'The Delinquents' is legendary filmmaker Robert Altman's first feature, written, produced and directed by him. Independently financed and filmed in and around his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, the cast mostly non professionals. The film was made for only $68,000 but brought in a box office of $1,000,000 when released by United Artists, mostly for the drive-in circuit.
As the title suggests this is a juvenile delinquency movie. A fundamentally good kid gets mixed up with hoodlum types, sort of 'Rebel Without A Cause' explotation. Not much too it, pretty weak story wise and plays long at just 72 minutes, but competently made on a technical level.
Altman gives his roughly 9 year old daughter a supporting part as the leads kid sister; the lead by the way is played by Tom Laughlin who would go on to B movie immortality as Billy Jack in 5 Billy Jack pictures. I wish there had been a little more local flavor, but Altman was able to make his proper home town homage film 4 decades later with 'Kansas City'. **
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