The Cry Baby Killer (1958)
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''The Cry Baby Killer'' is a 1958 teen exploitation film produced by Roger Corman that marked Jack Nicholson's film debut. The film was out of print and difficult to find until 2006, when it was issued on DVD for the first time by Buena Vista Home Entertainment as part of its Roger Corman Classics series.


Plot

Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Wallace panics after he thinks he has committed manslaughter while fighting with a group of teenage hoodlums. Wallace then takes a random man and woman, and the woman's infant, hostage inside a food shelter outside a popular local restaurant, and threatens them if they try to escape. This leads to a stand-off with a police force led by the sympathetic detective, Lieutenant Porter, who tries to avoid bloodshed. Meanwhile, an eager crowd of onlookers and a news reporter gather outside to see what will happen next.


Production

Corman later claimed that ''The Cry Baby Killer'' was the first film that he produced that did not return a profit, although he said that it earned back its from television rights. Corman also said that he had been abroad during preproduction while much of the script was changed by the producer. Corman returned to Hollywood two days before filming began and tried to reverse the changes, but was only partially successful.Ed. J. Philip di Franco, ''The Movie World of Roger Corman'', Chelsea House Publishers, 1979, page 16–17.


Cast

*
Harry Lauter Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter (June 19, 1914 – October 30, 1990) was an American character actor. Early years Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He worked as a model for a professional photographer and was a rodeo rider before m ...
as Police Lt. Porter * Jack Nicholson as Jimmy Wallace *Carolyn Mitchell as Carole Fields * Brett Halsey as Manny Cole *
Lynn Cartwright Lynn Cartwright (born Doralyn E. Cartwright; February 27, 1927 – January 2, 2004) was an American character actress known for her performance as the older version of Geena Davis' character, Dottie Hinson, in the 1992 film ''A League of Th ...
as Julie *
Barbara Knudson Barbara Ann Knudson (December 4, 1927 – May 11, 2014) was an American film and television actress with more than forty professional credits, including starring roles in ''Meet Danny Wilson'' in 1952, ''The Cry Baby Killer'' in 1958, and ''The ...
as Mrs. Maxton *William A. Forester as Carl Maxton *John Shay as Police Officer Gannon *Ralph Reed as Joey * Bill Erwin as Mr. Wallace * Ed Nelson as Rick Connor * Smoki Whitfield as Sam *John Weed as Police Sgt. Reed * Frank Richards as Pete Gambelli


See also

* List of American films of 1958


References


External links

* * * * * 1958 films American black-and-white films 1950s crime thriller films 1950s English-language films American independent films American crime thriller films Films scored by Gerald Fried Films about juvenile delinquency Allied Artists films 1950s independent films Teensploitation Films produced by Roger Corman 1950s American films 1958 directorial debut films {{crime-thriller-film-stub