Just out of reform school, Bennie Saul (Scott Marlowe) starts turning on his classmates at high school. Eddie the Pusher gives Bennie the weed, and when they all “come back for more” they find it costs money.
The hard-hitting truth continues as a kid is killed attempting to hold up a gas station for reefer money, with Bennie finally killing Eddie for more dope only to get his just desserts in a flaming car crash.
The Cool and the Crazy was filmed on location in Kansas City, where actors Richard Bakalyan and Dick Jones were actually busted when their ducktail haircuts and delinquent appearance attracted the attention of the local police.
The Hollywood Reporter said at the time: “A few weeks ago a Brooklyn school principal committed suicide because he could not suppress the rape and hoodlumism in his institution. The Cool and the Crazy is a badly written, sloppily edited, poorly directed, low budget film that may well inspire more such tragedies.”
It’s a classic. Don’t miss it.
Bennie Saul
Scott Marlowe Jackie Barzan
Richard Bakalyan Amy
Gigi Perreau Stu Summerville
Dick Jones Eddie the Pusher
Marvyn J. Rosen Det. Lt. Sloan
Shelby Storck Miss Ryan
Caroline von Mayrhauser Marty
Ken Plumb Charles ‘Cookie’ Tyler
Robert Hadden Desk Sgt. Harry
Joe Adelman Det. Sgt. Myers
James Newman Amy’s mother
Jackie Storck Amy’s father
Leonard Belove
