Stakeout on Dope Street starts out promising. During the first couple of minutes a narcotics bust gets disrupted as one of the arresting officers is shot by a hidden assailant. The suspects don't get far, though, and the backup squad shows up before they can gather up their stash.
When the dope ends up in the hands of three dorky high school age kids who have no idea what to do with it all excitement in the film ends abruptly as they bumble around and try and find a way to convert it into cash (mostly so they can buy things for their girlfriends, natch).
At this point the dialogue amongst the actors couldn't be flatter and the only thing that maintains the edginess of the earlier scenes is the entertainingly dramatic narrative voice-over.
"narcotics addiction is a hungry evil. feeding from the sickness and desperation of other vices... extortion. the numbers racket. prostitution. blackmail. each a means of feeding a habit." etc.
Eventually the boys seek out the expertise of the towns resident junky , who agrees to distribute the dope in exchange for a cut of the profit.
Danny, played by Allen Kramer, is the real star of the film.
When the $$ starts stacking up and the boys think of ways to spend it...
"they passed the earlier part of the afternoon looking at clothes, sporting equipment, BONGO DRUMS and other racy items for kids their age."
Danny takes a few minutes to warn them of the perils of addiction and how agonizing detox is. The surreal images that accompany the seven minutes of monologue/flashback (some of which was shot in San Quentin prison) must have scared the crap out of anyone who saw this film when it was first released in 1958.
"you need a fix to keep the monkey quiet"
"in here you dont get a fix.. you get a bed and you get a basin"
"one minute you're on fire.. and then your swallowed up like a giant snowball"
Not long thereafter, guns are pulled and the level of drama that was set in the beginning of the film is reached again.
Wiping out the scenes that include the wholesome all-americans would leave only about twenty minutes worth of hard stuff. But those twenty minutes are unquestionably worth sticking around for.
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