The Cross and the Switchblade

I find it hilarious how other people are commenting that the film is unrealistic. Try reading the book, guys! This film is based on a true story, and although minor parts have been changed, the story about David and Nicky is true.

Also, another IMDb user wrote in their comment that David refuses to take a severely stabbed Nicky to hospital unless he accept Christ. Maybe this person hasn't seen the film, or their hate of Christianity was deluding them, but this does not happen in the film.

This film's a picture of what a messed up life on drugs is truly like, and the solution is Christ. Take it or leave it, but bagging a film just because it's Christian is just immature.

OK, I agree, the movie does have some bad acting in it but until u meet the actual man the movie has a lot less meaning & does seem a bit laughable. I met Nicky Cruz not long ago & I believe meeting him & hearing the story from him made the movie a lot more meaningful & I really enjoy it. I suggest that if you get a chance meet the man. I believe his story can really change lives, something definitely changed in me when I met him. If you haven't seen it yet I suggest you do. If its your first time seeing it, keep in mind that it is a true story, maybe you will take it a bit more seriously. And just try to block out the bad acting in some points of the movie =)

Watching the 1962 State Fair last night with Mom got me thinking about finally watching that movie's star-Pat Boone-in his last movie in a leading role that he made several years later, this one I'm reviewing right now. See, Mom told me how much of a fan she was of his growing up in the '50s which I sorta knew about since I remember my parents having several of his record albums on the shelf that I remember listening to as a kid. Anyway, here he plays real-life preacher David Wilkerson who comes to the New York ghetto hoping to convert some gangs there to God and Jesus. One particular gang member leader he hopes to convert is Nicky Cruz who feels such contempt for him he slaps his face and spits on him. He's played by Erik Estrada at the beginning of his acting career years before becoming popular on TV's "CHiPs". Initially, Mom thought the movie was weird when it showed some early scenes of some people doing drugs and I myself thought some of the songs weren't suitable for some sequences. Still, as the narrative went on we were enthralled by many of the conflicts being depicted and Wilkerson's attempts to reach the gangs' minds and soul. Boone is quite good in his role and Estrada was quite excellent in his angry scenes and some others near the end. So despite some cheesiness, I and Mom say give The Cross and the Switchblade a chance.

All I want to say is that the message in this movie has changed many peoples lives,it is not the movie that has changed people in desperate situations,but the life changing Power of what happened on the cross on calvary 2000 years ago with a Man called Jesus Christ,Jesus Christ saves,can deliver a man from any bondage,heals and continues to.He can make the impossible possible... and that message is seen in this movie.

Romans:3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans:4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

I saw this movie when I was 13 years old, while first released at the theaters. It has stayed with me ever since. I am not a religious person, and the heart of this movie is not in my memory for spiritual reasons. It is the true story of the heartbreaking struggles of a few, then dozens, then hundreds of streetkids. It is the true story of the bitter-sweet survival, recovery, success of one after another. And the utter sadness in the loss and waste of those lost to drugs, crime, and/or prison. What moved me wasn't as much the tenacity and courage of the preacher who gave up his comforts to live and work among those of the street, which was enormous, but the fact that these kids were found, or found someone, to pull them out, to fight for them until they finally became capable of fighting for themselves. There is both humor and drama in this story of kids who learned through the efforts of one single man, constantly, unrelentlessly, with creativity and iron testicles, that they can overcome.