LET NO MAN WRITE MY EPITAPH —-a fed-up judge lays down, if not the law, then certainly jaded scorn, for a group of teenage hoods in his courtroom: “The truth is I’m getting pretty sick and tired of having characters like you brought up before me. Now I understand that some of you have tattoo marks to show how tough you are.” This was 1960, when tats were usually the breed mark of veteran sailors, pirates or guys doing life in Folsom, so their presence on the young and restless was out of the norm for the ‘malt shop’ days of Ozzie & Harriet. The dialogue is unintentionally funny today, when everyone born after—what, 1975?—sports ink somewhere. But “the kids” were messed up in this story, written by Robert Presnell Jr. (Legend Of The Lost),  directed by Philip Leacock (The Little Kidnappers, The Rabbit Trap, The War Lover). That’s because it’s a sequel to 1949’s “Live fast, die young” wail for justice Knock On Any Door, and was author Willard Motley’s decade later followup to ‘Nick Romano’s story. This time trouble is with his son, ‘Nick Jr.’, stuck in the same Chicago slum neighborhood, even more down on the heels than in his punk pop’s heyday.

“Nick won’t have a chance. By the time he’s twelve he’ll have the soul of toadstool.”

His murderer father (played by John Derek in Knock On Any Door) executed, out-of-wedlock son Nick Jr., (James Darren) was jointly raised by his mother ‘Nellie’ (Shelley Winters) and a group of locals, well-meaning down-and-out types who, despite their own failings and woes, seek to do right by Nick. Nellie becomes a b-girl (a hooker, essentially) and thru slick ‘Louis Lamponi’ (Ricardo Montalban) gets hooked on heroin. Fighting against the odds to help the talented (he’s a gifted pianist) young man are, among others, alcoholic ex-judge ‘Bruce Mallory Sullivan’ (Burl Ives), attorney’s daughter and Nick’s amour ‘Barbara’ (Jean Seberg), lounge singer ‘Flora’ (Ella Fitzgerald), also an addict, former prizefighter ‘Goodbye George’ (Bernie Hamilton) and ‘Max’ (Rodolfo Acosta), a cabbie.

“Almost. Just about the saddest word of all.”

It’s an interesting cast (Ives in particular is is very good), the script has some trenchant lines etched in, but the downbeat material isn’t a whole lot of fun to sit thru. Darren, 23, had been enjoying increasing notice for several years (Gunman’s Walk a fave)  and had become a teen heartthrob via Sandra Dee’s hit Gidget (as her boyfriend ‘Moondoggie’); following this he scored a supporting role in The Guns Of Navarone and then notched a few hit pop tunes as well.  Winters was basking in the glow of her Supporting Actress Oscar from The Diary Of Anne Frank.  The underrated Montalban added this credit to eight TV gigs that year. Fans of Fitzgerald will appreciate that she sings several numbers. Seberg, 20, having survived the trial-by-fire of Saint Joan added this okay job to her better known work in Breathless the same year. Ever-reliable character actor Acosta was usually typecast as a villain; it’s good to see him get a decency break in this picture. Ives adds this poignant portrait of gallantry in defeat (demon booze variety) to counterpoint his towering father figures from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Big Country. Reviews at the time were polite. A gross of $1,100,000 was buried at 125th place in a year that also saw discontent youth in All The Fine Young Cannibals, Because They’re Young, Breathless and Platinum High School. Next year the troubled teen tempo went hot with the cool of West Side Story.

“This is the first bit of Christmas cheer that hasn’t completely depressed me.”

105 minutes, with Walter Burke, Philip Ober, Jeanne Cooper, Percy Helton, Peter Brocco, Roy Jenson. Run wild, daddy-o, with those crazy advertising tag lines—“Ripped Raw and Roaring from Real Life!”   “Seething…Searching…Surging to Greatness!” “Brazen…Jolting…Brutal…”  You had me on “seething, searching and surging”.