| Jungle Street | |
| Director: | Charles Saunders |
| Screenplay: | Alexander Doré |
| Story: | Guido Coen |
| Producer: | Guido Coen |
| Starring: | David McCallum Kenneth Cope Jill Ireland |
| Cinematography: | Walter J. Harvey |
| Editing: | Peter Bezencenet |
| Music: | Harold Geller |
| Studio: | Theatrecraft |
| Distributor: | Regal Films |
| Runtime: | 89 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Jungle Street, released in the US as Jungle Street Girls, is a 1961 black and white second feature[1] British crime drama directed by Charles Saunders and starring David McCallum, Kenneth Cope, and Jill Ireland. A young man attempts to escape his working-class background and win the girl he loves through crime.
It was the first of three films produced by the Theatrecraft production company in the early 1960s, the others being Dangerous Afternoon (1961) and Strongroom (1962).
The credits roll as a number 12 double decker bus headed for Harlesden drives through London. It stops in Shepherd's Bush. An elderly man gets off and is mugged by a young man in an alley. We then go to the Adam and Eve Club, where girls perform erotic dances on stage. In the club lobby car mechanic (and petty criminal) Terry Collins speaks with Joe Lucas at the outer bar and asks to see the owner, gangster Jacko Fielding. Jacko is with his main girl, Sue. Julie, the hatcheck girl brings in the evening's takings and Terry eyes it greedily. In the club Terry watches Sue strip and lights a cigarette at the bar. The audience is mainly old men. Terry is obsessed with the star stripper Sue, but is unable to pursue her openly because the wealthy and powerful Jacko is interested in her.
In Terry's working class home he bickers with his parents over breakfast. Terry belittles his father and his beer-drinking. The morning Daily Express paper informs Terry that he killed his victim – the man at the start of the film. His mother sees the headline and hopes they hang the murderer. At the police station two plain clothes police interview Joe Lucas who says he spent the night with Dimples, one of the dancers at the club. The police seem to think the murder is connected to the club and so ask about all the men there.
Johnny Calvert appears at Terry's mum's house looking for Terry. He is not home but she invites him in and they chat. The police spot Johnny and check him out, since he has been in prison for robbery. Joe confronts Terry in the club and hints that he knows he did it. Terry punches him confirming his idea. The girls appear and Terry remains in a mood. The bouncer knocks him out with a punch and Sue looks after him backstage. He steals a kiss and gets thrown out.
At the Star Garage where Terry works the police wait inside and Johnny Calvert sits opposite in a cafe. He is interviewed by Sgt Philip. He is asked about an Austin A40. Then he asks if he knows Johnny Calvert. He says no. The newspaper says the police have the wallet and they are going to fingerprint the whole district. Terry tracks down Johnny in a rented room over a tailor's shop. He apologises for spending Johnny's share of the robbery but suggests they rob the Adam and Eve Club. He tells Johnny that Sue (Johnny's old girlfriend) is working there as a stripper. She was forced to strip for money when johnny went to prison.
They go to the club together. Jacko invites Terry into the back office. Johnny goes backstage and finds Sue in her dressing room. He slaps her. She claims to have been true to him since he went and they kiss. Jacko is interviewing a new girl why Terry relaxes with a drink and eyes the safe. Terry and Johnny reunite at the club bar. Johnny leaves and Joe sits down. Joe threatens to blackmail him. He is surprised after asking for £10 that Terry offers him £50. Sue visits Johnny in his room and asks him to "take her away" as she lies on the bed.
The police start door-to-door fingerprinting and are told to make a note of the names of those who refuse. At a very sunny 4 o'clock the elderly caretaker of the club comes out to feed the cats and Terry coshes him and goes to the office with Johnny. They blow the safe. Terry double-crosses Johnny by knocking him out and absconding with the money, just as the club's caretaker manages to trigger an alarm, alerting the police. Johnny is caught and tells the police Terry is his accomplice. Terry rushes to Johnny's flat, where Sue is waiting, and tries to get her to run away with him. When she resists, demanding to know what happened to Johnny, Terry tries to abduct her at gunpoint. The police arrive, tipped off by Johnny and Joe, and Terry takes Sue and Mr. Rose, the elderly tailor who occupies the flat next door, as hostages in a standoff. Mr. Rose tries to get Terry to hand over his gun. The police bursting through the door causes Terry to accidentally fatally shoot Mr. Rose and he is dragged away screaming by police as Mr. Rose dies in Sue's arms.
Jungle Street was one of the last films directed by Charles Saunders. According to producer Guido Coen, David McCallum had "substantial input" into the direction of the film. Critic Michael J. Weldon has called it the last of McCallum's "juvenile delinquent" film roles. McCallum and Ireland were married at the time the film was made.[2]
Despite its setting in a strip club, the film received an "A" rating from the British Board of Film Classification after removing some material, including shortening two striptease scenes and deleting a back view of Jill Ireland baring her breasts to the club audience.
The film, retitled Jungle Street Girls, was later released and promoted as an adults-only film in the United States by Ajay Films.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Dreary second feature, with a number of amateurish striptease acts dispiritingly presented to eke out a feeble, formulary plot. As an exercise in crime and punishment, it has neither point nor moral force."[3]
Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film wrote that the film "remains a piece that is wonderfully evocative of the era."
In Sixties British CInema, Robert Murphy wrote: "Without wishing to deny the film's flaws, its exploration of a grimy world of shortened horizons and stunted development which affluence has touched in only the most superficial way is fascinating. And its young protagonists, David McCallum, Kenneth Cope, Jill Ireland – fragile, brutal, vulnerable, rebellious – are disturbingly true to life."[4]
Jungle Street was released on DVD by Odeon Entertainment in 2008, in a set with the British crime drama A Matter of Choice (1963).