The Cry Baby Killer

1958 film

August 17, 1958 (1958-08-17)

Running time

61 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Cry Baby Killer is a 1958 teen exploitation film produced by Roger Corman that marked Jack Nicholson's film debut. The film was out of print and difficult to find until 2006, when it was issued on DVD for the first time by Buena Vista Home Entertainment as part of its Roger Corman Classics series.

Plot

After Jimmy Wallace is beaten by Manny Cole and his friends over Carole, Jimmy confronts him and challenges him to a fight outside the café; during a struggle, Jimmy grabs a gun from one of Manny's friends and two gunshots ring out. A nearby police officer corners Jimmy, who then rushes into a room and takes a worker and a mother with her baby hostage. After a prolonged and tense hostage situation, Carole begs Jimmy to come out, who then does, surrendering himself to the police and releasing the hostages.

Cast

Harry Lauter as Police Lt. Porter
Jack Nicholson as Jimmy Wallace
Carolyn Mitchell as Carole Fields
Brett Halsey as Manny Cole
Lynn Cartwright as Julie
Barbara Knudson as Mrs. Maxton
William A. Forester as Carl Maxton
John Shay as Police Officer Gannon
Ralph Reed as Joey
Bill Erwin as Mr. Wallace
Ed Nelson as Rick Connor
Smoki Whitfield as Sam
John Weed as Police Sgt. Reed
Frank Richards as Pete Gambelli

Production

Corman later claimed that The Cry Baby Killer was the first film that he produced that didn't return a profit, although he said that it earned back its budget from TV rights. Corman also said that he'd been abroad during preproduction while much of the script was changed by the producer. Corman returned to Hollywood 2 days before filming began and tried to reverse the changes, but was only partially successful.^[1]