Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was the box office draw, but the focus of Youngblood is actually the title character, played with reasonable conviction by What's Happening! semi-regular Bryan O'Dell. He's a not so street smart kid who wants to run with the Kingsmen, a local gang headed by Hilton-Jacobs, a returned Vietnam vet. The Kingsmen spend a lot of time drinking, beating up rival gang members, and abusing each other, but that doesn't mean they don't have a social conscience: when they lose a member to smack, the hunt is on for the dope pushers peddling junk in the 'hood. The story is familiar but is helped along by a uniformly good cast. War's score is excellent, especially the title track and Galaxy, featured in a disco scene heavily reminiscent of Soooooouuullllll Train. Watch for Ron Neal (Superfly) in a brief cameo as a high school gym teacher.
8 Reviews
Not Strong Enough
view_and_review30 November 2019
I don't want to be so simple as to say that this movie had no point or message at all, but I will say that they failed to make a better point.
The main character, Michael aka Youngblood (Bryan O'Dell), is a hard-headed high schooler itching to get into trouble. He gets hooked up with an L.A. street gang called the Kingsmen and that was all the brotherhood of troublemakers he needed.
Either because they were stupid or reckless, the Kingsmen move up from gang fights and other petty crimes to jackin' drug dealers. Drug dealers usually aren't in business for or by themselves. They have suppliers who have suppliers on up the food chain and you better believe that someone is going to be protecting the merchandise.
I thought the movie was trying to drive home the message of the futility of street gangs, but it didn't effectively do that. I thought it would drive home the message of the inanity of getting in over your head criminally, and it only somewhat did that as well.
Ultimately, I think this movie languished somewhere in the middle of praising gang life and coming out hard against it. It never came out too strong on either point. Had this movie drove home a harder and more sobering message I think it would have been better.
The main character, Michael aka Youngblood (Bryan O'Dell), is a hard-headed high schooler itching to get into trouble. He gets hooked up with an L.A. street gang called the Kingsmen and that was all the brotherhood of troublemakers he needed.
Either because they were stupid or reckless, the Kingsmen move up from gang fights and other petty crimes to jackin' drug dealers. Drug dealers usually aren't in business for or by themselves. They have suppliers who have suppliers on up the food chain and you better believe that someone is going to be protecting the merchandise.
I thought the movie was trying to drive home the message of the futility of street gangs, but it didn't effectively do that. I thought it would drive home the message of the inanity of getting in over your head criminally, and it only somewhat did that as well.
Ultimately, I think this movie languished somewhere in the middle of praising gang life and coming out hard against it. It never came out too strong on either point. Had this movie drove home a harder and more sobering message I think it would have been better.
Bryan O'Dell Is Really The One Who Keeps My Attention!
msladysoul9 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Bryan O'Dell was a young, charismatic, entertaining actor, most known in the 70's. Bryan was best known for playing Marvin, the pesky, annoying, nosy high school newspaper reporter on "What's Happening." In this movie "Youngblood" Bryan plays the title character and he portrays his character as a troubled, naive, impressionable teen accurately and he adds charm to his character especially when he's flirting with Sybil played by Ren Woods. Its hard to dislike Youngblood because he still maintains likability, despite joining a gang and being involved in violence, he still has a lot of heart and innocence. This movie is basically about young teens who are having problems at home and in the streets so they get involved with gangs for protection and for a family base but the particular gang in this movie, The Kingsmen, aren't doing drive by shootings, robbing innocent people, terrorizing their neighborhoods, nor selling drugs, in fact, when someone they know dies of a drug overdose, the Kingsmen band together to get back at the drug dealers in their neighborhood, they take the law into their own hands, though a few members of their gang dies, The Kingsmen get justice and take care of the main guys. This movie is pretty good but there seems to be some things missing from the story, like at the end, it really doesn't show what became of the characters nor how did Youngblood feel to find out his brother was one of the drug pushers. I hear there was suppose to be a sequel explaining all that but there wasn't a sequel, but sequel or not, this movie should have had a more satisfactory ending. Another thing missing was what became of Sybil, it really wasn't explained whether she was addicted to drugs or pregnant or both and it would have been a little romantic to see love blossom between Sybil and Youngblood. Another thing missing was whether Rommel played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs got a job and took care of his family or whether he died or not. Anyways this film is pretty good but some things were missing in the story that could have made this film a classic or iconic black film. Everyone holds their own in this movie and plays their characters naturally with great enthusiasm. Most of the black actors and actresses in this film didn't do much work after this movie because of the lack of work for blacks in Hollywood, but most of them did do acting and extra work on TV shows in the 70's, you might notice some. There were many talented actors and actresses of color in the 70's that just didn't get substantial work or their due opportunities so they became obscure. There were a few Soul Train Dancers in the nightclub dance scene that some may recognize if their Soul Train fans.
Anyways, the movie is very realistic, not a iconic movie, but a pretty good movie, better then whats out today. I was most impressed with Bryan O'Dell. I wonder what became of him. I hear Bryan was actually in his mid-20's when he did this film, he played a 16 year old but wasn't. He looked very young for his age so he always had to play people younger then him and he was believable, but his youthful looks might have been a downfall because he didn't get many grown-up parts, if he's in his 50's now, I wonder has he retained his youthful looks because if he did he probably would look 30'ish or 40'ish. I give the movie a 7 out of 10. I wish there were movies out today that try to come up with a solution to end some of the things ruining the black community. I wish people today would band together to end the drug and violence problems.
Anyways, the movie is very realistic, not a iconic movie, but a pretty good movie, better then whats out today. I was most impressed with Bryan O'Dell. I wonder what became of him. I hear Bryan was actually in his mid-20's when he did this film, he played a 16 year old but wasn't. He looked very young for his age so he always had to play people younger then him and he was believable, but his youthful looks might have been a downfall because he didn't get many grown-up parts, if he's in his 50's now, I wonder has he retained his youthful looks because if he did he probably would look 30'ish or 40'ish. I give the movie a 7 out of 10. I wish there were movies out today that try to come up with a solution to end some of the things ruining the black community. I wish people today would band together to end the drug and violence problems.
One of the best gang movies I've ever seen!
infoseeker53110 November 1999
I saw this movie when it first appeared. I was very impressed with the script, action and flow of movie then. All the actors were perfect for their parts, even though some were just starting out in their careers. WAR does the awesome sound track (especially the reprise)!!! I would love to purchase video, if I could ever find it! I'm still looking! >
Enjoyed this film
damian50001 June 2022
Caught this for free on YouTube and might primarily be some sort of nostalgia and maybe my memory is failing me but not a lot of movies about young black youth were made in the 1970's. Just enjoyed it for what it was. Young black dude making his way through the streets.
A good watch
eggsonhash8 June 2023
A solid movie from the late '70s. It had the heart and human element of Boyz in the Hood and better than most of the stuff that came to be in the mid & late '80s. I'm not in the know of black culture but I took this as an accurate slice of South Los Angeles made by black filmmakers and it did exactly what a movie is supposed to do which is introduced me to things I'm not familiar with. Great cast, likable / acted really well. Nothing hokey about it. In fact, I was really surprised with the quality of the action scenes.... The accompanying score was awesome and never spiraled into cliche '70s Starsky and Hutch background music. The soundtrack by War elevated the peace all that much. The filmmakers really made the most of the low budget by joining forces with some really talented people, all around, from the acting to fight choreography to the authentic sets. Some really great dialogue too. I have nothing bad to say about such a heartfelt effort.
Aimless black-oriented drama
Wizard-830 November 2003
The admitedly great soundtrack by War is probably the official reason why YOUNGBLOOD has never been released on video or DVD (licensing issues.) However, I'm pretty sure the movie's current owners (MGM) see that there probably wouldn't be that much call for the movie if they were able to iron out the music rights. It certainly has its moments - some great fight choreography, for one thing, and the cast is pretty decent - but at the end you have to wonder what the point was, especially since that ending happens at a point when it seems that there is still a substantial part of the story yet to go! It's also pretty slow-going at times, and your impatience just increases by some unbelievably stupid decisions by the characters. All in all, it's just one more piece of evidence to prove that American-International was much better at making in-house product than contracting outside production companies to make product for them.
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