"Let No Man Write My Epitaph" is about the low part of a person's life and not to be dismissed as being down and out or classified as a loser. It's about living a life with dignity. Burl Ives is a judge, was a judge, but now he drinks. A man who has lost his legs sells newspapers and makes his way through life as he can. Even Ella Fitzgerald is at a low point, doing drugs, in a very rare dramatic acting role for her. And, "The Young and the Restless" star Jeanne Cooper has a supporting role as another character with problems. But the main plot concerns Shelley Winters as a widowed mother, raising James Darren. His father was given the gas chamber, but Shelley keeps saying he was innocent. James can't stay out of fights defending his father's name and his mother's reputation. Shelley has lately had no other recourse but to attach herself to men for a living. Everyone in town knows what she is. Burl has an interest in her, but she does not reciprocate the feelings. When she meets Ricardo Montalban, she is piqued – and he him. He has a legitimate front, but makes his real money by supplying. The low class seems to be front and center in this eye-opening movie, but it doesn't seem to wallow in its own desperation. Instead, hope for tomorrow permeates the film until dramatic events take place. James can play the piano and has a possible connection in Jean Seberg. "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" has good performances by all, but Shelley Winters, who was great in everything, and Burl Ives stand out. And, James Darren is surprisingly effective for his years. If you discover this on TCM, watch and witness the lows and obstacles faced and overcome in the lives of people that could be you and me.
22 Reviews
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
wes-connors14 April 2008
James Darren (as Nick "Nicky" Romano) grows up innocently, in the slums of Chicago. He's the illegitimate son of the original "Nick Romano", from "Knock on Any Door" (1949). Gin-medicating mom Shelley Winters (as Nellie Romano) does the best she can raising Mr. Darren; she hopes his musical talent will help him to achieve a better life, unlike his father. Ms. Winters, to her credit, organizes a nurturing group of deadbeats. Chief among them is boozing co-dependent judge Burl Ives (as Bruce M. Sullivan). Together, they raise Darren well, but the Chicago underworld threatens to drag him down
Interesting "sequel" (of sorts); actually, this is an adaptation of Willard Motley third novel, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph", which was a follow-up to his first, "Knock on Any Door". The earlier film starred John Derek and Humphrey Bogart, and lacked much of the realism needed to accurately tell the story. There are some allusions to the earlier film; the shot of the adult Romano (Darren) ascending a stairway recalls the earlier film, as does a picture of the original Romano. This film is much better scripted; and, importantly, Chicago denizens could be shown selling, and using, Heroin. The drug use becomes a very big part of the picture.
This film isn't without flaws; and, for most of the early running time, it teeters so close to plodding, soapy melodrama, you might get disenchanted. However, growing characterizations from the three leads, and nice location photography, enhance the production. Additionally, there are good supporting performances; from, for example, smarmy Ricardo Montalban (as Louie) and legless Walter Burke (as Wart). And, of course, Ella Fitzgerald (as Flora) sings beautifully.
Around the time (at about 1:11) Mr. Ives has a saloon scene with Ms. Fitzgerald in the background (after a fix), the film really takes off. Situations become significantly more obvious. Darren, Winters, and Ives have big dramatic, well-played scenes. The intensity of the film heightens, to quite a very exciting conclusion.
******* Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) Phillip Leacock ~ James Darren, Shelley Winters, Burl Ives
Interesting "sequel" (of sorts); actually, this is an adaptation of Willard Motley third novel, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph", which was a follow-up to his first, "Knock on Any Door". The earlier film starred John Derek and Humphrey Bogart, and lacked much of the realism needed to accurately tell the story. There are some allusions to the earlier film; the shot of the adult Romano (Darren) ascending a stairway recalls the earlier film, as does a picture of the original Romano. This film is much better scripted; and, importantly, Chicago denizens could be shown selling, and using, Heroin. The drug use becomes a very big part of the picture.
This film isn't without flaws; and, for most of the early running time, it teeters so close to plodding, soapy melodrama, you might get disenchanted. However, growing characterizations from the three leads, and nice location photography, enhance the production. Additionally, there are good supporting performances; from, for example, smarmy Ricardo Montalban (as Louie) and legless Walter Burke (as Wart). And, of course, Ella Fitzgerald (as Flora) sings beautifully.
Around the time (at about 1:11) Mr. Ives has a saloon scene with Ms. Fitzgerald in the background (after a fix), the film really takes off. Situations become significantly more obvious. Darren, Winters, and Ives have big dramatic, well-played scenes. The intensity of the film heightens, to quite a very exciting conclusion.
******* Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) Phillip Leacock ~ James Darren, Shelley Winters, Burl Ives
I Wish I Could find this little gem on DVD or Video!
LadyRagweed6 August 2006
I was pleasantly surprised by all of the comments on this film. I haven't seen it for many, many, years, probably 15 or more. However, I remember it well and had believed for a long time that I was the only one who knew of it's existence. *laughing* This is one of my favorite Shelley Winters movies. And of course Miss Ella Fitzgerald was an added treat. I first saw it when I was about 15 (mid-1970s), so you can imagine what an impact it had on me. I'd had a crush on James Darren from his role in the television series "The Time Tunnel". I wish I could find it on video or DVD somewhere; but that's unlikely. I was just looking over the credits and saw a couple of familiar names; Bernie Hamilton(who starred in a lot of the so-called Blaxploitation films of the seventies) and Jeanne Cooper,whom I adored in the seventies as Mrs. Chancellor in the popular soap, "The Young and the Restless". Try as I might, I cannot remember them in the film. Which is why it is a must I see it again! *Laughing* I'll be armed with "TVio" and "VCR" the next time it makes it's appearance on cable....TCM are you listening???!! Miss "P"
Much Underrated
parkerr8630210 May 2008
I am very pleased to see all of the positive responses here at IMDb to a film that was not considered to be much in its day. Very well done, and a lot more frank then you would expect from the era.
Not really a sequel to KNOCK ON ANY DOOR---the relationship is minor at best, non-existent at worst. You don't have to see the first movie to understand this one.
A very positive thing is the relationship between the lead (James Darren) and his alcoholic mother (Shelley Winters). He knows all about her past but loves her anyway, and the dialogue is good. Far too many movies perpetuate the stereotype that parents and children of the opposite sex cannot, or should not, discuss serious "adult" issues intelligently.
Strongly recommended bit of film noir.
Not really a sequel to KNOCK ON ANY DOOR---the relationship is minor at best, non-existent at worst. You don't have to see the first movie to understand this one.
A very positive thing is the relationship between the lead (James Darren) and his alcoholic mother (Shelley Winters). He knows all about her past but loves her anyway, and the dialogue is good. Far too many movies perpetuate the stereotype that parents and children of the opposite sex cannot, or should not, discuss serious "adult" issues intelligently.
Strongly recommended bit of film noir.
So gritty it gets your fingernails dirty
marcslope15 April 2008
Kind of a cross between "West Side Story" (though it's Chicago's West Side) and "Golden Boy" without Clifford Odets' lyricism, this sleaze-obsessed melodrama benefits from location filming that shows how awful the Chicago slums looked in 1960 and a motley, oddball cast. James Darren is the sensitive hood/concert pianist (and though he's proficient at the keyboard, he's hardly the prodigy the script makes him out to be), being raised by Shelley Winters at her Shelley Wintersiest, screaming and sobbing and unhinging easily. She and an assembly of longtime slum pals, including an uninteresting Burl Ives as a drunken ex-judge, are trying to give the kid a decent upbringing amid all the squalor. There are also Ricardo Montalban, excellent as an insidiously evil-charming dope peddler; Ella Fitzgerald, who gets to act a bit and isn't bad; and Jean Seberg, not quite credible as the Lake Shore girl Darren loves. The direction is uninspired, and the screenplay a little contrived (when it wants us to know Ives loves Winters, it just has him confess to the camera), but what's fascinating is the brio with which the filmmakers depict all the sex and violence and addiction and grimness. It's as if they were trying to show how grownup they are by thrusting all that misery in your face. It moves fast, and if your attention starts to wander, be assured, Shelley Winters will be erupting again soon.
Drama about working-class Chicago.
rmax30482313 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Not bad, actually, partly because the cast is as good as it is. And what a cast! James Darren, whose performance is exceptional in being less than particularly good, is Nick Romano. Well -- the kid is a genius at the piano, see. But he's being raised in this crummy Chicago apartment house and everybody around him is a loser in one way or another. There is the failed, drunken ex-judge (Burl Ives), the heroin-addicted saloon singer (Ella Fitzgerald, in another below-professional performance), Darren's distraught mother (Shelley Winters), the helpful guy who runs the news stand (I thought it was Richard Taber but he's not in the credits) and the helpful cab drive (Rudolf Acosta). They'd all like to help Nick when he runs into trouble with the law, injuring his precious hands, his tools out of the slums, and so on. And Nick is immediately sympathetic because his father died in the electric chair. But what can they do? They all have their own weaknesses and can barely keep themselves together.
And there are bad guys too, exemplified by Ricardo Montalban's smooth, expensively dressed and immaculately groomed dope dealer, who shoots Shelley Winters up and then takes advantage of her, as they say, in her flat. The scene is kind of edgy for 1960 and only gets more so when Nick barges in on them unexpectedly while they are in flagrante delicto.
Burl Ives pulls himself together sufficiently, with the aid of the good-natured others, to introduce Nick to someone (Philip Ober, an actor whose magnetism has always eluded me) in a position to get Nick into the Music Conservatory after high school. Pretty good, eh? It's not just how good you are, but who you know. Or, more precisely, it's who somebody you know knows. And then, to top it off with a cherry, Ober the Impresario has a drop-dead gorgeous daughter who comes in the shape of the young Jean Seberg, the perfect, if entirely conventional, incarnation of Nordic beauty.
Actually, Seberg doesn't act well either. Let's see. It LOOKS like a good cast -- but Darren, Fitzgerald, Ober, and Seberg don't really deliver. You know when I said "the cast is as good as it is"? Can I take that back? I don't think I'll give away the ending except to mention that the very last shot in the film has Darren and Seberg walking hand in hand in front of the Chicago Art Institute. You'll have to guess the rest.
I don't know who chose the title or why. It's from a speech by Robert Emmett, an 18th-century Irish nationalist I think, just before his execution. Emmett's message was along the lines of, "Don't judge me now, you cretins. The historians of the future will give me a fair shake." Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose. (My keyboard doesn't have the accents for that cliché.)
And there are bad guys too, exemplified by Ricardo Montalban's smooth, expensively dressed and immaculately groomed dope dealer, who shoots Shelley Winters up and then takes advantage of her, as they say, in her flat. The scene is kind of edgy for 1960 and only gets more so when Nick barges in on them unexpectedly while they are in flagrante delicto.
Burl Ives pulls himself together sufficiently, with the aid of the good-natured others, to introduce Nick to someone (Philip Ober, an actor whose magnetism has always eluded me) in a position to get Nick into the Music Conservatory after high school. Pretty good, eh? It's not just how good you are, but who you know. Or, more precisely, it's who somebody you know knows. And then, to top it off with a cherry, Ober the Impresario has a drop-dead gorgeous daughter who comes in the shape of the young Jean Seberg, the perfect, if entirely conventional, incarnation of Nordic beauty.
Actually, Seberg doesn't act well either. Let's see. It LOOKS like a good cast -- but Darren, Fitzgerald, Ober, and Seberg don't really deliver. You know when I said "the cast is as good as it is"? Can I take that back? I don't think I'll give away the ending except to mention that the very last shot in the film has Darren and Seberg walking hand in hand in front of the Chicago Art Institute. You'll have to guess the rest.
I don't know who chose the title or why. It's from a speech by Robert Emmett, an 18th-century Irish nationalist I think, just before his execution. Emmett's message was along the lines of, "Don't judge me now, you cretins. The historians of the future will give me a fair shake." Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose. (My keyboard doesn't have the accents for that cliché.)
Beethoven & Chopin get a look in
howardmorley6 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Shelley Winters always seemed to specialise in playing roles of rather seedy, superficial glamorous, looking women who are down on their luck because they mix in bad company.Here she mixes with an assortment of low life Chicago characters, having married a man executed in the electric chair for murder.This fact she hides from her son (James Darren) because he is too young to bear the truth.Her son is gifted at music but Shelley has too many balls in the air trying to raise her family on the wages of a bar room hostess/waitress because she does not possess any other marketable skills.Dubbed on the soundtrack was a snippet of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata and Chopin which her son "plays" in preparation for his audition at the conservatoire in Chicago.
Burl Ives is on hand to give a surrogate father's advice to James Darren and Shelley to keep them on the straight and narrow.He plays a drunken ex-judge who gives his life trying to save Shelley and James from an evil drug pusher played by Riccardo Montalban.A young Jean Seburg plays the love interest to James Darren the latter of whom I first saw in the 1961 film "The Guns of Navarone" which had a stellar cast.Passable, I rated the above film 6/10.
Burl Ives is on hand to give a surrogate father's advice to James Darren and Shelley to keep them on the straight and narrow.He plays a drunken ex-judge who gives his life trying to save Shelley and James from an evil drug pusher played by Riccardo Montalban.A young Jean Seburg plays the love interest to James Darren the latter of whom I first saw in the 1961 film "The Guns of Navarone" which had a stellar cast.Passable, I rated the above film 6/10.
Mean Streets
ramblinjack122 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Based on African-American novelist Willard Motley's book (1958) of the same name (title from 19th century Irish Patriot Robert Emmet's famous execution speech, see below). This story takes up the plight of two of the original characters from "Knock" and illustrates the frustrations of a group of residents living on "lower class" East Madison Street in Chicago, circa late 1950's.
Nellie Romano (Shelly Winters) is a single Mother bringing up her only son Nick (James Darren), a promising young piano virtuoso. Unfortunately, they and their neighborhood friends are each burdened with the sad fate that "for the wrong turn sometime earlier" they must endure their chosen lot in life. But this tale is not a sappy string-together story of separate woes; rather (in the beginning) an optimistic hope for the future if the pieces of the puzzle fall just right.
Of course, our 'extended family' realize early that the chances of the puzzle's success are remote, as they only have their personal disasters to judge success. There is Nellie's sad story, a past the whole neighborhood knows of, save Nick and the "defrocked" Judge (Burl Ives) who has commuted his own sentence to the bottom of a bottle rather than a court of law. Also a prostitute (Jeanne Cooper), an ex-prizefighter (Bernie Hamilton), the smack addict (Fitzgerald) and a paraplegic (Walter Burke) who in their own way try their best to make each other happy.
Along the way they careen into the lower tiers of an immoral society of disreputable scum-bags, including racketeer Louie Ramponi (Montalban). What transpires next is the 'family' banding together for survival; but the question is, are they strong enough to escape a 'bottomless pit' without even a knotted rope for escape? Maybe the apple of everyone's eyes, young Nick can.
Nellie Romano (Shelly Winters) is a single Mother bringing up her only son Nick (James Darren), a promising young piano virtuoso. Unfortunately, they and their neighborhood friends are each burdened with the sad fate that "for the wrong turn sometime earlier" they must endure their chosen lot in life. But this tale is not a sappy string-together story of separate woes; rather (in the beginning) an optimistic hope for the future if the pieces of the puzzle fall just right.
Of course, our 'extended family' realize early that the chances of the puzzle's success are remote, as they only have their personal disasters to judge success. There is Nellie's sad story, a past the whole neighborhood knows of, save Nick and the "defrocked" Judge (Burl Ives) who has commuted his own sentence to the bottom of a bottle rather than a court of law. Also a prostitute (Jeanne Cooper), an ex-prizefighter (Bernie Hamilton), the smack addict (Fitzgerald) and a paraplegic (Walter Burke) who in their own way try their best to make each other happy.
Along the way they careen into the lower tiers of an immoral society of disreputable scum-bags, including racketeer Louie Ramponi (Montalban). What transpires next is the 'family' banding together for survival; but the question is, are they strong enough to escape a 'bottomless pit' without even a knotted rope for escape? Maybe the apple of everyone's eyes, young Nick can.
Life in the big gritty.
ksf-225 February 2024
Huge, huge names in here! Montalban, teen star bobby darren, singers/actors ella fitzgerald and burl ives!! Whether by choice or by circumstance, almost every character here has fallen on hard times, and either can't or won't leave the rough side of chicago. And each one has his or her own weakness, and his or her own remedy. However short term it may be. When nellie's son nick gets in trouble for fighting, she wants to make sure he doesn't end up like his dad. And nellie's neighbors vow to help look after him. But nick and nellie are both in for deep, dark challenges ahead. Some of nellie's friends aren't the friends she thought. Story of addictions, futures, challenges, family, possible recovery. I was never a big shelley winters fan, but she carries it off in this one. Fun to watch the big names play rougher roles. Showing on cinevault streaming. They hardly ever show this one. Directed by philip leacock; he was nominated for an emmy for directing a bunch of "the waltons".
Excellent film!
adsqueiroz10 August 2005
What a film! A classic or a thriller, I don't know, but it sure is one of those films for you not to miss. It is already one of my favorite classics. A story that makes you understand how it is important to pursue a dream, a dream of not letting a child follow the footsteps of a criminal father. A story that teaches us some important values. It is a struggle for life and an excellent opportunity for us to think about this problem. Drugs, violence and alcohol are some of the matters that make this film an important issue to discuss about. Good casting and acting also help to make this film a must-see. It is a classic worth watching.
"Big Daddy" Rocks The House
Lorddavud114 January 2006
This film is one of the favorite memories from my childhood. My memory said that Sal Mineo was in it, so I was a little surprised to see that it was actually James Darren. Not as good an actor as Sal, but a good looking kid, who could sing. Shelley Winters is beautiful in it, but very needy. Ella is a bonus. Burl Ives is bigger than life. And, you get to see Ricardo Montalban as a pre Mr. Roarke, pre Chrysler New Yorker ("Fine Corinthian leather"), bad guy. The climatic finale has stayed with me all these years. I always thought it was an older movie, but I guess it was just the genre and the cinematography. A little hokey, by today's standards, but a classic none the same.
Lackluster Cheesieness
kimbpaul18 August 2022
Shelly Winters over emotes her usual whiny character, James Darren has no character presence at all. Dame Ella & Mr. Ives must've needed the money. One more "baby" out of Mr. Real Corinthian Leather and I'd have thrown something at the screen to shut him up. I guess this is how gritty poverty was imagined by Hollywood in 1960.
As there are so few reviews and nothing below 6 (until my 3, which is really for no good reason other than it killed some time before a better movie started) the current average rating of 7 is way too high for this movie. Why were 60's films so awful? So unless you need to waste 2 hours, pass this one by; it's seriously overrated.
As there are so few reviews and nothing below 6 (until my 3, which is really for no good reason other than it killed some time before a better movie started) the current average rating of 7 is way too high for this movie. Why were 60's films so awful? So unless you need to waste 2 hours, pass this one by; it's seriously overrated.
Top-flight cast in a great sequel to "Knock On any Door" (1949)
bux4 April 1999
In this sequel to "Knock On Any Door" (1949) we find Nick Romano's illegitimate son being raised by his mother and a band of well intentioned, but flawed residents of a tennement slum. Winters as his drug addicted mother, and Montalban as her pusher are stand-out performances. It is a gripping scene, when young Nick walks in on his mother and her pusher and catches them "in the act.." Seldom appears on TV, but well worth catching.
Trapped
Lechuguilla20 January 2016
Set mostly in the slums of Chicago in the late 1950s, this intense drama tells the story of several adults trapped in depressing lives from which there seems no escape. So they bundle their good intentions in hopes of shepherding a fatherless teenager named Nick (James Darren) into a more hopeful life. Shelley Winters plays Nick's mother, Nellie. And Burl Ives plays the Judge, a man who somehow allowed his love of alcohol to derail his judicial career. A few others add to Nick's improvised family.
Although Nellie would probably be considered the lead character, the film could almost be described as having an ensemble cast, given that each of the main performers has scenes independent of Nellie. The script is talky but tight; dialogue largely drives the plot forward. Themes include dignity and self-determination despite apparent hopelessness.
Consistent with these themes, interiors are mostly drab and bleak; alcohol and drugs figure prominently in these peoples' lives. B&W lighting trends low-key and mostly low-contrast, though side lighting adds a hint of noir in some scenes. The score consists of intermittent elevator music that's very soft and nondescript. Ella Fitzgerald's piano playing and singing mirrors the softness of the background music. Casting is perfect. The main players all give topnotch performances.
Based on a novel, this film gets off to a somewhat slow start but the drama picks up, and builds to a theatrical climax. It's been awhile since I have watched a film with such a good script, particularly in the second and third Acts. And with a great cast and terrific performances, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" makes a highly favorable impression.
Although Nellie would probably be considered the lead character, the film could almost be described as having an ensemble cast, given that each of the main performers has scenes independent of Nellie. The script is talky but tight; dialogue largely drives the plot forward. Themes include dignity and self-determination despite apparent hopelessness.
Consistent with these themes, interiors are mostly drab and bleak; alcohol and drugs figure prominently in these peoples' lives. B&W lighting trends low-key and mostly low-contrast, though side lighting adds a hint of noir in some scenes. The score consists of intermittent elevator music that's very soft and nondescript. Ella Fitzgerald's piano playing and singing mirrors the softness of the background music. Casting is perfect. The main players all give topnotch performances.
Based on a novel, this film gets off to a somewhat slow start but the drama picks up, and builds to a theatrical climax. It's been awhile since I have watched a film with such a good script, particularly in the second and third Acts. And with a great cast and terrific performances, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" makes a highly favorable impression.
Hopeless conditions for a young pianist with criminality and addiction all around
clanciai30 December 2019
Burl Ives with his acting lifts this film to greatness by making a character that you will never forget - an old judge emeritus fallen to alcoholism as a pathetic bum, but with his integrity and pathos for justice intact. The main character though ís a young pianist (James Darren) who struggles to get out of his sordid circumstances in the slum with an alcoholic mother (Shelley Winters) getting into worse trouble, and a picturesque gallery of friends, one of them being Ella Fitzgerald fallen to drug addiction. The film is heart-rending for its extremely delicate story of hardship struggling against hopeless conditions not to get worse, while everything only gets the worse for that. Jean Seberg arrives on the scene as an unexpected and positive surprise, and it does not after all end as a total tragedy, although there certainly are casualties on the way, one of them fortunately being the worst crook. This is a film to love more than to enjoy, because the trials of all these victims of unfortunate circumstances will be experienced by you as a spectator as well.
Hope hidden in squalor.
michaelRokeefe20 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A provocative drama, directed by Philip Leacock, set in Chicago's notorious South Side in the 1950's. Shelley Winters stars as Nellie Romano, a waitress working in a bar hoping to do the best for her young son Nick(James Darren). Nick will grow up on the dirty streets dodging bums, drunks and drug addicts. Nellie and Nick live in a dirty tenement apartment, where there is more than an abundance of losers trying to look out for them. Nick practices on piano, while his mother does her best to hide the fact that Nick's father died in the electric chair.
Nick often dons a black leather jacket, but is not the worst young man in the neighborhood. Albeit he gets a jail sentence for helping a friend victimized in a gang fight. Nick avoids jail by way of a "special favor" from his mom's boyfriend Louie(Ricardo Montalban). Things get dark when Nick finds out that Louie, a bookie and drug pusher, plies Nellie of any virtue with dope.
A story of shame, squalor, poverty, addiction and survival. Besides Winters' stellar performance, Burl Ives turns in a strong job of acting as a former judge turned drunk. And jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald is solid as a junkie piano player. Other players include: Jean Seberg, Rodolfo Acosta, Walter Burk, Phil Ober and Bernie Hamilton.
Nick often dons a black leather jacket, but is not the worst young man in the neighborhood. Albeit he gets a jail sentence for helping a friend victimized in a gang fight. Nick avoids jail by way of a "special favor" from his mom's boyfriend Louie(Ricardo Montalban). Things get dark when Nick finds out that Louie, a bookie and drug pusher, plies Nellie of any virtue with dope.
A story of shame, squalor, poverty, addiction and survival. Besides Winters' stellar performance, Burl Ives turns in a strong job of acting as a former judge turned drunk. And jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald is solid as a junkie piano player. Other players include: Jean Seberg, Rodolfo Acosta, Walter Burk, Phil Ober and Bernie Hamilton.
Well worth a look!!!
mctoomey21 December 2002
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of my all-time favorite films. A classic inner city drama which draws you into the lives of the characters, their strengths and weaknesses. A solid cast brings to life the struggles of a group of, for lack of words, losers who band together to help a young man escape a life of poverty filled with drugs, alcohol, and violence. This movie is rarely on TV so if you get the chance, don't miss it. Watch for the climactic final scenes which feature Burl Ives going "through" (as opposed to breaking open) a bolted door, then "absorbing" six rounds from a .38 before throttling heroin pusher and all-around bad guy, Ricardo Montalban. As an added treat, the great Ella Fitzgerald sings in her role as, of course, a singer.
I'll write it myself!
sol-kay14 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
(Some Spoilers) Powerful story about life on the other side of the street. In this case the shoddy and crime ridden slums of Chicago personified in the movie as West Madison Street.
Hard working waitress and sometime B-girl Nellie Romano, Shelley Winters, has been trying to keep her young and talented son Nick Jr, James Darren, out of trouble since her common-law husband "Pretty Boy" Nick ended up frying in the state electric chair. "Pretty Boy" gunned down a cop outside a nightclub back in 1948 when Nick Jr was less then a year old. Keeping his mouth shut not to implicate his gangster friends "Pretty Boy" Nick paid for what he did with his life.
It's when Nick Jr just couldn't take the razzing anymore from his high-school classmates about his both dead father and hard working mother that he started to get himself into trouble defending them and their backgrounds: A hard working and sacrificing, for her son, mother and a convicted and executed for murder father.
With the help of a number of people from the neighborhood including local barfly and former circuit judge Bruce Sullivan, Burt Ives, young Nick has his life turned around as he starts to practice with his piano keys not with his fists. Playing up a storm and bringing people listening literally to tears, whenever he bangs and tinkers the ivory keys, Nick is soon destined to become one of the great ones: Another musical genius on the piano like Rubinstein Pederewski or Richter.
It's when Nellie meets, at the dive she's working at, hoodlum Louie Ramponi, Recordo Montalban, that things for her and young Nick started really going sour. Bailing Nick out of prison for an act of juvenile delinquency, a fist fight, Louis starts to work on his mom Nellie in getting her hooked on dope. Having a front as a both flower dealer and bookie Louie's real source of income, that he of course keeps from the IRS, is pushing junk or dope in the neighborhood.
As Nellie's life went to pot her son's was picking up with Nick being discovered, with the help of Judge Sullivan, by multi-millionaire and music lover Grant Holloway, Philip Ober. Grant's daughter the classy and beautiful Barbara Holloway, Jean Seaberg, got so hung up on Nick's music, not his boyish good looks, that she became his girlfriend, Nick's first, without him even having a chance to ask her out for a date. A star struck Barbara even proposed to Nick before he had a chance to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming or not!
It's when Nick came home to Madison Street unexpectedly, to tell his mom the good news, that he found to his horror Nellie, with Louie helping her shoot up, strung out on the big "H" heroin. Running away in disgust Nick gets a gun from the local friendly and legless neighbor newspaper peddler Wart, Walter Burke, and crashes into Louie's flower shop to pay him back for what he did to his mom.
***SPOILER ALERT***Overpowered by Louie and one of his goons Wally, Jack Bryan, Nick is tied up and about to be shot up with a possible "hot load" of heroin not only turning him into a junkie but having him buried next to his long dead father Nick Senior whom he's never met! It's then that the outraged and bear-like Judge Sullivan comes on the scene and at the cost of his own life single-handedly puts an end to Louie Ramponi's crime empire by putting an end to him.
Hard hitting and effective the movie "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" goes where no other film, back then in 1960, dared to go. The movie shows how dope or drugs are used by slime-balls like Louie Ramponi to keep people enslaved and under their control. Also in the movie is jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald as the downtrodden and suicidal Flora who just happens to be one of Louie's many drug addicted customers.
Hard working waitress and sometime B-girl Nellie Romano, Shelley Winters, has been trying to keep her young and talented son Nick Jr, James Darren, out of trouble since her common-law husband "Pretty Boy" Nick ended up frying in the state electric chair. "Pretty Boy" gunned down a cop outside a nightclub back in 1948 when Nick Jr was less then a year old. Keeping his mouth shut not to implicate his gangster friends "Pretty Boy" Nick paid for what he did with his life.
It's when Nick Jr just couldn't take the razzing anymore from his high-school classmates about his both dead father and hard working mother that he started to get himself into trouble defending them and their backgrounds: A hard working and sacrificing, for her son, mother and a convicted and executed for murder father.
With the help of a number of people from the neighborhood including local barfly and former circuit judge Bruce Sullivan, Burt Ives, young Nick has his life turned around as he starts to practice with his piano keys not with his fists. Playing up a storm and bringing people listening literally to tears, whenever he bangs and tinkers the ivory keys, Nick is soon destined to become one of the great ones: Another musical genius on the piano like Rubinstein Pederewski or Richter.
It's when Nellie meets, at the dive she's working at, hoodlum Louie Ramponi, Recordo Montalban, that things for her and young Nick started really going sour. Bailing Nick out of prison for an act of juvenile delinquency, a fist fight, Louis starts to work on his mom Nellie in getting her hooked on dope. Having a front as a both flower dealer and bookie Louie's real source of income, that he of course keeps from the IRS, is pushing junk or dope in the neighborhood.
As Nellie's life went to pot her son's was picking up with Nick being discovered, with the help of Judge Sullivan, by multi-millionaire and music lover Grant Holloway, Philip Ober. Grant's daughter the classy and beautiful Barbara Holloway, Jean Seaberg, got so hung up on Nick's music, not his boyish good looks, that she became his girlfriend, Nick's first, without him even having a chance to ask her out for a date. A star struck Barbara even proposed to Nick before he had a chance to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming or not!
It's when Nick came home to Madison Street unexpectedly, to tell his mom the good news, that he found to his horror Nellie, with Louie helping her shoot up, strung out on the big "H" heroin. Running away in disgust Nick gets a gun from the local friendly and legless neighbor newspaper peddler Wart, Walter Burke, and crashes into Louie's flower shop to pay him back for what he did to his mom.
***SPOILER ALERT***Overpowered by Louie and one of his goons Wally, Jack Bryan, Nick is tied up and about to be shot up with a possible "hot load" of heroin not only turning him into a junkie but having him buried next to his long dead father Nick Senior whom he's never met! It's then that the outraged and bear-like Judge Sullivan comes on the scene and at the cost of his own life single-handedly puts an end to Louie Ramponi's crime empire by putting an end to him.
Hard hitting and effective the movie "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" goes where no other film, back then in 1960, dared to go. The movie shows how dope or drugs are used by slime-balls like Louie Ramponi to keep people enslaved and under their control. Also in the movie is jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald as the downtrodden and suicidal Flora who just happens to be one of Louie's many drug addicted customers.
have never forgotten...
brenniemay23 April 2015
I'm a 57 year old woman and I haven't seen or forgotten this film since seeing it at approx. 8 yrs. old. I remember it as being very dark. It upset me a lot as a child which is probably why I've never forgotten it. I'd like to view it again as well as it's prequel, 'Knock On Any Door', which I didn't know existed until researching, 'Let No Man Write my Epitaph', a story of a young boy of a single mother. Clearly, they were poor and living in a Chicago tenement. The Mother, played by Shelley Winters, became a heroin addict and neighbors in the tenement were trying to prevent the boy from following his Father's past as a criminal subjected to death by electric chair.
One of my favorites
jazzybill4 January 2003
This movie has a top notch cast. It was a family film protecting each other when danger comes around especially for "NICK". This movie is one of my favorite all time movies and I am glad I have this movie to add to my movie collection.
Let No Man Write My Epitaph
jeffgrunden17 January 2006
With the recent death of Shelley Winters, all the principals in this movie are now gone, with the exception of Montalban. Having looked it up, I had forgotten what a fine cast it had, including the surprise of Ella Fitzgerald playing a heroin-addicted blues singer. Sadly, although this was a remake of a previous film, this great film could not be remade or even updated for today's market---simply because our society has changed to where the story in this picture (compelling as it is) would no longer be something people would consider important or even divisive. This plot could not even make the producers of Jerry or Maury take notice. Still, this picture will always be one of my two or three personal all-time favorites, and I will recommend it to anyone who reads these words I write: This is greatness that Hollywood can create...when it really wants to.
trying to find a video copy of this film....
narcissus10 November 1999
a real thriller, montalban is eerie as a 1960's "pusher" and sadistic heroin addict, a must for those into drug culture and film noir. the fact that it is b/w only adds to the urban scurge of drugs use ,espcially horse in the 1960's also exceeding their actting abilities are shelley winters as a drug ravaged mother, and burl ives as the "heavy" handed dudley do right....
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