Instant Favorite.

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

To give criminal mastermind Ed Nelson a touch of class, the writers have him listening to classical music while planning his next criminal activity with teenaged thugs doing all the dirty work for him. One of them is an angry teen out for revenge because of the murder of his father. It is cliché after cliché, combining jazzy music into the actual crime sequences. Nelson is fine and would fortunately go onto other things that would really give his career some class. But this isn't it with a string of warehouse robberies being connected for a burp of a plot. If this is what American independent film producers considered new wave in the mid 60s I gladly wave it goodbye. At any rate, it is over in just an hour, so you won't have to put up with the excessive violence and angry atmosphere that was appropriate for the time but seems a bit too much today. When you see a movie and can only praise the score and certain technical elements, that's a pretty sad commentary.

It is an interesting coincidence that I watched "What Price Crime?" about a week before watching "T-Bird Gang" because this second movie turns out to be a remake of the earlier film. "What Price Crime?" is a dandy low-budget film and in the case of "T-Bird Gang", it's an even lower budgeted film. And, while this remake isn't bad, the original is better for several reasons."T-Bird Gang" begins with the beating death of a night watchman. The son of the watchman finds him just before he dies and all he can say is that the killers were in a white Ford Thunderbird (also nicknamed a 'T-Bird'). So, this young man decides to try to locate the gang and exact his revenge. However, a level-headed cop discovers the guy's plan and gets him to agree to work with them to bring the gang to justice. However, this gang isn't the trusting sort and it takes him some time to gain their confidence—and the viewer isn't sure if the gang will be stopped before this infiltrator is discovered and liquidated.Apart from a few small changes, the two plots in the two films are nearly identical. However, "What Price Crime?" is a better film because it is more subtle and at least has a soundtrack that seemed professional. "T-Bird Gang", on the other hand, has one of the crappiest soundtracks—often consisting of someone banging on bongos or a small combo playing free-form jazz. 95% of the folks watching this will probably hate the music—I know I did. However, if you can ignore this and just take the film for what it is (a cheap B-movie), then it's not bad and is a decent time-passer. Not great but enjoyable because the basic plot is still decent.

This flick is cool, daddio. I agree with another reviewer that the Shelley Manne bebop score alone makes it worth watching, but there's a lot more. The acting ranges from fascinatingly bad to surprisingly good (well maybe good is an exaggeration; maybe "convincing"?). Good-looking cast. The screenplay isn't half bad. It moves along at a nice pace. Has a noirish quality. The moll's makeup job! The gang leader's "understated alpha male" shtick: he's a total control freak--renames one gang member "boy", god forbid you should make a peep while he's listening to classical music. Also affects a James Cagney-like style of speaking. So much more to savor.

John Brinkley co-writes and stars in this very low-budget crime drama. Brinkley plays Frank Simmons/Frank Minor a teenager, who is still reeling from his policeman father's death. He vows to find who murdered him. Frank goes undercover and joins a gang led by Ed Nelson, who drives a T-Bird to each of the robberies he plans. His number two man is Raymond(Tony Miller), who is suspicious of Frank from the get-go. Frank's cover is blown just as the gang is busted up. Raymond changes his mind about Frank and "takes care" of Nelson for him. Acting is pretty horrible. But this flick is bad enough to get a laugh or two. Also in the cast: Pat George, Coleman Francis and Nola Thorp. Miller is the co-writer and Roger Corman serves as uncredited producer.