The first of the five collaborations featuring the energetic acting and directing styles of Burt Lancaster and John Frankenheimer The Young Savages is a sincere if not altogether successful look at juvenile gangs and assimilation in the era of West Side Story. It doesn't reach the dizzying heights of the musical but it does effectively convey the plight of growing up in the inner cities and the pressures facing them.
Three of The Horsemen in mid day brazenly walk onto Thunderbird turf and stab a blind boy. Immediately powers that be attempt to exploit the moment for political gain while the city braces for a gang war of retribution between rivals. Hank Bell (Lancaster) is assigned the case by his boss who very much wants to be the next governor. With calls for law and order they push for the death penalty but Bell who grew up in the neighborhood refuses to broad brush the trio and investigates further and what looked clear cut becomes murkier with each new discovery.
The opening of Savages is a powerful montage of tension building as Frankenheimer's assassins move in on their intended target. In the aftermath the cold cynicism of the likes of Telly Savalas' homicide detective and Edward Andrews office seeking DA keeps things gritty and grounded in reality while Frankenheimer and cinematographer Lionel Lindon create some strong expressionistic canvases to illustrate the grinding poverty and despair of the slum. Things become unglued however in the court room scenes as Bell dealing with some identity guilt himself ( his real name is Bellini ) goes from prosecutor to defense lawyer for his ex- girlfriend's kid in one cross examination and it turns Savages into soap opera.
Lancaster delivers his usual energized performance as a man conflicted by his past and present in his pursuit of the American Dream. Andrews and Savalas nail their roles but Dina Merrill and Shelly Winters as paramour metaphors come across remote and bland.
The Young Savages is commendable for its calling to attention the bitter friction of inner city living, poverty, violence and bias giving ample time for the denizens of these the slums to voice their story. The courtroom scenes however do not do it justice and Savages ultimately executes itself.
Three of The Horsemen in mid day brazenly walk onto Thunderbird turf and stab a blind boy. Immediately powers that be attempt to exploit the moment for political gain while the city braces for a gang war of retribution between rivals. Hank Bell (Lancaster) is assigned the case by his boss who very much wants to be the next governor. With calls for law and order they push for the death penalty but Bell who grew up in the neighborhood refuses to broad brush the trio and investigates further and what looked clear cut becomes murkier with each new discovery.
The opening of Savages is a powerful montage of tension building as Frankenheimer's assassins move in on their intended target. In the aftermath the cold cynicism of the likes of Telly Savalas' homicide detective and Edward Andrews office seeking DA keeps things gritty and grounded in reality while Frankenheimer and cinematographer Lionel Lindon create some strong expressionistic canvases to illustrate the grinding poverty and despair of the slum. Things become unglued however in the court room scenes as Bell dealing with some identity guilt himself ( his real name is Bellini ) goes from prosecutor to defense lawyer for his ex- girlfriend's kid in one cross examination and it turns Savages into soap opera.
Lancaster delivers his usual energized performance as a man conflicted by his past and present in his pursuit of the American Dream. Andrews and Savalas nail their roles but Dina Merrill and Shelly Winters as paramour metaphors come across remote and bland.
The Young Savages is commendable for its calling to attention the bitter friction of inner city living, poverty, violence and bias giving ample time for the denizens of these the slums to voice their story. The courtroom scenes however do not do it justice and Savages ultimately executes itself.