This C movie from 1962 is forgettable except for the appearance of Richard Meade in this, his only movie role. Meade portrays badboy "Frankie" in this delirious tale of a young hunk who goes to prison for having sex with an underage girl--who lied about her age.
In some ways, "Jacktown" attempts to show the hideous conditions of prison in which the hero, Frankie, is condemned to serve his time. We see newsreels of a prison riot and then we see the losers that Frankie has to contend with while an inmate. The big fight scene between our hero and some jerk is hilarious to watch since none of the body blows matches up to being realistic. We see Frankie jerking his head back before his enemy even throws his punch and the enemy flies back without a fist connecting with him.
Another reason why I found this forgotten movie effort fascinating is that I was also a teenager during the sixties and living in a small Southern town and it was interesting to see the clothing and hair styles of that era. I would think the cast members probably wore their own clothes since there was no wardrobe credit and they probably took care of their own hair styles, as well. The boys looked like those I used to have crushes on, as well as the way they acted.
But it's the very handsome, charismatic Richard Meade who always holds the viewers interest and with his mane of gold hair, handsome torso and warm personality it's a tragedy he never again appeared in another movie.
He conveys the electrical warmth of the then teen idol James and Elvis Presley and the director gives us at least two scenes of a shirtless Meade that proves he had at least the looks to have been a contender for bigger things.
As it is, we have at least this minor film to preserve forever images of a young actor who should have gone far in the movie industry.
