A liberal's fantasy film though it tries mightily to pretend it isn't. Burt Lancaster is a NYC D.A. investigating the stabbing of a blind Puerto Rican boy in Spanish Harlem. The gang members who may or may not have been responsible include the son of Lancaster's childhood girlfriend. Director John Frankenheimer tries mightily to show both sides of the coin with this film, but in the end, cops out with what is tantamount to a "happy ending." This may have had more to do with the famously liberal Lancaster's leftist leanings than with Frankenheimer's filmmaking choices. Nevertheless there is some very good acting, not only by Lancaster, but by Shelley Winters, Vivian Nathan, Pilar Seurat (as the dead boy's sister) and Telly Savalas as Lancaster's highly cynical, Greek chorus associate. David Amram provided the inflammatory music score and Lionel Lindon did the shot on location cinematography.
Review of The Young Savages
