THE GIRL IN LOVER'S LANE (1959)
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I don’t know about you, but I had no problem kicking back and soaking in this fine little obscurity in stunning mint condition from the original negative. Masquerading as a lurid potboiler, Girl in Lovers Lane soon reveals itself to be a modest, well-crafted, solidly acted piece of work, kind of like an extended episode of Thriller or Route 66. Leather-jacketed thugs corner young LOWELL BROWN (High School Caesar) on the railroad tracks. He is rescued by brooding BRETT HALSEY and the two "boys on a boxcar" head down the lost highway of life. They land in Small Town, U.S.A.
Halsey has a chip on his shoulder and a bad-father complex, while runaway rich kid Brown has a hundred bucks in his pocket and everybody wants it. Together, they have to fight off a pool hall full of thugs and a hotel full of really sleazy, rinsed-out blonde, bubble-bath-taking broads. At the local cafe, Halsey finds himself falling in love with a really sweet waitress (JOYCE MEADOWS), lorded over by an overly protective father (Rifleman regular EMILE MEYER), and stalked by an extremely unpleasant creep (JACK ELAM looking a lot like a young Steve Buscemi here).
Girl in Lovers Lane is so well done that when the explosive climax flared up, I had actually forgotten that it was supposed to be "that kind of movie." Halsey (who made Atomic Submarine and Return of the Fly this same year) plays it right down the middle and you’re never quite sure if he’s a saint or a serial killer. Meadows (who’s also in Brain from Planet Arous and Zebra in the Kitchen with Jay North!) is also real good as a small-town girl ready to take a chance on a sinister stranger. Music by RONALD (Spider Baby) STEIN.