It took Jack Nicholson a long time to become a star but he did star in this feature film quite early in his career - it just took him another ten years to hit Easy Rider.
This was made by Allied Artists with Roger Corman kicking in the finance. Corman didn't cast Nicholson, as is commonly assumed, but he did okay him and put in the money. One of the writers was Leo Gordon, who worked with Corman and his brother a number of times.
It's a juvenile delinquent picture - jazz soundtrack, black and white photography. The plot has Nicholson as basically a decent kid whose jealousy sees him get in a fight - he grabs a gun, it goes off, and Nicholson is now a killer. Then he takes three people hostage - a black man, a mother and her baby.
The female lead, Carolyn Mitchell, later married Mickey Rooney and was killed in a murder-suicide with her lover. Flloyd Crosby and Haskell Wexler worked on the crew. It is nicely shot.
It makes a mistake I think with Bretty Halsey, the guy who beats up Nicholson, being shot so early. Corman has a small role as a cameraman. Ralph Reed gives off Sam Petrillo vibes as a delinquent.
Story wise too much time is spent with boring cops finding out stuff the audience already knows. Really they should have had more interesting hostages, like the blonde girl and the bad boyfriend.
The finale has some decent suspense as we're not sure if Nicholson will be killed or not.
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