Youngblood

Spoilers

I first became aware of 1978's YOUNGBLOOD during its original release via a stark looking advertisement (a fascimile of the film's poster) in the "Arts & Leisure" section of the Sunday New York Times.  Featured prominently was actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, then quite well known for his role as Washington on the T.V. sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. As a fan of that show, I was very intrigued.  And of course, disappointed that the film wasn't playing in my neck of the woods.  Not that I would've been allowed to view it anyway.  Seeing the MPAA logo for an R-rating made even the most insipid looking movie tempting.  . 

YOUNGBLOOD is far from insipid.  It's pretty good, actually.  My expectations were not particularly high.  But the energetic opening (a dream sequence) on a basketball court, done in slow motion and set to one of the many War songs on the soundtrack, promised something better than the net result.  The dreamer is Michael (Bryan O'Dell), a good natured high schooler living in the projects in Los Angeles.  He's not interested in his classes and falls in with a local street gang called the Kingsmen.   They have organized rumbles with other gangs in back alleys.  Mostly switchblades.  Michael is desperate to join and impress the leader - a guy named Rommel (Hilton-Jacobs) who is in his 20s, a troubled Vietnam vet who drives a cab and has marital woes.  And who realizes he is just getting too old for this shit. 

Meanwhile, Michael's brother, a got-it-together successful businessman, has a pretty big secret which may overlap with the Kingsmens' new war, against high level drug lords. 

YOUNGBLOOD follows Michael's transformation from scared kid to hardened gang banger.  Or at least that's the assumption by the final freeze frame. The film ends just as things get interesting.  Frustrating.  Writer Paul Carter Harrison and director Noel Nosseck fashion an earnest, somewhat gritty coming-of-age tale that supplies numerous good characterizations.  It is well shot and War's songs and scoring are very groovy and effective.  Those who dig '70s atmosphere will have much to appreciate.  But in the end, the movie feels muted and incomplete.  Slight and forgettable.  

I imagined my nine year old self had sneaked a viewing of YOUNGBLOOD at the cinema.  I watched the movie through those eyes, and it felt exciting and even slightly dangerous in moments.  Many restricted movies from this period feel that way to me even when I watch them now.  That feeling may have carried my appreciation for YOUNGBLOOD more than the movie itself would've otherwise.