The Young Don't Cry

The films of Alfred Werker are regularly overlooked but frequently reward attention.

Although dismissed by David Quinlan as "weak and woebegone" 'The Young Don't Cry' is actually a very respectable conclusion to his career on the big screen before he disappeared into television, showcasing Sal Mineo - who'd recently shown potential as Plato in 'Rebel without a Cause - with the help of veterans like the earlier film's cameraman Ernest Haller, composer George Anthiel and James Whitmore, J. Carroll Naish and octogenarian black actor Leigh Whipper whose career in films dated all the way back to Oscar Micheaux.

THE YOUNG DON'T CRY is an oddly inert vehicle for Sal Mineo, made to build on his Oscar-winning reputation after his memorable debut turn in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. This black-and-white production sees him as an overaged kid at a home for orphaned children who gradually becomes involved in the lives and schemes of a bunch of chain gang prisoners digging ditches close to their school. Eventually, very eventually that is, there's a jailbreak of sorts and a little bit of action at the climax, but it's one of those films that feels lifeless and isn't even sure who the protagonist is. The best role goes to James Whitmore as a hardened criminal.

At an orphanage for boys and young men down in rural Georgia, a tough-yet-sensitive teen befriends a convict at a nearby work farm; when the prisoner eventually makes a break for it, causing all hell to break loose in the small community, the kid has to decide whether to talk his friend into giving up or aid in his escape. Slow, rather dreary co-feature from Columbia, ostensibly designed as a showcase for young star Sal Mineo, though James Whitmore's haunted con has the film's best moments. Connecting with the audience in a much more immediate way than his young co-star, brawny, masculine Whitmore understands how to make his character's fear and damage work best for him. The other story threads (a visiting former-orphan attempting to buy acceptance with his newfound wealth, a salty sheriff and his deputy, and a lonely woman living in a swampland shack) never quite come together, despite good actors and location shooting. It's a puzzling movie (a cynical viewer might even say a sexually conflicted one), with awkward melodrama and interaction ultimately keeping it from being anything more than second-string fare. ** from ****

Sal Mineo from the mean streets of the Bronx didn't quite have the acting chops to play a good old Southern home boy. Nevertheless he gives it a try in The Young Don't Cry, a most confusing film which relied primarily on his bobby sox appeal when first released.

Call me old fashioned or call me ignorant, but I'm really at a loss to understand how a kid from a boys home mixes and mingles with the convicts of a road gang in rural Georgia. But that's what we have here as Mineo seems to come and go as he pleases.

He makes friends with James Whitmore who's in for murder, for a murder he says he didn't commit, but all convicts are innocent. Whitmore is planning a crashout and he's getting help from old con Leigh Whipper.

Mineo in the meantime is having his problems at the home with the bullying Paul Carr and with the smooth talking Thomas Conlin. Whitmore knows Mineo has built his own sailing craft and he thinks it would be a big asset in his escape.

One role I really can't figure out in this film is that of Gene Lyons who plays a millionaire who was once an orphan in the home. Besides donating a gym for which he'll get a generous tax write off, his only function is to lord it over all the kids about how he made it out, but the rest won't about to nothing. He's got a beautiful wife who's also hanging around who's not crazy about what her husband does. And all those teen age hormones are going into overdrive over Dolores Rosedale.

Best in the film and he's never bad in anything is J. Carrol Naish as the head guard in the prison. Naish had one of the best ears for dialect and he cast well as just about every ethnic type you could think of. Here he plays a Southern good old boy and he's letter perfect.

I'm sure on the strength of all those teenage girls crushing out over Sal Mineo The Young Don't Cry made its money for Columbia. But it really doesn't wear well today.

You're never sure what's really going on in "The Young Don't Cry", but there is enough symbolism to shake a stick at. Sensitive teenager Sal Mineo (as Leslie "Les" Henderson) walks softly on screen, carrying a big one (a stick, that is), and encounters a snake-in-the-grass. Fortunately, some work-released prisoners are digging a ditch nearby, and hard-nosed convict James Whitmore (as Rudy Krist) saves Mr. Mineo from being bitten by the rattlesnake. Mineo "bonds" with Mr. Whitmore immediately; their locking eyes are perhaps meant to convey, "You saved my life, I'm yours," since it doesn't look like, "I owe you one."

Later in the running time, Mineo gets a chance to "help" Whitmore - but, with decidedly different results...

Meanwhile, back at Georgia's "Brockton Orphanage for Boys", nice guy Mineo plays "big brother" to little Leland Mayforth (as Allan) and mixes it up with bully Paul Carr (as Tom Bradley). As it turns out, the stick Mineo was carrying in the opening was the mast of a boat he's been building. Later, Whitmore contemplates Mineo's ship for an escape attempt…

The orphanage is excited by the arrival of former resident Gene Lyons (as Max Cole).

Mr. Lyons grew up to become a multi-millionaire; and, he also married whistle-inducing blonde Dolores "Roxanne" Rosedale (as Maureen). This makes Mr. Lyons a perfect role model for the "Brockton" orphans, especially manipulative Thomas A. Carlin (as Johnny Clancy). During Mr. Lyons' visit, young Carr's bullying "Bradley" steals the film, with a nicely performed outburst about some vaguely explained fishing trips. There are several other memorable performances, though. Writer Richard Jessup might have really had something, with this fine cast, had it been executed properly.

****** The Young Don't Cry (7/26/57) Alfred L. Werker ~ Sal Mineo, James Whitmore, Paul Carr, Thomas A. Carlin