Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (1961)
** (out of 4)
Educational short documenting the San Francisco "Youth for Service" program, which was meant to show young gang members that there is a better life out there off the streets. There's no question that the program itself was a well-meaning thing but that doesn't translate to an entertaining movie. I was somewhat shocked at how bland and mute this short actually was but I blame a lot of this on director Myers who really doesn't have a good way of telling a story. It should be noted that Myers did some photography work on such titles as WOODSTOCK, JOHNNY CASH IN SAN QUENTIN and THX 1138. That being said, there's really not too much life in this thing and one can't help but be bored throughout the 21-minute running time. There's some nice music on the soundtrack and it was mildly entertaining seeing these real gang members but a better film could have been made.
