Cry Tough (1959)

Cry Tough (1959)

„Cry Tough“ is a 1959 crime drama film noir directed by Paul Stanley. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the novel of the same name by Irving Shulman.

Handsome tough juvenile jailbird Miguel Antonio Enrico Francisco Estrada returns home to his family’s Spanish Harlem tenement apartment after serving a one-year prison sentence.

Miguel’s friends in the Carlos Mendoza mob refuse to believe Miguel wants to go straight. With Miguel’s intelligence and loyalty, Mendoza argues, his gang could crush the rival mob „Boss“ and crooked politician, Juan Antonio Hernando Cortez, and take control of the barrio.

Miguel adamantly rejects Mendoza’s offer and goes home, where his family is celebrating the birth of his uncle Alberto Estrada’s seventh child. Everyone except Papa is happy to see him.

The next morning, Miguel returns to his old job at a laundry establishment, a front owned by Cortez. At work, Tina’s young sweetheart Emilio asks for Miguel’s blessing on their planned marriage.

When the laundry boilers suddenly explode, Miguel realizes that Mendoza has paid Emilio to jam the valves and boldly orders the gangster to „lay off Emilio.“

Later, as he is leaving Mendoza’s nightclub, he is mesmerized by one of its „hostesses,“ the beautiful Sarita.

That night, Mendoza’s men beat Miguel. Miguel staggers up to Sarita’s room.

An immigration officer arrests Sarita as an illegal Cuban immigrant. Miguel asks Mendoza to arrange for her release.

Sarita then marries Miguel and moves in with his family. Cortez offers Miguel twice his salary to maintain the laundry’s dangerous machinery. Miguel accepts and returns home, only to find that Sarita has left him.

Toro, a Mendoza thug jealous of Miguel, threatens his rival with a knife, and during the fight, Miguel kills him.

Later, Miguel locks Sarita in the bedroom of a penthouse apartment.

The police question Miguel about Toro’s death, but he remains silent.

Seeing the police, Emilio panics and races in front of a car to his death.

At Emilio’s funeral, Tina blames Miguel for the loss of her fiancé, and Papa publicly disowns his wayward son. Miguel robs the Cortez laundry. Papa arrives for work and pulls the burglar alarm. Miguel escapes the shootout, but two of Mendoza’s thugs chase him across a rooftop, and when he tries to leap to another building, he falls. Papa and Sarita, kneeling over Miguel’s broken body, blame themselves for his misfortune, but just before he dies, he absolves them of guilt, and receives his father’s cherished blessing.

Cast:

• John Saxon – Miguel Antonio Enrico Francisco Estrada
• Linda Cristal – Sarita
• Joseph Calleia – Sr. Estrada
• Harry Townes – Carlos Mendoza
• Don Gordon – Incho
• Perry Lopez – Toro
• Frank Puglia – Lavandero
• Penny Santon – Señora Estrada
• Joe De Santis – Juan Antonio Hernando Cortez
• BarBara Luna – Tina
• Arthur Batanides – Alvears
• Paul Clarke – Emilio
• John Sebastian – Alberto
• Martin Garralaga – Angry Man on Street
• Nyra Monsour – Dolores
• Russ McCubbin – Houseboy
• Henry Corden – Mr. Fuente
• Brick Sullivan – Police Car Driver
• Bernie Hamilton – Policeman
• William H. O’Brien – Stag Party Guest
• Fred Aldrich – Street Extra

„Cry Tough“ (Schrei vor Wut) ist ein Kriminaldrama aus dem Jahr 1959 unter der Regie von Paul Stanley. Das Drehbuch von Harry Kleiner basiert auf dem gleichnamigen Roman von Irving Shulman.

Der gut aussehende, harte jugendliche Knastbruder Miguel Antonio Enrico Francisco Estrada kehrt nach Verbüßung einer einjährigen Haftstrafe in die Wohnung seiner Familie in Spanish Harlem zurück.