cult film freak: STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

Written by James M. Tate / 4/03/2021 / No comments / anne heywood , david mccallum , fifties , film noir or melodrama , music , peter cushing , stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

4/03/2021 | No comment

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1958 Rates: ****

A year after playing brothers in HELL DRIVERS, making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo David McCallum on the map, they both starred equally in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, with Baker as a detective reluctantly demoted to juvenile liaison because he couldn't close an arson case...

Little does he know McCallum's street punk leader, Johnny, is the fire-starter. And as the movie begins with a Rock Around the Clock ripoff, inspired by BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, this gang not only fights but dances to that new thing called Rock N' Roll...

And while Baker wields his usual square-jawed hero, he also displays a vulnerable side, keeping two children out of future trouble while falling in love with their hard-working, cop-hating sister Anne Heywood, who, like oldest brother Johnny, only trusts local priest Peter Cushing (channeling Dana Andrews from EDGE OF DOOM). The best scenes involve the trouble Baker gets into by pressing the truth after figuring it out. Leading to an overlong but still intense third act as gun-wielding Johnny holds a classroom of children hostage, morphing from James's Dean to Cagney i.e. rebel to psychopath. Yet here the picture mostly belongs to the ingenue, playing mind-games to calm her brother, at which point both McCallum and Baker turn from lead actors to audience members. With front row seats.

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND with Sean Lynch

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND with Stanley Baker

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND with Peter Cushing

Stanley Baker & Peter Cushing in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND with Sean Lynch

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

Tough Film Noir font for VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

Stanley Baker and Anne Heywood in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

David McCallum in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND

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Tags : anne heywood , david mccallum , fifties , film noir or melodrama , music , peter cushing , stanley baker

James M. Tate

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