Overall the film is not an 8 but the cool parts just won't allow me to give it a lower score.When it was first released I was in junior high school and there existed a non-conformist society within a society.These non-conformists wore long dark coats(trench coats ?) and small brimmed dress hats.My older brother used this kind of dress,I thought it looked so cool.The best I could do was a hand-me-down off white coat that had been balled up in the closet.My big head size ruled out using a hat,instead of looking like a teenage gangster I probably resembled a juvenile Colombo.In the film the gang called the Horsemen dress in the coat and hat style,I really could relate to this cool look.Real gang members are used for some parts of the movie.The viewer sees a style of dress that really existed at the time,for me it's history preserved.The slang and look of the young people are what I like about this movie.Among them are Zorro,Pretty Boy,Gargantua and Batman.The outstanding one and for me the scene stealer of the movie is Arthur Reardon one of the accused murders played by John Chandler.Although only involved in violence twice in the movie he goes about it gleefully as it escalates.A complex person he grins telling how he wanted to live on a farm but his parents put him out on the streets to play with bad boys.Most of the time he is sneering giving indication many things in the world annoy him.His character would have no trouble fitting into a current movie. Soundtrack is very good and in one scene sets the viewer up for seeing Diavolo for the first time.The back of his jacket is something else,be ready for it they only show it for a second. The big finale court trial is unbelievable,a fairytale.About the most realistic scene involving Burt Lancaster is when he is at home talking to his wife and reflects on changing his name from Bellini to Bell.Probably especially after one of the Italian gang members yells..What's the matter you ashamed of being a W--?.This is not a Burt Lancaster movie/story,changes were made to fit his image.When asked by a gang member..Do you know why I stomped him? Lancaster gives the correct answer to show his so called tough up bringing.In the book Lancaster's character can't give the answer and is more meek.The character in the movie still has to take a backseat to the young persons maybe all the way to the trunk.Look for the emphasis on poverty,one gang leader lives in a crowded apartment with people laying around. It looks like a combination flop house/sweat shop where sleeping is done in shifts.My favorite touch is a rooster pecking around on the stairwell INSIDE the apartment building(a housebroken slum rooster?)
