable how she makes herself look truly haggard to add to her performance of the junkie. I wouldn't call this a film to completely avoid, but as long as the viewer knows what type of film it is (and how couldn't they with the title or its alternative), it will be an interesting Rye that they would want to avoid if they ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Another good story wasted on bad direction

[Johnboy1221 · 7/10 · 22 November 2008]

The film could have been so much better than it ultimately turned out to be, and I blame the director for that. He had some fairly good actors to work with, he just didn't know what to do with them.

For instance, Steve Rowland did much better acting in his other film roles, yet he's wooden throughout most of this one. I would have had him act much more sinister, instead of performing the pretty-boy, James Dean type role. He should have come across as a worthless scumbag kid, yet he doesn't even appear to be a smoker, a doper, or a drinker. In this movie he's simply a poster boy, complete with the tight t-shirt and windbreaker, open to his navel.

Spoilers ahead....

Our gangster character fares much better in his role. You believe he's self-centered and sadistic. His moll gives a good performance, though having her kill her lover seemed out-of-character, and what made him think he could take out the armed cop with a thrown knife??? I would have had the kid and the gangster kill one another in the end, but then I wasn't the director.

You gotta love the homo-erotic final scene as the camera slowly pans over the body of the gut-stabbed, late-twenties teenager (Rowland)! What a classic! If you don't expect too much from this film you might like it. I liked it, despite it's flaws. It's a hoot!

Solid ideas needed more careful consideration

[I_Ailurophile · 6/10 · 25 November 2021]

The pace and directness of the film is immediately off-putting, while the sequencing leaves a bit to be desired. The ham-handed musical cue at Donna's introduction is frankly terrible, and Richard LaSalle's music generally often wavers on the point of tawdry exaggeration. Similarly, I can't decide if the work put into details like hair, makeup, and costume design is just right, or much too over the top. So it is with too many aspects, also including performances, slight visual effects, dialogue, scene writing, and direction: Is 'Naked youth,' also known as 'Wild youth,' too much? Too little? Just enough? Why, maybe it's all three, at one point or another; I can't really tell.

I like the concept, and the narrative is strong in the broad strokes. There are great possibilities here, including in the character writing. The chief cast looks the part; I can't determine if the uncertainty I feel about their acting owes more to a lack of skill or experience, or unfortunate guidance from director John F. Schreyer. Whatever the combination of factors that limited the film's success, the picture is less than riveting as a result - and a little sleep-inducing, if I'm being honest. Some scenes are done pretty well, including the climax, yet even at its best the lack of refinement in all elements dampens the impact.

There's just not much more to say; for better or for worse, the movie doesn't inspire loquacity. I don't think it's outright bad. I rather want to like it more than I do; as one may say of a ramshackle home, "it has good bones." But it's more than a little rough around the edges, and even a little more care in the writing and direction would have gone a long way. 'Naked youth' could have been a cut above similar fare of the 50s and 60s; instead it fits right in with its contemporaries, all but average in sum. It's a fair watch if you chance upon it, but temper your expectations if you do.