***SPOILERS*** In his first major role on TV before he became a major motion picture star Sal, or Salvator as he's listed here in the credits, Mineo is teenager Jose Garcia who's been keeping secret the fact that he injured his foot for over a year from his mom played by Miriam Goldina to keep her from worrying about him. But now with gangrene possibly setting in he's forced to go to the hospital to get it treated or else end up losing it! With the news of her son's condition his mom is convinced by family friend Mrs Kelly, Adaina Rice, not to sign a waver to have Jose be operated on in her not believing that his condition is as bad as it really is. It's registered nurse Jenet Dean, Ella Raines, who convinces young Jose to get his dad to sign the waver. But the problem is that Mr.Garcia, Will Kuluva, had dropped out of sight four years ago and has never been seen or herd from since!
It takes a while for Jose to track down his dad but in this seedy pool room where he once hung out in the slummy side of town is where he's told that he checked out to Mexico to become a champion bull fighter. That's until he was savagely gored and ended up in a wheelchair! It's Jose's dad, first name Enrique, who after Jose track him down, in his shabby one room basement apartment, who later realized that if his son isn't operated on he'll end up a cripple like himself and gives his go-ahead, by signing the waver, to be treated. In a Salvator Dali like dream sequence Jose, dressed as a bull fighter, when he goes under the knife sees himself playing baseball for his favorite baseball team the Brooklyn Bums, Dodgers, and after running out a fly ball losing his leg trying to reach first base. This has him as well as us watching think that the operation wasn't a success.
***SPOILERS*** That whole dream sequence turned out to be total bunk with Jose fully recovered and bouncing up and down, on his once badly injured leg, and ready to get a try-out by the Brooklyn Dodgers to play shortstop for them. It was his dad that made all that possible but also it was Jose in finding his dad that brought him and his mom together and have him finally after four long years have a two parent family.
P.S It was a year later that Sal Mineo hit it big on the silver screen in the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" with another Dean, like Janet Dean in this TV episode, actor James Dean as his co-star.
It takes a while for Jose to track down his dad but in this seedy pool room where he once hung out in the slummy side of town is where he's told that he checked out to Mexico to become a champion bull fighter. That's until he was savagely gored and ended up in a wheelchair! It's Jose's dad, first name Enrique, who after Jose track him down, in his shabby one room basement apartment, who later realized that if his son isn't operated on he'll end up a cripple like himself and gives his go-ahead, by signing the waver, to be treated. In a Salvator Dali like dream sequence Jose, dressed as a bull fighter, when he goes under the knife sees himself playing baseball for his favorite baseball team the Brooklyn Bums, Dodgers, and after running out a fly ball losing his leg trying to reach first base. This has him as well as us watching think that the operation wasn't a success.
***SPOILERS*** That whole dream sequence turned out to be total bunk with Jose fully recovered and bouncing up and down, on his once badly injured leg, and ready to get a try-out by the Brooklyn Dodgers to play shortstop for them. It was his dad that made all that possible but also it was Jose in finding his dad that brought him and his mom together and have him finally after four long years have a two parent family.
P.S It was a year later that Sal Mineo hit it big on the silver screen in the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" with another Dean, like Janet Dean in this TV episode, actor James Dean as his co-star.