Plot
Father Charles Dismas Clark, a Jesuit priest in St. Louis, dedicates his life to the rehabilitation of delinquents and ex-convicts. By meeting them on their own terms and talking their language, he wins their confidence and their trust. He is primarily concerned with a young thief, Billy Lee Jackson, recently released from the Missouri State Penitentiary. Father Clark helps clear the boy of some trumped-up charges and then gets him an honest job with a produce market. Billy's rehabilitation is further encouraged by Ellen Henley, a young socialite with whom he falls in love. Meanwhile, aided by Louis Rosen, a successful criminal lawyer, Father Clark raises enough funds to open Halfway House, a shelter for ex-convicts readjusting to civilian life. All goes well until Billy's employer fires him for a theft he did not commit. Embittered, he and a friend, Pio, attempt to rob the produce market. They are caught by one of the owners, and he attacks Billy with a crowbar. The panic-stricken boy grabs a gun and kills him. The police chase Billy to an abandoned house, and he hides there until Father Clark persuades him to surrender. Tried and convicted of murder, he is sentenced to death. Before Billy dies in the gas chamber, Father Clark reassures him by telling him of Dismas, the thief who died on the cross, and of how Christ promised him eternal life. After the execution, Father Clark returns to Halfway House and finds his first client, Pio, drunk and repentant.Cast
* Don Murray as Father Charles Dismas Clark * Larry Gates as Louis Rosen * Cindi Wood as Ellen Henley * Keir Dullea as Billy Lee Jackson * Logan Ramsey as George Hale * Don Joslyn as Pio Gentile * Sam Capuano as Mario Mazziotti * Vince O'Brien as Assistant District Attorney * Al Mack as Judge Garrity * Lou Martini as Angelo Mazziotri * Norman McKay as Father Dunne * Joseph Cusanelli as Hector Sterne * Bill Atwood as Weasel * Roger Ray (actor) as Detective Shattuck * William Warford as Assistant District Attorney's Aide * Willard Capen as Extra behind bars in DVD coverReception
A.H. Weiler of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "An unrelievedly grim, serious and action-filled case against an uncompromising attitude toward former convicts and capital punishment, it evolves, through an unpretentious, documentary treatment, as tough and persuasive, if disquieting, drama...There is no doubt, however, as to the film's sharp, authentic pictorial look, since it was photographed largely in St. Louis, whose lower depths rise strikingly before an audience. Its cheap saloons, alleys and slums, photographed in newsreel detail by Haskell Wexler, lend polish and support to the fast pace maintained by the director, Irvin Kershner, whose experience stems largely from television."See also
* List of American films of 1961References
External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoodlum Priest 1961 films 1961 drama films 1960s biographical drama films American biographical drama films American black-and-white films 1960s English-language films Films about capital punishment Films about Catholicism Films about Catholic priests Films directed by Irvin Kershner Films scored by Richard Markowitz Films set in St. Louis Films shot in Missouri Films shot in St. Louis United Artists films 1960s American films English-language biographical drama films