An excellent ensemble going together for what in the 1940's would have been considered an exploitation film, and in 1970's as a warning film could have been a silly finger wagging example of a "this could happen to you" docudrama. It focuses on runaway Linda Purl who ends up on the streets of Hollywood and downtown L. A., product of a not quite broken home where her parents (Carolyn Jones and Paul Burke) have a very troubled marriage, and deal with raising Purl in conflicting ways. She ends up under the thumb of violent pimp Clifton Davis while police officers Louis Gossett Jr. And David Soul try to help her. Veteran street walker Lana Wood and fellow teen Kathleen Quinlan are among those attempting to influence her, with Davis coming to her rescue after she runs away from a somewhat moderate halfway house, run by the kindly Katherine Hammond.
What could have easily have been an over the top expose of "the life" (to mention the name of a later Broadway musical dealing with the variety of prostitution prevelavent at the time) ends up an impressive very personal drama where an innocent young girlis on the verge of being destroyed by influences she can't control. Davis's character is truly manipulative, talking smoothly to have her for his dry, and then utilising guilt to keep her under his thumb. Soul and Gossett go out of their way to find Purl after her escape, leading to meeting with Quinlan after an encounter with a retired prostitute named Maggie, play my veteran actress Dorothy Malone. (Stories like this always have to have a character like Maggie.)
Purl is excellent, but she's surrounded by a cast of veterans who truly sink their teeth into their roles, with mom Jones being truly a neurotic mess and father Burke thinking that if he just wishes for peace in the family, he'll get it. While they make Los Angeles the streets where this takes place, it's obvious that this could take place in any big city, and there is a disclaimer at the beginning warning young girls elected face them out in the big bad world if they are not careful. Hope seems gone for Purl who longs to return home but gets disappointment every time (especially from her mother who considers her competition for the affections of her husband), and finally, it begins to seem as if she has hit the wall long before her time. Perhaps not as remembered as several other 70's teen potboilers like "Go Ask Alice", "Sarah T." or "Dawn, Portrait of a Teenage Runaway", but just as powerful.
What could have easily have been an over the top expose of "the life" (to mention the name of a later Broadway musical dealing with the variety of prostitution prevelavent at the time) ends up an impressive very personal drama where an innocent young girlis on the verge of being destroyed by influences she can't control. Davis's character is truly manipulative, talking smoothly to have her for his dry, and then utilising guilt to keep her under his thumb. Soul and Gossett go out of their way to find Purl after her escape, leading to meeting with Quinlan after an encounter with a retired prostitute named Maggie, play my veteran actress Dorothy Malone. (Stories like this always have to have a character like Maggie.)
Purl is excellent, but she's surrounded by a cast of veterans who truly sink their teeth into their roles, with mom Jones being truly a neurotic mess and father Burke thinking that if he just wishes for peace in the family, he'll get it. While they make Los Angeles the streets where this takes place, it's obvious that this could take place in any big city, and there is a disclaimer at the beginning warning young girls elected face them out in the big bad world if they are not careful. Hope seems gone for Purl who longs to return home but gets disappointment every time (especially from her mother who considers her competition for the affections of her husband), and finally, it begins to seem as if she has hit the wall long before her time. Perhaps not as remembered as several other 70's teen potboilers like "Go Ask Alice", "Sarah T." or "Dawn, Portrait of a Teenage Runaway", but just as powerful.