This is best viewed as a filmed Stage Play because that is basically what it is. There is very little Movie pretensions and is delivered as an Actor's vehicle. It is a talky treatise on Juvenile Delinquency that starts out with a Rumble but then (un)settles in for a peek behind the cement curtain of dingy apartments and dirty streets, one Parent Families and smelly surroundings.
A strong cast and Direction with an ambiance that is stifling and unsanitary (in the Kitchen, the 10 year old little Brother says..."I caught a roach, you want to see"). That is basically what we are witnessing. Human roaches scurrying around in this filth trying to survive. Sometimes it is so gritty that audiences may feel uncomfortable watching.
The dialog has verisimilitude and the Film feels authentic beneath the facade, but as Movie Entertainment it could have opened up a bit, but the limited budget and Studio bound sets were not accommodating. Overall it is worth seeing as an artifact of the time, an era that was starting to pay some attention, if not enough, to the plight of underprivileged Youth in underdeveloped neighborhoods, and understaffed and overworked broken "homes".
A strong cast and Direction with an ambiance that is stifling and unsanitary (in the Kitchen, the 10 year old little Brother says..."I caught a roach, you want to see"). That is basically what we are witnessing. Human roaches scurrying around in this filth trying to survive. Sometimes it is so gritty that audiences may feel uncomfortable watching.
The dialog has verisimilitude and the Film feels authentic beneath the facade, but as Movie Entertainment it could have opened up a bit, but the limited budget and Studio bound sets were not accommodating. Overall it is worth seeing as an artifact of the time, an era that was starting to pay some attention, if not enough, to the plight of underprivileged Youth in underdeveloped neighborhoods, and understaffed and overworked broken "homes".