User Reviews

Spoilers; here on in. It had to be an experiment; just to find out if anyone could act. And they could. The plot was ridiculous, Sammy Davis Jr, were all too old for these roles, and that was too bad. There were a lot of young actors out there who could have played these parts. The first poolroom scene had zero substance, and it didn't look to me like any one of the players knew how to play pool, much less hustle the game.

I say this because just a couple of years after this episode aired, I started hanging around poolrooms; learning the game, and acting tough. If you're gonna act it, you gotta want it. These guys didn't. Oh, they played the parts as good as they could, but there wasn't anything to play. Nobody could inspire the hunger and anger a young hood feels. Even if they're new to the scene. "Rebel Without a Cause" was long gone by this time.

Another story, another director, it would have been a much different result. Why waste the acting ability of these guys on such a thin plot? A waste. It gets an 8; only because of the respect these actors deserve, and the problems they must have had with this episode. Sad.

Sammy and Peter Brown do an early version of Salt & Pepper, the screen team that SDJr and Peter Lawford turned into a couple of movies a few years later. Brown sparks the faux-British witticisms and Sammy (his character's NAME is Kid Pepper) joins in with his usual gusto. Worth it for that one scene alone, Sammy also has a silent escapade as a sneak thief and chews up the scenery like it was a pastrami sandwich from Katz's repenting to his father at the end. For SDJr completists. Oh by the way, at the very end he says to Kookie: "I thought I was hip but you are the hippest dude I have ever seen!" Decide for yourself if that's worth witnessing.

*** I forgot to mention the appearance of Sammy Davis Sr. This episode has a whole lot worth tuning in for.