Thursday, June 3, 2021

TCM Spotlight, June 2021: Juvenile Delinquent Movies

Russ Tamblyn intently eyeing Mamie Van Doren in High School Confidential! (June 3, 8:00 PM)

As we're still in the first full week of a new month, it's time to mention another TCM Spotlight, which usually focuses on a theme rather than the Star of the Month focusing on a person. This month, the theme is Juvenile Delinquent Movies, which were a thing in the years after World War II with the changing cultural values. We get a bunch of those movies every Thursday in prime time, kicking off tonight at 8:00 PM with High School Confidential!, which is a mess and laughable in so many ways, but one of those movies that's so much fun. The spotlight brings a couple of other movies that I'm happy to see on the TCM schedule:

Untamed Youth (June 11, 12:45 AM). Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson get arrested in a small town and the punishment is effectively slave labor for one of the local cotton farmers. I think it's better than its reputation, and a heck of a lot of fun. Although, why are they doing musical numbers in a labor camp?

Bad Boy (June 11, 7:15 AM). Audie Murphy's debut has him as a juvenile delinquent who winds up at a boys' ranch type place run by Lloyd Nolan, in another of his fine supporting performances. Nolan tries to figure out what makes Murphy tick.

Stakeout on Dope Street (June 18, 4:15 AM). A couple of teenage boys find a container full of heroin, and decide that the best thing to do is to try to sell it themselves and pocket the proceeds. Of course, the people who were planning on selling it want it, and it's really quite illegal to sell the stuff. Future TV actress Abby Dalton has a small role as the lead's girlfriend.

Violent Playground (June 25, 1:30 AM). I actually haven't seen this one before. I had it on my old DVR but never got around to watching it before that DVR died, since it doesn't seem to be on DVD. It got another airing since I got the new DVR and I recorded it then, so I'm planning on doing a blog post on it later this month. For some reason, I keep wanting to call it Violent Saturday, which is a completely different movie.

Teen-Age Crime Wave (June 25, 8:30 AM). A good girl gets in with a bad girl and both end up in juvenile prison; bad girl's bad boyfriend breaks both girls out of jail for a crime spree. Watch for the TV bulleting announcing that police are searching for the three of them.

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