''Daddy-O'' is a 1958

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

starring

Dick Contino Richard Joseph "Dick" Contino (January 17, 1930 – April 19, 2017) was an American accordionist and singer. Early life Contino was born in Fresno, California. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Contino, and he attended Fresno High School. H ...

Sandra Giles Sandra Giles, born Lelia Bernice Giles, (July 24, 1932 – December 25, 2016) was an American actress and model. She was best known for her film debut role in '' Daddy-O'' in 1958, as well numerous other film roles, including ''It Happened at the ...

and Bruno VeSota. It was directed by Lou Place and written by David Moessinger. The film is notable for its soundtrack as being the debut

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

. The film was released by

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with '' Roadracers''. It was later featured as a movie mocked by ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''. ''Daddy-O'' was produced by Elmer C. Rhoden Jr. who also produced '' The Delinquents'' (1957) and ''

The Cool and the Crazy ''The Cool and the Crazy'' is a 1958 motion picture that was distributed by American International Pictures, American-International Pictures as a double feature with ''Dragstrip Riot''. It stars Scott Marlowe and Gigi Perreau. Plot ''The Co ...

'' (1958).

Plot

Hotshot street-racer Phil Sandifer (Contino) is working as a truck driver when he is harassed by a sports car driving on the highway. He later meets up with the driver, Jana (Giles), in a local club. Jana challenges Phil to a race; Jana runs Phil off the road, and he loses. At the same time, his best friend Sonny is run off the road and killed by an unidentified assailant (VeSota). Later at the club, Phil is arrested for destruction of city property and trespassing in the area they raced through, reckless driving, and hit-and-run and manslaughter for Sonny's death. The hit-and-run and manslaughter charges are dropped but Phil is found guilty of the other three charges - as a result, Phil is placed on probation and is stripped of his driver's license. Phil quickly launches into an investigation into Sonny's murder, his first suspect being Jana. She denies any involvement, and joins Phil in his investigation. He follows the trail of clues to nightclub owner Sidney Chillas (Sonny's assailant), and Chillas's lackey Bruce, who runs the gym Sonny used to frequent. Chillas hires Phil as a singer under the alias of "Daddy-O". Not long after being hired, Phil is beaten up by a couple of drug dealers who have mistaken him for Pete Plum, a pseudonym used by Sonny. Phil draws the conclusion that Sonny had been moving money around for Chillas, and that he had stolen some of the money and was killed as a result. Phil confronts Chillas with the information, and they confront one another in a liquor cellar. Phil manages to knock Chillas out, and soon the police arrive and arrest him and Bruce. The movie ends just as Phil is asked to sing.

Cast

*Phil Sandifer/Daddy-O:

*Jana Ryan:

*Sidney Chillas: Bruno VeSoto *Marcia Hayes: Gloria Victor *Duke Manion: Ron McNeil *Bruce Green: Jack McClure *Peg Lawrence: Sonia Torgeson *Ken:

Kelly Gordon Kelly Gordon (November 19, 1932 – August 1, 1981) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Work After recording some unsuccessful solo singles for Mercury Records, Gordon was employed by Capitol Records as a staff producer. One ...

*Barney:

Hank Mann Hank Mann (born David William Lieberman, May 28, 1887 – November 25, 1971) was a Russian Empire-born and American comedian and silent screen star who was a member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of th ...

*Frank Wooster: Joseph Donte *Kerm: Joseph Martin *Sonny DiMarco: Bob Banas

Release and reception

The film was released by AIP on a double bill with '' Roadracers''.

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

The film was featured in Episode 307 of the television series ''

'', paired with the short subject ''Alphabet Antics''. The episode also features a parody of the film's song "Rock Candy Baby", with

Joel Robinson Joel Robinson is a fictional character featured in the American science fiction comedy television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). He was portrayed by series creator Joel Hodgson. If counting the locally-produced episodes, Jo ...

Crow T. Robot Crow T. Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Crow is a robot, who, along with others, ridicules poor-quality B to Z movies. Overview Accordin ...

and

Tom Servo Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a com ...

performing the tune as "Hike Your Pants Up". The episode was part of the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXXIII''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

box set, released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

in July 2015. The other episodes in the four-disc set include ''

Earth vs. the Spider ''Earth vs. the Spider'' (a.k.a. ''The Spider'') is an independently made 1958 American black-and-white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, who also provided the plot upon which the screenplay by George Wort ...

'' (episode #313), ''

Teen-Age Crime Wave ''Teen-Age Crime Wave'' (aka ''Teenage Crime Wave'') is a 1955 American juvenile delinquency film noir crime film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Tommy Cook (actor), Tommy Cook and Molly McCart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The pl ...

'' (episode #522), and '' Agent for H.A.R.M.'' (episode #815).

In other media

* In the 1994 hit film ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

'', a poster for ''Daddy-O'' is visible during scenes taking place in the 1950s

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...

restaurant "Jack Rabbit Slim's". * In 1994 author

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...

wrote ''

Hollywood Nocturnes ''Hollywood Nocturnes'' is a 1994 collection of short stories by James Ellroy. Like many of Ellroy's novels, the majority of the stories are set in 1940s and 1950s. The collection was inspired by Ellroy's having seen the film Daddy-O and finding c ...

'', a collection of short stories, one of which was titled ''Dick Contino's Blues'', a fictional take on the making of the film and surrounding back story starring

.Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories : Ellroy, James, 1948 - Internet Archive
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{Amg movie, 11952, Daddy-O 1958 films American auto racing films American crime drama films American International Pictures films American black-and-white films 1958 crime drama films Films scored by John Williams 1950s English-language films Teensploitation 1950s American films