Girls Town (1959)

User Rating:

2.3/10   

Director:

Charles F. Haas

Writers:

Robert Hardy Andrews (story)
Robert Smith (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUTHFUL REBELS GO BAD?

Plot:

Chip is killed accidentally while trying to rape a blonde girl, who runs. Silver becomes the number one suspect even though she has an alibi...

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Teen | Catholic School | Drag Racing | Los Angeles Storm Drain

Cast

Mamie Van Doren	...	Silver Morgan
Mel Tormé	...	Fred Alger
Ray Anthony	...	Dick Culdane
Margaret Hayes	...	Mother Veronica (as Maggie Hayes)
Paul Anka	...	Jimmy Parlow
Cathy Crosby	...	Singer
Gigi Perreau	...	Serafina Garcia
Elinor Donahue	...	Mary Lee Morgan
Gloria Talbott	...	Vida
Sheilah Graham	...	Sister Grace
James Mitchum	...	Charley Boy
Dick Contino	...	Stan Joyce
Harold Lloyd Jr.	...	Chip Gardner
Charles Chaplin Jr.	...	Joe Cates
David Lynch	...	Himself (as The Platters)

Also Known As:

The Innocent and the Damned (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1960) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Albert Zugsmith Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious dummies in Stan's car as it runs up the embankment and crashes during the chicken scene.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Girls Town (#7.1)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

It's Time To Cry

Although the cast may have been assembled from somebody's nightmare, it's still one of the great ensemble casts in film history.

Although the cast may have been assembled from somebody's nightmare, it's still one of the great ensemble casts in film history.

Mamie Van Doren's name heading ANY cast means a good time will be had by all -- well maybe not ALL, but at least by those discerning cineastes who knew after the 1960 Academy Awards were handed out that 1959's "Girls Town" was robbed by "Ben-Hur." After all, what's a silly chariot race compared to Mamie chewing gum and talking back to nuns? And in "Girls Town" you get so much more: Gloria Talbott, Elinor "Princess" Donahue, Gigi Perreau, Paul Anka, Maggie Hayes, Sheilah Graham, The Platters, Cathy Crosby, Ray Anthony, Charles Chaplin Jr., Harold Lloyd Jr., and so help us, Mel Torme . . . Mel Torme!!!??? Oh yeah, you also get this plot, which has something or other to do with 30-year-old high school kids (like Mamie) getting in trouble with the law and getting sent to the title institution. There's also a nifty drag race -- in a cement riverbed! This film showed up 20 years after "Gone With the Wind" and features just as much excitement and talent. It helps if you've had a lobotomy prior to viewing the film.