Running Wild (1955)
6/10
Those Crazy Kids
26 September 2019
William Campbell is undercover, trying to figure out how Keenan Wynn is pulling off his stolen car racket. He's set up some local kids as his gang, and using a local rock & roll club as a base of operations. He's also got Kathleen Case as his girlfriend, and she hates him.... although, as Campbell's lieutenant tells him, some women like that sort of thing. Campbell isn't sure.

It's a pretty good movie with a real story amidst the G-rated exploitation, notable for being the second movie to use Bill Haley & the Comets' music. They're playing "Razzle Dazzle" when we get introduced to Mamie Van Doren. She's second billed, even though she has only a few scenes, but she's a whirlwind of motion, bending on her back for the camera to shoot down on her, as if director Abner Biberman is as crazy about her as George Sidney would be about Ann Margaret when shooting VIVA LAS VEGAS. Well, it wouldn't be the first time a director had gone gaga, or perhaps Biberman had orders from higher up.

Campbell is surprisingly good as a mouth-breathing guy with a conscience. The wrap-up is a little neat, but that's the way they liked to do them.
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