The Delinquents

In suburban Kansas City, a rowdy group of hot-rod greasers and carousing delinquents stirs trouble in a bar when they are denied drinks. Cholly [Peter Miller] and Eddy [Richard Bakalyan], the gang’s leaders, respond with a reckless act that shatters a window and sets a tone of defiance for the night. At the same time, 18-year-old Scotty White [Tom Laughlin] and 16-year-old Janice Wilson [Rosemary Howard] are deeply in love, a relationship that far from pleasing their families is seen as risky and premature. Janice’s father, Mr. White [Leonard Belove], tells Scotty to stay away and promises they can talk when he returns for Christmas, while her mother, Mrs. White [Helen Hawley], adds a cautious, protective edge to the family’s stance. Scotty and Janice search for quiet moments amid the town’s distractions, clinging to their devotion even as outside forces push against them.

That night, Scotty heads to the drive-in alone and finds himself targeted by a rival gang hunting the person who slashed one of their tires. Cholly comes to Scotty’s rescue, and a bold scheme blossoms: Cholly proposes posing as Janice’s new boyfriend to bring her to meet Scotty the next night. The plan unfolds, and a teen gathering forms at an abandoned mansion on the edge of town. The mood shifts from innocent excitement to excess as wild drinking and dancing take over, and Scotty and Janice step away for a moment of privacy after Cholly and Eddy each dance with Janice, a sequence that tests the limits of their loyalties and desires.

When the police unexpectedly arrive to break up the drunken free-for-all, a cloud of suspicion settles over the group. Cholly and Eddy start to doubt Scotty’s honesty, convinced that he tipped off the authorities, and the next day they kidnap him. They force Scotty to swallow a full bottle of Scotch in a bid to extract a confession, pushing the young man toward a desperate panic. As the plan to abandon him on a desolate country road falters, the gang pulls into a service station for gas. Eddy decides to stage a hold-up, but Scotty, waking up, throws the plan into chaos. In a heated scramble, Cholly strikes the station attendant with a gas pump, and the gang bolts, leaving Scotty behind with the cash and the shaken attendant.

Back at home, Scotty learns that Janice has also been abducted by the gang. He fights through a series of confrontations, trying to reach her and prove his courage, and finally faces Cholly in a tense kitchen showdown. A switchblade becomes a brutal instrument in this confrontation, spurred on by Eddy’s psychotic insistence that Scotty be eliminated—the only witness who can tell the truth. Wounded but resolute, Scotty staggers toward the authorities, while the Whites and Wilsons move to reclaim their children, restored to a degree of safety through a fragile, hard-won resolve.

From the opening narration to the closing refrain, the film frames its events as a stark cautionary tale about violence and moral peril. It begins by laying out a world where impulses collide with adult expectations, and it closes with a reflective coda that invites the audience to consider the costs of reckless choices and group dynamics. The story unfolds with a steady, unvarnished clarity that keeps the emotional core—the teen romance between Scotty and Janice—front and center even as the dangers of their environment surge around them. The ensemble cast, anchored by Scotty and Janice’s complicated relationship, navigates loyalty, fear, and the urgent pull of youth against a backdrop of cars, crowds, and small-town pressures.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 11:17