Main Cast: Christopher Knight, Frank Gorshin, Helen Westcott, Carolyn Craig, Dick Foran, Venetia Stevenson, Jack Nicholson
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Based on author James T. Farrell's trilogy written between 1932 and 1935 and later combined into a one-volume Studs Lonigan book, this less than two-hour film does not quite do justice to the literary whole. Studs (Christopher Knight) is raised on Chicago's infamous South Side, an Irish kid when prejudice against the Irish was still around and hanging tough was the norm in impoverished neighborhoods. Once he leaves grade school behind and enters high school, a world of "wenching," fights, drinking, and wild parties starts to open up. By 1929, Studs is trapped into a marriage he comes to hate and as the decade of the '30s begins, he is still trying to be as tough as he can. But as he learns, no one can out-tough the Great Depression. At times confusing and histrionic and wordy (not to mention censored to fit a 1960s unspoken coda), Studs Lonigan falls short of the pithy, emotional, rugged world of Farrell's Irish hoodlum. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Robert Casper - Paulie Lonigan; Katherine Squire - Mrs. Lonigan; Jay C. Flippen - Father Gilhooey; Jack Kruschen - Charlie the Greek; Suzi Carnell - Eileen; Madame Spivy - Mother Josephine; James Drum - Jim Doyle; Rita Duncan - Kitty; Stanley Adams - Gangster; Steven Ritch - Gangster; George Keymas - Gangster; Mavis Neal - Mrs. Haggerty; Phil Arnold - Dentist; John Graham - Judge; Don Garrett - Policeman; Casey MacGregor - Policeman; Brian O'Hara - Funeral Mourner; Kathie Browne - Girls at Wild Party; Judy Howard - Girls at Wild Party; Lorelei Vitek - Girls at Wild Party; Kathy Johnson - Frances Lonigan; Harry "Snub" Pollard - Vendor
Credit
John S. Poplin - Art Director, Irving Lerner - Director, Verna Fields - Editor, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Haskell Wexler - Cinematographer, Arthur H. Feindel - Cinematographer, Philip Yordan - Producer, Philip Yordan - Screenwriter, James T. Farrell - Book Author
