Starring
Tom Laughlin, Peter Miller, Dick Bakalyan, Rosemary Howard. Directed
by Robert Altman. (1957, 72 min).
One
might be tempted to write off The Delinquents as another
silly teen-sploitation picture of the 50s, heavy-handedly
depicting youth gone wild, complete with a tacked-on voiceover which
purports the film to be a dire warning to parents everywhere. Shot on
miniscule budgets with casts we'd never see again, a lot of these
movies are certainly chuckleworthy today.
But
The Delinquents does have some historical significance. Not
the story, mind you; it's another tale of a
young teen briefly falling in with the wrong crowd, which were popular drive-in fodder at the time.
However, this was the feature debut of none-other than Robert Altman,
who'd go on to epitomize the romantic image of the maverick,
independent director. Though essentially a director-for-hire, those
familiar with his work might still see a few of the touches he'd
become known for, such as the impromptu nature of the wild party
sequence.
 |
| Scotty is challenged to an apple sculpting contest. |
Altman
gets pretty decent performances from his cast, which also
features a very young Tom Laughlin as Scotty, who'd later find his
own brand of fame in the Billy Jack films. Ironically, his
performance is actually the worst in the entire film. Peter Miller,
on the other hand, is suitably menacing as Cholly, the leader of this
gang of hellraisers who insinuates himself on Scotty.
The
Delinquents is obviously a minor footnote in Altman's
filmography. Still, every director had to start somewhere, and it's
interesting to watch this film with the hindsight of what he'd
eventually become. And, truth be told, the movie is actually pretty good
EXTRA
KIBBLES:
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...AN INTERESTING FOOTNOTE OF A RENOWNED DIRECTOR'S CAREER
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