THE YOUNG SINNER (1965)
STARRING
Tom Laughlin (as Chris Wotan)
Stefanie Powers (as Ginny)
with
William Wellman, Jr. (John)
Robert Angelo (Priest)
Linda March (Tury)
James Stacy (Chris’ Friend)
Chris Robinson (Chris’ Friend)
Dennis O’Flaherty (Chris’ Friend)
Bob Colonna (Chris’ Friend)
Roxanne Heard (Joan Meyers)
Jack Starrett (Head Football Coach)
John Burns (Athletic Director)
Ed Cook (Football Coach)
Jane Taylor (Tury’s Girl Friend)
Connie Van Dyke (Joan’s Girl Friend)
Julia Paul (Tury’s Mother)
Charles Heard (Chris’ Father)
Dorothy Downey (Chris’ Mother)
Harry Zumach (Principal)
Clint Gunkel (Tury’s Father)
A.C. Pagenkoff (Professor)
also
Charles Stobert
Marlene Kelly
Terry Thompson
Written, Produced and Directed
by
Tom Laughlin
Musical Score Composed and Played
by
Shelly Manne
Assistant Director
Herb Willis
Todd-A-O Sound
Charles Cooper
Production Manager
Ellen Laferty
Assistant to the Producer
Don Henderson
Camera
Ed Martin
Sven Walnum
Lighting
Howard Maxwell
Dialogue Director
Bruce Kessler
Music Editor
Lloyd Young
Costumes
Dolores Taylor
Sound
LeRoy Robbins
Film Editor
Don Henderson
Wardrobe
Ruth Lewis
A T.C. Frank production
A Laurel Films release
Filmed in Milwaukee in 1960. Originally intended as the first part of a trilogy to be known as "We Are All Christ."
Pre-release titles: CHRISTOPHER WOTAN and AMONG THE THORNS
Briefly handled by United Artists as LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (1961)
SYNOPSIS
Chris Wotan (Tom Laughlin) is a high school star athlete gone wrong. With an alcoholic father and no self-discipline, he finds himself in trouble at home, at school, everywhere. Lashing out at the world in a sudden rage of blind fury, he expends his hatred and defiance in a Catholic church, screaming profane oaths.
The events leading up to this outburst begin when Chris buys an ancient fire truck at a used car lot, drives it down the street collecting a group of high school friends who climb aboard, bent on finding excitement.
At the municipal plunge, the gang of boys meets two girls, daughters of the town’s wealthier families. One of them, Tury (Linda March) goes on the make for Chris. They all decide to sneak into the closed-down plunge and have an illicit swim.
An athletic director arrives, surprises the gang and orders them to leave. Chris defies the instructor, for which he is brought before the dean. Instead of being suspended for insubordination, however, Chris is put on probation with a warning.
It has been Chris’ ambition to win a college football scholarship. Tury promises to introduce Chris to her father, who has the necessary influence to sponsor him for a scholarship.
But Chris has been going steady with another girl, Ginny (Stefanie Powers) who takes a dim view of Chris’ meetings with Tury. Chris climbs to Ginny’s bedroom window to talk with her late at night. She tells him she positively won’t tolerate his association with Tury any longer.
Chris and his gang are loitering on the school campus when a 14-year-old nymphomaniac known as the Meyers girl (Roxanne Heard) comes along and tries to be friendly with Chris. He brushes her off.
Tury invites Chris to a party (in her parents’ absence from town) and, during the party, persuades Chris to leave with her and drive to her parents’ summer cottage on the lake where they can be alone.
The next morning, as Chris and Tury lay asleep in adjoining beds, Tury’s parents arrive unexpectedly.
This episode cancels out any chance Chris might have had of being sponsored for a scholarship.
The scene changes to the main street of town where a gang of youths are piled high on Chris’ fire truck as they seek a means of celebrating the upcoming “big game.” Someone suggests a raid on the drug store for free refreshments. The gang piles off the fire truck and into the store, wrecking the place, but Chris waits outside.
The same athletic director sees Chris and brings him before the dean who promptly expels him from school.
Chris goes in search of the Meyers girl for solace. She takes him to the choir loft of the church to make love. But revulsion sweeps over Chris and he drags the girl down the stairs and leaves her at the head of the aisle and rushes out into the street, nearly knocking down a priest as he charges out the door.
Chris’ n’er-do-well father pleads with the school’s head football coach to straighten the boy out and the coach delivers a scathing lecture to both father and son.
The church has a side entrance and a bell which anyone may ring should he or she wish to go to confession. Chris finally finds himself and rings the bell. The young priest (Robert Angelo), whom Chris encountered in his dash from the church, accompanies him to the confessional where Chris makes a general confession as the first step to patch up his errant life.
There used to be a trailer preview of THE YOUNG SINNER available on VHS, back in the early 1990's. I think it was released on trailer collections by both Sinister Cinema and Something Weird Video. I think Sinister Cinema included it on their final Exploitation Trailers compilation. Sadly, both of those companies have discontinued their trailer collections. That trailer was the only glimpse I've ever seen of THE YOUNG SINNER. Tom Laughlin himself was said to be looking for the film a few years ago, but hadn't found a copy.
ReplyDeleteFLIX (Channel 890) on AT&T U-verse showed this film on 12.27.12 advertised as "Like Father, Like Son" and surprised me when the title in the movie was "The Young Sinner". I was somewhat disappointed that the ending left things hanging so it's up to the audience to decide if he learned his lesson and reformed or reverted to his old ways as his father, the drunk, kept insisting he would.
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