Violent Playground

Stanley Baker plays a Liverpool police detective who is reassigned to a special Juvenile Liassion Department, which takes this film into the world of a large public housing project teeming with youth of all ages who are seemingly teetering on the edge of becoming responsible adults or the criminals the movie portrays, played quite well by David McCallum and the other tough actors who play his hoodlum friends and followers. There's an awesome opening shot of McCallum and his boys within the confines of the project, and the film interjects Baker into this world through his relationship with two childhood twins who play McCallum's younger siblings, and their older sister, whom Baker begins to fall for. Things get a little bit unbelievable as the film progresses, but the focus on alienated youth bopping along to a rock and roll song isn't half bad, and the conclusion, which seemed to me to be too much of a stretch, was still shockingly well done.

I read Paul's comment as to the film's location in Liverpool,but the school used was St Mary and St Michaels,Sutton street in Stepney London. the schools name was changed to Scotland rd. I was one of the children who looked on with much interest,and we were watching the catering waggon which had real cream cakes,and suddenly Peter Cushing appeared and told the man to give us a cake each,the man's face turned to thunder. also i remember a stunt man hurt himself falling from the school's window and missing the mattress's. I suppose they use a location,then switch to another like they did with To sir with love.

Jeff.

This film was shot on location in Gerard Gardens in Liverpool, and was the UK's answer to films such as 'Blackboard Jungle'. The film stands the test of time quite well, with all the moral stories still (or even more) relevant today. The film feature some fine performance from some notable British actors such as David McCallum, Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing and Anne Heywood. Baker plays a Liverpool cop assigned to juvenile liaison duties, with the premise that if you catch the kids at an early age, they will end up being responsible adults.

Notable cameos in the film include Freddie Starr (Fred Fowell) and Melvyn Hayes (Gloria). Tsai Chin and Michael Chow play brother and sister (they are real life brother and sister) who are caught up in an arsonists web. Tsai Chin is still acting and can be seen in the latest Nicole Kidman film 'The Interpretor'.

Violent Playground features a gun siege in a school, so is unlikely to be shown on TV following similar events in Scotland / Russia.

I lived in Gerard Gardens where the film was shot (though was not born at the time), and have fond memories of the area. I have recently completed a documentary on Gerard Gardens which includes extracts from 'Violent Playground', and a small UK film 'Coast to Coast' which stars Lenny Henry and Pete Postlewaite. The tenements were demolished in 1987 and the films go some way in keeping the memory alive.

There were some complaints from the residents when the film was released, as the film portrayed the area in a bad light. Time has helped heal those wounds.

A little gem of a film, I would recommend you seek this out

This film was the first British teen movie to actually address the reality of the violent rock and roll society, rather than being a lucid parody of 1950s teenage life. In an attempt to celebrate the work of Liverpool's Junior Liaison Officers the opening title points out that 92% of potential delinquents, who have been dealt with under this scheme, have not committed a second crime. However, this becomes merely a pretext to the following teen-drama until the film's epilogue where we are instructed that we shouldn't feel responsible or sorry for such delinquents however mixed-up they might seem.

Stanley Baker plays a tough detective who reluctantly takes on the post of Juvenile Liaison Officer. This hard-boiled character is a role typical of Baker. Having been currently on the trail of a notorious arsonist known as the firefly and does not relish the distraction of the transfer. However, as in all good police dramas he is led back full circle by a remarkable turn of events, back to his original investigation.

His first case leads him to the home of two young children, Mary and Patrick Murphy (played by real-life brother and sister duo), who have committed a petty theft. Here he meets Cathie (satisfyingly portrayed by Anne Heywood) their older sister whom he eventually becomes romantically involved with. It quickly becomes obvious that the squalid environment of such inner-city estates is a breeding ground for juvenile delinquency.

The elder brother of the Murphy family, Johnny, is the leader of a gang of rock and roll hoodlums. McCallum does an eye-catching turn as the Americanized mixed-up kid, who owes more to the likes of Marlon Brando, than any previous British star. One is reminded of Brando's character Johnny from 'The Wild One' who led a leather-clad gang of rebellious bikers in much the same way as this film's 'Johnny' leads his gang.

Thankfully the preachiness of earlier Dearden crime dramas such as 'The Blue Lamp' is not so apparent. Instead we are presented with several well drawn-out characters on both sides of the law as the drama of the delinquents and the romantic interest between Heywood and Baker takes the forefront.

The plot, whilst at times predictable, does deliver some memorable scenes. The disruptive influence that rock and roll music was thought to have had is played out in a scene where Johnny abandons himself to the music, leading a menacing advance on the police sergeant. The most grippingly memorable piece of film however is the climatic classroom scene where a bunch of terrified school children, including Mary and Patrick, are held hostage at gunpoint by Johnny. Obviously in the light of the real-life Dumblaine Massacre this scene seems all the horrifying. Understandably because of this the film is seldom aired or available to modern audiences.

This movie pops up reasonably often on VERY late night TV in Australia on ABC TV (Not the american network).ABC tends to show very old British movies late at night, so I got to watch this one not too long ago.I quite liked it, it's certainly no worse than a lot of simular American films from around that time (Anything by American International for example). The locations and sets were good, Liverpool was an excellent choice for the movie.The fact that it was shot in black and white only enhances the mood and feel of this film. My only complaints about it are, I think that the romantic sub plot between the sargent and the older girl was tiresome and un necessary. The plot was strong enough without it, not to mention in real life, most policemen would be a lot more distant in the situation the good sargent found himself in. But hey. I'm not a policeman so it's only my opinion. My other complaint is that the title song was played throughout the movie ad-nauseum. It was ok for the intro, but after you heard it for the sixth or seventh time, it really started to get annoying. I can't help thinking that the movie was partially intended to be a promotional vehicle for whoever it was that sung it, the closing credits even mentioned that he/she was an artist with Fontana records. Obviously this ploy didn't work if that was the case. But the twins were absolutley gorgeous, especially Mary, it wouldn't have been as good without them. And David Maccallum was also very good as Johnny, happily he went onto much bigger things and deservedly so. It may seem a little dated now, not it's still an excellent movie, Well done!