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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
film that deserves more recognition, March 10, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Young Savages [VHS] (VHS Tape)
East Harlem New York is the setting where three members of an Italian gang savagely murder a blind puerto Rican boy in cold blood. The boys are subsequnetly arrested and district attorney Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) at first seeks the death penalty for the boys. He shortly after finds out that one of the boys is the son of his childhood girlfriend who still resides in the East Harlem district where he was raised. Lancaster then thouroughly investigates the case and discovers some rather surprising things. The bitter tensions between the rival Italian Thunderbirds gang and the Puerto Rican Horseman gang are vividly shown in this film. Unlike some other films that deal with gangs and delinquency, the gnag memeber have bonifide iTALIAN AND pUERTO rICAN NAMES INSTEAD OF BLAND GENERIC NAMES LIKE DAnny fisher. Luis Arroyo is very good as the insightful and angry Peurto Rican gang leader who accuses the D. A of practicing a double standard for Peurto Ricans and Italians. Vivian Nathan is superb as the angry grief stricken mother of the slain boy. Her performance and dialogue are close to oscar caliber. John Davis Chandler is frightening as the cold vicious morally bankrupt Thunderbird member who along with co- defendend Anthony Aposto (Neil nephew) sees nothing wrong with murdering a Peurto Rioan for kicks. This film is sadly forgotten by most people. it was never a big box office hit. But the story is very good and the characthers are vivid and thouroughly convincing as true to life EAST HARLEM GANG MEMBERS. many socially relevant issues are covered in this drama as well. More people should see this very good, realistic and powerful film. Teenagers and adults can relate to the issues dealt with here such as, peer pressure, racial tension poverty , broken homes, depravation cuased by slum life and more. a very good film that is still very timely.,
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
film that deserves more recognition, March 10, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Young Savages [VHS] (VHS Tape)
East Harlem New York is the setting where three members of an Italian gang savagely murder a blind puerto Rican boy in cold blood. The boys are subsequnetly arrested and district attorney Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) at first seeks the death penalty for the boys. He shortly after finds out that one of the boys is the son of his childhood girlfriend who still resides in the East Harlem district where he was raised. Lancaster then thouroughly investigates the case and discovers some rather surprising things. The bitter tensions between the rival Italian Thunderbirds gang and the Puerto Rican Horseman gang are vividly shown in this film. Unlike some other films that deal with gangs and delinquency, the gnag memeber have bonifide iTALIAN AND pUERTO rICAN NAMES INSTEAD OF BLAND GENERIC NAMES LIKE DAnny fisher. Luis Arroyo is very good as the insightful and angry Peurto Rican gang leader who accuses the D. A of practicing a double standard for Peurto Ricans and Italians. Vivian Nathan is superb as the angry grief stricken mother of the slain boy. Her performance and dialogue are close to oscar caliber. John Davis Chandler is frightening as the cold vicious morally bankrupt Thunderbird member who along with co- defendend Anthony Aposto (Neil nephew) sees nothing wrong with murdering a Peurto Rioan for kicks. This film is sadly forgotten by most people. it was never a big box office hit. But the story is very good and the characthers are vivid and thouroughly convincing as true to life EAST HARLEM GANG MEMBERS. many socially relevant issues are covered in this drama as well. More people should see this very good, realistic and powerful film. Teenagers and adults can relate to the issues dealt with here such as, peer pressure, racial tension poverty , broken homes, depravation cuased by slum life and more. a very good film that is still very timely.,
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Forgotten Morality Play, November 2, 2005
This review is from: The Young Savages [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I watched a lot of movies on TV when I was growing up. Much of them were mediocre at best (I'm thinking of the Friday and Saturday night monster movies and the Saturday afternoon Roy Rogers Westerns). Some of the movies I saw were great movies then and remain so today. However, a few left an indelible impression on me yet seemed to disappear from public view as I grew older. One such movie was "The Young Savages". I was seared by the image of Puerto Rican gangs in New York where teenagers would kill with switchblades and beat people with log chains. It was strange stuff for an adolescent growing up in Des Moines. I was impressed with Burt Lancaster who was "one of them" but ready, as an Assistant District Attorney, to send these young murderers to the gas chamber. I was fascinated as I watched his efforts to punish evolve into an effort to understand. I remember wondering if other prosecutors ever handled a trial the way he did (I don't think so). I would remember scenes from "The Young Savages" over the years and I was glad to finally have a chance to see it again the other night on TCM.
The second time around was as good or better because I didn't appreciate the moral story in the movie as much as I thought I had. The same scenes of senseless violence challenged me again (although, between then and now, I had been to New York City a number of times...and survived!). However, I had missed the tension between DA Lancaster and his proper wife who opposed capital punishment. It was interesting to see Lancaster fight his own beliefs and put them to the test. His efforts to get to understand the juvenile delinquents was impressive. Each time he felt he'd had enough of their pointless violent nature, he relent and search even deeper to understand what made them click. The further he'd push it, the harder he'd get hurt (in a variety of ways). The trial still comes across as something out of a Broadway play rather than a district courthouse but, by that point in the movie, Lancaster had earned the right to solve things his way. The result of the trial had touched me as a kid and seeing it again reaffirmed my first impressions.
The acting in "The Young Savages" was generally good to (in the case of Burt Lancaster) very good. I'll add a kudo for Telly Savalas in a supporting role. Edward Andrews was a bit much as the ambition District Attorney who had his sights on the Governors mansion. However, I can think of a number of current politicians who come across worse than he did. I never really bought into Dina Merril's role (although her scene in the elevator was fairly well done). I didn't realize that John Frankenheimer went back that far as a director but he, and the writer did very well. I'm sorry that this movie is so seldom shown these days. It's what we would call a "sleeper". I'll watch it again the next time I can. I just hope it isn't another 40-some years before I get the chance again.
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