I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I'm a 57 year old woman and I haven't seen or forgotten this film since seeing it at approx. 8 yrs. old. I remember it as being very dark. It upset me a lot as a child which is probably why I've never forgotten it. I'd like to view it again as well as it's prequel, 'Knock On Any Door', which I didn't know existed until researching, 'Let No Man Write my Epitaph', a story of a young boy of a single mother. Clearly, they were poor and living in a Chicago tenement. The Mother, played by Shelley Winters, became a heroin addict and neighbors in the tenement were trying to prevent the boy from following his Father's past as a criminal subjected to death by electric chair.

Based on African-American novelist Willard Motley's book (1958) of the same name (title from 19th century Irish Patriot Robert Emmet's famous execution speech, see below). This story takes up the plight of two of the original characters from "Knock" and illustrates the frustrations of a group of residents living on "lower class" East Madison Street in Chicago, circa late 1950's.Nellie Romano (Shelly Winters) is a single Mother bringing up her only son Nick (James Darren), a promising young piano virtuoso. Unfortunately, they and their neighborhood friends are each burdened with the sad fate that "for the wrong turn sometime earlier" they must endure their chosen lot in life. But this tale is not a sappy string-together story of separate woes; rather (in the beginning) an optimistic hope for the future if the pieces of the puzzle fall just right.Of course, our 'extended family' realize early that the chances of the puzzle's success are remote, as they only have their personal disasters to judge success. There is Nellie's sad story, a past the whole neighborhood knows of, save Nick and the "defrocked" Judge (Burl Ives) who has commuted his own sentence to the bottom of a bottle rather than a court of law. Also a prostitute (Jeanne Cooper), an ex-prizefighter (Bernie Hamilton), the smack addict (Fitzgerald) and a paraplegic (Walter Burke) who in their own way try their best to make each other happy.Along the way they careen into the lower tiers of an immoral society of disreputable scum-bags, including racketeer Louie Ramponi (Montalban). What transpires next is the 'family' banding together for survival; but the question is, are they strong enough to escape a 'bottomless pit' without even a knotted rope for escape? Maybe the apple of everyone's eyes, young Nick can.

a real thriller, montalban is eerie as a 1960's "pusher" and sadistic heroin addict, a must for those into drug culture and film noir. the fact that it is b/w only adds to the urban scurge of drugs use ,espcially horse in the 1960's also exceeding their actting abilities are shelley winters as a drug ravaged mother, and burl ives as the "heavy" handed dudley do right....

In this sequel to "Knock On Any Door" (1949) we find Nick Romano's illegitimate son being raised by his mother and a band of well intentioned, but flawed residents of a tennement slum. Winters as his drug addicted mother, and Montalban as her pusher are stand-out performances. It is a gripping scene, when young Nick walks in on his mother and her pusher and catches them "in the act.." Seldom appears on TV, but well worth catching.