Downbeat (1958)
"Daddy-O" (original title)

Phil, a part-time truck driver and singer who wears his pants far too high, meets a feisty platinum blonde who challenges him to a drag race through Griffith Park. When he is caught and ... See full summary »

Director:

Lou Place

Writer:

David Moessinger (original screenplay)

Stars:

Dick Contino, Sandra Giles, Bruno VeSota

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dick Contino	...	Daddy-O / Phil Sandifer / Pete Plum
Sandra Giles	...	Jana Ryan
Bruno VeSota	...	Sidney Chillas
Gloria Victor	...	Marcia Hayes
Jack McClure	...	Bruce Green
Ron McNeil	...	Duke Manion
Sonia Torgeson	...	Peg Lawrence
Kelly Gordon	...	Ken
Hank Mann	...	Barney
Joseph Donte	...	Frank Wooster
Joseph Martin	...	Kerm
Robert Banas	...	Sonny DiMarco
Gabe Delutri
Ruth Scott
William Riggs

Storyline

Phil, a part-time truck driver and singer who wears his pants far too high, meets a feisty platinum blonde who challenges him to a drag race through Griffith Park. When he is caught and loses his license, he meets up with the sketchy Frank Wooster who offers him a job singing in his new nightclub. When Phil discovers that his new job also includes drug running, he must fight to save his friends and himself.

---

Plot Keywords:

singing | police | truck | nightclub | gang | 

---

Taglines:

Alive!! With the Beat and the Heat of Today's Rock-N-Roll Generation!

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Music | Mystery | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Out on Probation

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imperial Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film marks composer John Williams's first feature film score.

---

Goofs

During the race scene, one of the shots is shown reversed to attempt to show the race from a different angle. During one scene the driver is on the right side of the car!

---

Quotes

Bruce Green: Couldn't help ya if I wanted to, fella. Gym policy.

---

Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Teenage Caveman (1991)

User Reviews

"If you weren't a woman I'd punch you in the face"

Truck driver, singer and high trouser enthusiast Daddy-o is a real hip cat. He hangs out at a pizza parlour where he acts moody, sings deep songs like rock candy and dances aggressively with women while repeatedly pointing out to them that if they weren't a woman he would punch them, right in the face. Because their driving is substandard.

While Daddy-o is racing against a pointy breasted stranger his best friend gets run off the road and killed. How close were they? Some people have brothers, daddy-o had this guy. That's how close these two were, though they are only seen to exchange five lines of dialog in the entire movie.

Naturally Daddy-o isn't best pleased and after a run in with a myopic gym manager he drifts into some shady business delivering dope for a fat man who inexplicably spends all his time in the gym. Maybe he isn't getting any thinner because the gym doesn't have any actual gym equipment that I could see.

There are two reasons that I can think of to watch this movie, hence the two star rating. The first is that the songs are just so crap they have to be heard to be believed, most of them just have the same line repeated endlessly like Rock Candy which goes "rock candy, rock, rock, rock candy, rock, rock candy." (repeat 50 times).

The other reason for tuning in to this highly dated yarn is the way the script can't decide if Daddy-o is a mean moody type or a fun loving hipster liable to burst into song at any moment. It probably doesn't help that the teenage rebel looks about 40 either.

Pretty funny, pretty awful too though.