Cry Baby Killer (1958)

Interesting facts

The Cry Baby Killer is a 1958 teen exploitation film produced by Roger Corman that marked Jack Nicholson's film debut. The film was out of print and difficult to find until 2006, when it was issued on DVD for the first time by Buena Vista Home Entertainment as part of its Roger Corman Classics series.

Production

Corman was required to make a film under his deal with Allied Artists. He had a script from Leo Gordon and was going to direct it. The story, which came from Gordon, was based on a real life siege at a cafe in Inglewood. "It was a very nice little script," said Corman.

Corman says AIP then asked him to do a location scout in Australia, so he decided to just executive produce the film; the producers were David Kramarsky and David March and the director would be Justus Addis.

Jack Nicholson was cast at the recommendation of his acting teacher Jeff Corey. Corman claimed that he cast Nicholson and the producer did know the actor from Corey's class, but Kamarsky claimed he is the one who cast Nicholson, although Corman approved it.

Corman went overseas and said much of the script was changed by Kamarsky. Corman returned to Hollywood two days before filming began and tried to reverse the changes, but was only partially successful. Filming started 14 October 1957. Melvin Levy was brought on to do last minute rewrites. Corman supervised post production and has a cameo.

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