This film is based on Irving Shulman's novel "The Amboy Dukes", which was about a Jewish gang in Brooklyn during WWII. The results of a wartime manufacturing boom has meant that 16 year old Frank and his 11 year old sister are left to raise themselves as both parents suddenly go from years on relief to jobs where there is plenty of overtime, as long as the war holds out. So they both work whatever shifts they can get, making hay while the sun shines.
The actual film changed a few things - some because of the changing times. Because the Brooklyn of 1944 and 1949 were worlds apart. Also the violence, casual sex, drug use, and prostitution that were staples of the novel were disallowed by the production code.
So the film changes the gangs to Catholic and Protestant kids. You meet Frankie Cusack on the morning of his 16th birthday. His parents are working as always, and his eleven year old sister surprises him with birthday banners. Frankie has some cash so he takes his sister over to Manhattan to see the attractions. But then, it is back to the hot tenement building where they live, and Frankie decides to go play pool with the Dukes, his gang. At this point Frankie is rather squeamish about the violence the Dukes do from time to time, mainly to people who owe money to a gangster in a bigger league than they are in. He mainly just wants to belong and thinks he has found a home in the Dukes.
Soon there is a planned move out of the tenement with babies crying and drunken couples brawling, and it looks like a new leaf for Frankie as his parents decide to buy a house in a better neighborhood. But then mom has appendicitis and the accompanying hospital bill means there will be no new house. They are all stuck right where they are. As life gets harder, so does Frankie. The next brawl the Dukes have, Frankie is really taking it out on the other guys. A couple of really bad choices later has Frankie and his Duke buddy Benny accidentally shooting their shop teacher dead with one of their home made guns. They ditch the gun and establish alibis, but the cops are suspicious of these two anyways and start following them around and putting the heat on them in a dozen different ways. Frankie thinks Benny will drink too much and talk. Benny thinks Frankie will talk to save his own neck.
This was one of the early films to talk about juvenile delinquency post-war. It shows the bad home conditions - often brought on by parents who have no time for anything but work - that cause kids to bring themselves up, often with bad influences as role models.
There is a very interesting dance scene at a party towards the end of the film. This was a good and rather long scene of swing dancing with a great African American band. It was the type of music and dancing popular a few years before rock and roll hit the scene.
This is probably notable in film history for the fact that two future stars had their first credited roles here. Thelma Ritter plays Frankie's world weary mom who never looks like she has had enough sleep. Tony Curtis, twelfth billed as Anthony Curtis, plays Mitch, one of the Dukes. At first he is practically mute, but as the film wears on he is given more and more to say. Probably because he has such presence in even such a small role.
Peter Fernandez is practically the whole show here as Frankie, the main character. Yet he never starred in another feature film again. Instead he found himself in TV roles, as well as directing and writing. He also "found his voice" in all kinds of films and productions doing voice overs. His acting career may have not worked out, but his life certainly did. An unusual happy story for someone who starts out a star but doesn't stay that way.
The actual film changed a few things - some because of the changing times. Because the Brooklyn of 1944 and 1949 were worlds apart. Also the violence, casual sex, drug use, and prostitution that were staples of the novel were disallowed by the production code.
So the film changes the gangs to Catholic and Protestant kids. You meet Frankie Cusack on the morning of his 16th birthday. His parents are working as always, and his eleven year old sister surprises him with birthday banners. Frankie has some cash so he takes his sister over to Manhattan to see the attractions. But then, it is back to the hot tenement building where they live, and Frankie decides to go play pool with the Dukes, his gang. At this point Frankie is rather squeamish about the violence the Dukes do from time to time, mainly to people who owe money to a gangster in a bigger league than they are in. He mainly just wants to belong and thinks he has found a home in the Dukes.
Soon there is a planned move out of the tenement with babies crying and drunken couples brawling, and it looks like a new leaf for Frankie as his parents decide to buy a house in a better neighborhood. But then mom has appendicitis and the accompanying hospital bill means there will be no new house. They are all stuck right where they are. As life gets harder, so does Frankie. The next brawl the Dukes have, Frankie is really taking it out on the other guys. A couple of really bad choices later has Frankie and his Duke buddy Benny accidentally shooting their shop teacher dead with one of their home made guns. They ditch the gun and establish alibis, but the cops are suspicious of these two anyways and start following them around and putting the heat on them in a dozen different ways. Frankie thinks Benny will drink too much and talk. Benny thinks Frankie will talk to save his own neck.
This was one of the early films to talk about juvenile delinquency post-war. It shows the bad home conditions - often brought on by parents who have no time for anything but work - that cause kids to bring themselves up, often with bad influences as role models.
There is a very interesting dance scene at a party towards the end of the film. This was a good and rather long scene of swing dancing with a great African American band. It was the type of music and dancing popular a few years before rock and roll hit the scene.
This is probably notable in film history for the fact that two future stars had their first credited roles here. Thelma Ritter plays Frankie's world weary mom who never looks like she has had enough sleep. Tony Curtis, twelfth billed as Anthony Curtis, plays Mitch, one of the Dukes. At first he is practically mute, but as the film wears on he is given more and more to say. Probably because he has such presence in even such a small role.
Peter Fernandez is practically the whole show here as Frankie, the main character. Yet he never starred in another feature film again. Instead he found himself in TV roles, as well as directing and writing. He also "found his voice" in all kinds of films and productions doing voice overs. His acting career may have not worked out, but his life certainly did. An unusual happy story for someone who starts out a star but doesn't stay that way.