Stars: Shelley Winters, Burt Lancaster, Telly Savalas, John Davis Chandler, Dina Merrill, Chris Robinson

Director: John Frankenheimer

Summary: In the Spanish Harlem of the late 1950s, Hank is prosecuting three members of an Italian street gang who have been charged with the stabbing death of a blind Puerto Rican teenager. Although D.A. Dan Cole (Edward Andrews), eager to boost his career, has told the press that he'll seek the death penalty, Hank, a product of the same kind of slum neighbourhood as both the killers and their victim, resolves to remain neutral until he's completed his investigation.

The beginning of the long association between director John Frankenheimer and actor Burt Lancaster, THE YOUNG SAVAGES stars the latter as Assistant D.A. Hank Bell. In the Spanish Harlem of the late 1950s, Hank is prosecuting three members of an Italian street gang who have been charged with the stabbing death of a blind Puerto Rican teenager. Although D.A. Dan Cole (Edward Andrews), eager to boost his career, has told the press that he'll seek the death penalty, Hank, a product of the same kind of slum neighbourhood as both the killers and their victim, resolves to remain neutral until he's completed his investigation. His involvement is complicated both by his liberal wife Karin's (Dina Merrill) stand against capital punishment, and the fact that one of the indicted, Danny Di Pace (Stanley Kristien) is the son of his former fiancee Mary (Shelley Winters). As he patiently probes the case, Hank learns that the victim was actually the leader of a Puerto Rican street gang who was pimping his 13-year-old sister on the side. As tensions escalate on both sides, Karin is attacked by a street gang, and Hank is viciously beaten up in a subway. This solid, socially conscious, police procedural, was only the director's second feature, and he gets fine performances from Lancaster and Shelley Winters. Young composer David Amram, who would also work on the director's MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, contributes a sharp, jazz-inflected score.

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Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1961
Release Date:	May 4, 2009
Runtime:	99 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	O P T D 1608
Keywords:	English, General, Young, Savages, Drama
Genre:	Drama