Burl Ives with his acting lifts this film to greatness by making a character that you will never forget - an old judge emeritus fallen to alcoholism as a pathetic bum, but with his integrity and pathos for justice intact. The main character though ís a young pianist (James Darren) who struggles to get out of his sordid circumstances in the slum with an alcoholic mother (Shelley Winters) getting into worse trouble, and a picturesque gallery of friends, one of them being Ella Fitzgerald fallen to drug addiction. The film is heart-rending for its extremely delicate story of hardship struggling against hopeless conditions not to get worse, while everything only gets the worse for that. Jean Seberg arrives on the scene as an unexpected and positive surprise, and it does not after all end as a total tragedy, although there certainly are casualties on the way, one of them fortunately being the worst crook. This is a film to love more than to enjoy, because the trials of all these victims of unfortunate circumstances will be experienced by you as a spectator as well.