MovieChat Forums > The Young Savages (1961) Discussion > a truely realistic 'west side story',als...

a truely realistic 'west side story',also far superior.....


i cant believe that there are no posts for this groundbreaking and thought provoking evocation of late 50's/early 60's street gang violence and racial tension.
this film is far superior and more realistic to [may he rest in peace]robert wise's 'west side story' that had come out the same year as 'the young savages'.
where as 'west side story' was a prissy version of gang warfare,over stylized and over appreciated, 'the young savages',was gritty,tough and frightening in its black and white filmed splendor of director john frankenhiemer.
not to mention the brilliant acting of the three male leads playing the street gang members;'stanley kristen' as 'danny di pace','john davis chandler' as 'arthur 'tower' reardon' and 'neil nephew' as 'anthony 'batman' aposto',im surprised that these three young actors did'nt go on to bigger things[in hindsight only chandler had much more of a career,mostly playing street toughs and other heavys].
overall this is one of the greatest gang movies ever made,far superior to the cotton candy fluff of 'west side story'.




"we aint no stinkin' %#@*'s,were thunderbirds!"-arthur 'tower' reardon.

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I haven't seen this movie in over thirty years but it has stayed with me as a classic. I never thought of comparing it to West Side Story, somehow I have different expectations from musicals, but your comments are thought provoking.



You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.

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Well they made both movies relatively in the same place East Harlem. Even west side story a lot of it was made on the east side where they shot the playground scenes.

The gangs in both movies was baded on the Vice Roys a Puertrican youth gang and the Red Wings an italian Youth gang. As a matter of fact they got some viceroys to play some of the sharks. I know they asked at least one red wing to play a Jet and my brother told them no. To bade I would have loved to see him in that.

The killing of the blind kid was thrown in to make a good story never really happened that I know of.

Lanchaster was from East Harlem used to get his hair cuts at Russos barber shop on 1 st ave between 107 and 108th street if I remember right.

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.........of the 'michael farmer' murder of the late 50's,where several members 'the egyptian kings' and an allie gang known as 'the dragons' decide to jump farmer and his freind 'roger mcshane' who are just walking through highbridge park in washington heights around 10 pm on july,30th 1957.
the largely 'black' egyptian kings and mostly 'puerto rican' dragons,jump farmer and mcshane and begin beating them thinking that there members of a rival 'irish' gang known as 'the jesters'.....mcshane is badly beaten,but farmer,a polio victim from his youth,succumbs to his wounds and dies.
the blind boy connection is also loosely based on the salvador 'the capeman' agron and tony 'umbrella man' hernandez case of the late 1950's,two members of 'the vampires',who went looking for there rivals 'the nordics' along with three others,shortly before midnight on august 29th 1959......finding no nordics at first sighting at the playground lot between 45th and 46th streets,the two mysteriously dressed cohorts reconviened with members of 'the vampires','young lords' and 'heart kings',now returning 12 or 13 strong,they proceded to attack the few white boys hanging out at the playground,assuming they were 'nordics',but really having no proof.
after flailing at the other boys with there pipes,bats,chains and knives,'the capeman' and 'umbrella man' began attacking 'robert young',tony woznikaitis' and 'anthony krzesinski',with there knives......when all was said and done 'young' and 'krzesinski' were dead and,as local gang members stated later,they wer'nt even gang members,believed to be not tough enough.
note the resemblence between 'salvador"the capeman"agron' and his sweeping cape attire and the character 'anthony "the batman" aposto' in 'the young savages and his twirling black cape.
its interesting that you have associates that were involved with the making of 'west side story' and my fathers cousin vince was a member of an italian gang from 'italian east harlem' where 'the young savages' was filmed called,if im not mistaken,'the dukes'.
my dad himself had been a member of both 'the fordham baldies' and 'the golden ginnys',but thats another tale entirely.

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DEAR SURLYGREASER, i went to seward park high school , the lower east side of manhattan, and hearing the name of, the fordham baldies, i remember that they were from the bronx and they used to come downtown to fight with other gangs. but ,ok lets get back to the movie, i had the cbs records soundtrack , music by david amram, for years. i also remember the film and want the dvd. again ,thanks for your bringing back memories in your comments. ALLAN

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I dug out my VHS copy yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very gritty, and definitely politically incorrect. Oh, those pre-Miranda police methods!
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

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Even the girls of the baldness shaved their heads and taped razor blades to their finger nails.

Pretty sure some fordom baldies were buried in a basement on a Hun 7 between first ave and the east river. Well no one lives forever.

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On the part where the brothers sister became a prostitute to help support the family. Well that was very true. Sometimes the mother would be in the same room as the daughter while she was having sex.

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In addition to the three boys who were on trial, the kid from the Puerto Rican gang was also a fine actor.

This film does not really compare to WSS even though the subject matter was the same. What makes WSS a classic and, really, in its own class is the music and choreography. IMO

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