The film, The Young Savages, by John Frankenheimer was released in 1961, considered a new era type of filming. This film examines street crime within gangs. Poverty, ethnicity, politics, and the fact that parents cannot control everything are the main themes shown. John Frankenehimer, who was born in Malba, New York, is a famous director that had a knack for the right angles to film, in addition to the way he filmed. He was born 34 minutes away from where he would later film, The Young Savages. Frankenheimer was known for filming social dramas, in addition to action and suspense films. John used The Young Savages to portray the social problem within juvenile gangs. Although John was a well known director, soon after 1977, he struggled with finding scripts, turning into a deep hole of alcoholism which nearly ruined his life and career ( Biography). By the 1980’s he was able to pull himself out of it and began to produce more shows and TV series in hopes to redeem his name. In the end, although it was a rocky road, he was able to pull himself through and get his name back. Throughout his lifetime, John Frankenheimer directed well over 30 movies and was nominated for 7 awards, winning one of them. He was also, in 2002, inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
As mentioned before, John knew how to manipulate the film in order to capture certain emotions. Also, the music used in the film was a contributing factor to the director’s success with The Young Savages.
From the moment the film starts is when the main type of action takes place. At the time of 2 minute and 28 seconds, to 3 minutes and 20 seconds is the first section where Frankenheimer is smart with the angles he chooses. He, “manipulated the lens to catch the wild fury of gang pavement warfare; twisting, tilting, pulling way back, zeroing in and composing to follow and frame the excitement.” From the section of the movie just mentioned, John selects various angles (dutch angles, fisheye lenses, and handheld cameras) when Roberto Escalante is being murdered. You cannot truly tell which of the three Thunderbirds are stabbing him, which is the plot of the whole film. It is kind of ironic as well because the crime scene is being reflected in the sunglasses of Roberto, but he’s blind.
Next is the poster that was originally made for the movie. Clearly, you can tell the age of it since posters don’t have this type of look to them anymore. But, this poster does have, “Here is the raw truth…nailed to the screen!” As to tell you that what occurs in the film truly does happen, and it is still completely relevant today. The gang warfare and peer pressure to partake in something you do not want to do.
In the end, The Young Savages, when looked at and criticized, is compared to the West Side Story except it doesn’t have the musical attributes. There is also praise in regards to the film, in addition to the negative criticism, “This devil’s advocacy comes off as overly convenient and slightly disingenuous,” in contrast to, “The way in which the action moves between different settings is so well choreographed, the narrative picks up a real momentum, almost like you’re being led through a maze.”
References
Bowie, Stephen. “John Frankenheimer.” Senses of Cinema, 8 Oct. 2015, sensesofcinema.com/2006/great-directors/frankenheimer/.
“John Frankenheimer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frankenheimer.
“Overview for John Frankenheimer.” Turner Classic Movies, www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/65276%7C85719/John-Frankenheimer/.
“The Young Savages (1961).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0055633/.
“The Young Savages (Blu-Ray).” DVD Talk, www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/65667/young-savages/.
yellowsnakes. “Young Savages the 1961.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Dec. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD2h1yKg5N8.
Hi Caitlyn,
I liked how you focused a lot on the director, and what his life was like, this is something that I’m doing to do more in the future- when you talked about John Frankenheimer’s problem with alcohol, and some of his life story it helped me to understand how the movie was shaped into what it is. I also talked about how the auteur of Head by Bob Rafelson was shaped by the director, but I didn’t give a lot of information on his life story. I enjoyed reading about the different kinds of film styles that Frankenheimer used to make the movie more effective for audiences!