The Beat Generation
| The Beat Generation | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
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| Directed by | Charles F. Haas |
| Produced by | Albert Zugsmith |
| Written by |
Richard Matheson Lewis Meltzer |
| Starring |
Steve Cochran Mamie Van Doren |
| Music by | Albert Glasser |
| Cinematography | Walter Castle |
| Edited by | Ben Lewis |
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Production
company |
Albert Zugsmith Productions
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $439,000 |
| Box office | $750,000 |
The Beat Generation is a 1959 American crime film by MGM starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, James Mitchum, Vampira, and Ray Anthony. It is a sensationalistic interpretation of the beatnik culture of the "Beat Generation" (and is sometimes considered one of the very last films noir to be produced.) The movie was also shown under the title This Rebel Age.
The director was Charles F. Haas.Richard Matheson and Lewis Meltzer are credited with the screenplay.
In the opening scene, a "beatnik" named Stan Hess (Ray Danton) sits at a table in a coffee house with a woman who begs him for his affection. He scorns her, then encounters his father at another table, who announces his engagement to a younger woman who had also pursued Stan. He insults his stepmother-to-be and departs. Hess is established as a woman-hating habitué of a stereotyped and sensationalized beatnik scene.
Soon after, we learn that Hess is a serial rapist at large in Los Angeles. His modus operandi is to gain entry to the home of a married woman whose husband is away by pretending to be there to repay money loaned by the husband. Once inside, he feigns a headache, pulls out a tin of aspirin, and asks the woman for water. While she is distracted by this errand, he sneaks up behinds her, and then assaults and rapes her. He leaves the tin of aspirin behind as his calling card, leading the police to call him "The Aspirin Kid." Leaving the scene of the first assault portrayed in the film, he is nearly hit by a car. The driver, who is a police detective named Culloran (Steve Cochran), gives him a lift, and the two engage in conversation. The rapist calls himself Arthur Garret, and as the two talk, he learns that Culloran is married, and sees his address on an envelope on the car seat. After getting out of Culloran's car, he writes down the name and address, and the word "married," foreshadowing his later rape of Culloran's wife.
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Wikipedia