The issue is not with the story by Rod Serling, but the way it is edited together as a feature film. It seems like it has trouble with continuity to get it from start to finish other than the thread plot line of beat cop Chris Warfield charged with killing an innocent fourteen-year-old and then being freed by the jury after he is placed on trial.
The sequence of the court cases actually very good with the grieving mother confronting Warfield and his wife first before the trial, then after, then directly at Warfield's house. Virginia Christine get us a performance reminding me of Eileen Heckart in The Bad Seed as the dead boy's mother as she expresses her regrets and her frustration that Warfield can't even bring himself to apologize.
The second half has Warfield dealing with the gang that led him on the chase that resulted in the boy's death in the first place, and this is where the plot line becomes convoluted and jumpy. Television could have dealt with this issue much better in breaking it up into two parts, and had Serling participated in writing it, it would have gelled together much better.
TV could have also made it grittier with location footage as this seems very studio bound, and as a movie where location could have held it, the lack of street footage weekends the film's structure. That old lady that charwoman surprise performances to are directed to make this seem rather stay juicy, and that also aids in its artificial ceiling. With all of the juvenile delinquent films of varying budgets, this could have been a lot better considering the subject matter and how timely it still is.
The sequence of the court cases actually very good with the grieving mother confronting Warfield and his wife first before the trial, then after, then directly at Warfield's house. Virginia Christine get us a performance reminding me of Eileen Heckart in The Bad Seed as the dead boy's mother as she expresses her regrets and her frustration that Warfield can't even bring himself to apologize.
The second half has Warfield dealing with the gang that led him on the chase that resulted in the boy's death in the first place, and this is where the plot line becomes convoluted and jumpy. Television could have dealt with this issue much better in breaking it up into two parts, and had Serling participated in writing it, it would have gelled together much better.
TV could have also made it grittier with location footage as this seems very studio bound, and as a movie where location could have held it, the lack of street footage weekends the film's structure. That old lady that charwoman surprise performances to are directed to make this seem rather stay juicy, and that also aids in its artificial ceiling. With all of the juvenile delinquent films of varying budgets, this could have been a lot better considering the subject matter and how timely it still is.