Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

lchadbou-326-26592 The underrated director Irvin Kershner is best known for the second Star Wars film but early in his career specialized in films and TV programs about troubled youth. I've seen an episode of the series Confidential File he directed on the danger posed to youngsters by comic books, and one of his best theatrical jobs, Hoodlum Priest. This was his first feature and has interesting credits: photography by Haskell Wexler (under a pseudonym)a jazz score by Richard Markowitz performed by the Hollywood Chamber Jazz Group, and as one of the three protagonists, Jim, a nice role for Haskell's younger brother Yale Wexler. Jonathan Haze, who would star two years later as Seymour in the cult success The Little Shop Of Horrors, plays one of the other boys, Ves. The story of teenagers finding abandoned drugs (at first they are so naive they think the heroin is pimple powder) suffers somewhat from obtrusive Dragnet-style narration and most of the other players are little known "B" performers. The treatment is also rather melodramatic, such as the climax in which Jim is pursued by syndicate thugs on his trail to the top of a power tower at night. But there is a long, striking sequence in which an older man, an addict named Danny, warns Jim in lurid detail about the consequences of drug addiction; as we see scenes of Danny writhing in a prison cell in withdrawal we hear his voice-over. The episode bears comparison to the more famous scenes of Ray Milland as an alcoholic having the DTs in The Lost Weekend Here and elsewhere in the picture Kershner and Wexler use high angles (e.g through the bars above the cell) for dramatic effect. The period detail of LA locations shot in 1957 such as a Redondo Beach bowling alley also includes some curious dated slang.

JohnHowardReid Stakeout on Dope Street (1958) is the first movie feature directed by Irvin Kershner whose technique is angled much more to the demands of TV than the cinema – as we might expect from someone who spent the previous five or six years filming episodes for TV's Confidential File series. Although interest is kept alive by intercutting the sluggish main action with an occasional flash as to what the police are doing, the pace is often dead slow in these sequences too. No need to list all the movie's not-so-admirable TV traits like the over-reliance on close-ups, the filling-in-time dialogue that slows down the action while we needlessly tune in to the banal philosophy that underlies the actions of the three principals as they throw their dialogue back and forth in the one cramped studio set. As if this were not enough, we are then forced to take in another dose of philosophy from the hero's girlfriend, played by Abby Dalton, an attractive girl with a pleasant face and an absence of bustiness that makes her acceptable as a girl-next-door type. Stakeout was obviously lensed on an extremely tight budget. There is very little action and even the climax is rather tame. Best feature of the movie is Haskell Wexler's glossy, low-key photography. Available on a Video Beat DVD.

dougdoepke Three aimless young men find a briefcase containing a load of valuable heroin. So what are they going to do with it. Desperate, they end up trying to sell it through an ex-junkie. The trouble is the mob wants their heroin back and are on the trail of the kids. And so are the cops.Given the potentially explosive material, the 90-minutes comes across as peculiarly lacking in drama. The motions are there, but not the felt impact. Much, I think, has to do with the quality of the performances. Of the three boys, Marlo manages some grit as Nick. However, Wexler and Haze (yes, that Haze) appear to flounder in stand-around bland fashion. Plus, poor Abby Dalton looks completely lost. Thus, the movie's core is compromised at the outset. Then too, the cops are a particularly colorless bunch, adding nothing to the impact. Kramer, at least, looks the part of a washed-up ex- junkie, getting the big dramatic turn of painful drug withdrawal, where he writhes in expressive fashion. It's a scary public warning. Then again, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the movie's high point. Namely, where the boys thrash through a real city dump looking for the heroin as a dozer keeps piling the trash higher. Talk about needles in a haystack, or climbing a mountain that keeps getting higher. One thing for sure, I've seen nothing like it before or since. Anyway, the direction (Kershner) is pretty spotty. There are some nice touches like the crashing bowling ball and bouncing pinball punctuating the two beatings, plus the cascade of heroin down the tank's side. Clearly, however, Kershner is more adept at staging than either coaching actors or building suspense. Even the imaginatively staged showdown doesn't generate the suspense it should. One big positive is the staging throughout. Real locations are used, lending a good glimpse of LA, circa 1958. Too bad the movie as a whole never quite gels, despite the promising premise.

MartinHafer "Stakeout on Dope Street" is a decent film when it comes to the plot idea, but nothing, I mean NOTHING, makes the film particularly compelling. It should have been a lot more interesting than it was.The film begins with a very gritty shootout--one where two cops are shot as well as one of the criminals. However, in the process, a briefcase full of pure, uncut heroin is lost. And, shortly afterwords, three young men discover the drugs and decide to get rich selling it. Two of the guys have no problem with this--but the third gets cold feet because he's worried about creating addicts just like the guy they hired to sell the stuff. However, once the guys start selling, it's inevitable that the guys who lost it will come looking.... If you want to find out what's next, see the film.While the plot idea sounds interesting, this low-budget film never excited me--and several times I found myself nodding off during the movie. It's not a terrible film--just not a very interesting one. See it if you'd like, but you could do better.