The Young Stranger

Before he gained his fame directing cinematic masterpieces like The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May, John Frankenheimer made his feature film debut with this sensitive father-son drama about troubled youth. When clean-cut Hal Ditmar (Hawaii Five-O's James MacArthur), son of a wealthy movie producer (James Daly), gets into a fight with a movie theater manager (Whit Bissell), no one believes he acted in self-defense. With the police concerned that they have another juvenile delinquent on their hands, Hal's mother (Kim Hunter) thinks the problem lies in the growing gulf between father and son. Heartfelt and effective, Frankenheimer's already sure hand at the helm and the talent that star MacArthur shared with his illustrious mother Helen Hayes buoy The Young Stranger above the common ground of 1950's delinquency dramas.