The Cross and the Switchblade
Cast & Crew
Don Murray
Pat Boone
Erik Estrada
Jackie Giroux
Jo-ann Robinson
Dino Defilippi
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The Reverend David Wilkerson, a Pennsylvania country preacher, comes to New York to aid a group of teenaged gang members on trial for the murder of a young boy; but when he enters a courtroom to beg permission to meet the defendants, he is seized and frisked by suspicious court officers. After failing to help the accused youngsters, Wilkerson, refusing to be discouraged, remains in New York in the hope of reaching other slum victims. In time, he meets both Nicky Cruz, the leader of a Puerto Rican gang called the Mau Maus, and Nicky's hated enemy Abdullah, the leader of a black gang known as the Bishops. Through his friendship with a homeless black girl, Little Bo, Wilkerson visits the Mau Maus' headquarters and learns of a forthcoming rumble with the Bishops to determine control of the neighborhood. Despite Wilkerson's sincerity, the teenagers look upon him with open distrust. Nicky demonstrates his hostility by spitting on Wilkerson; but the preacher responds by assuring the boy that God will never forsake him. When the rumble results in the death of one of the Mau Maus, Wilkerson becomes more determined than ever to win over the gang members. Then, because the Bishops disrupt the funeral services of the dead youth, another gang fight breaks out, and Nicky suffers a near-fatal beating. Wilkerson visits him and is again rejected, though he senses that he is making some headway toward Nicky's eventual conversion. But the reverend receives another setback when the gangs' leaders vote to fight to the death. Actual violence is curtailed, however, by Wilkerson's persuasive preaching and by his previous assistance in curing Nicky's ex-girl friend Rosa of heroin addiction. Encouraged by this initial success, Wilkerson vows to organize youth rehabilitation centers in all of New York's slum districts.
Director
Don Murray
Cast
Pat Boone
Erik Estrada
Jackie Giroux
Jo-ann Robinson
Dino Defilippi
Don Blakely
Gil Frazier
Don Lamond
Sam Capuano
Alex Colon
Hector Mercado
Stew Silver
Dorothy James
David Connell
Michelle Galjour
Jackie Cronin
Virginia Alonso
Darryl Speer
Thomas Mooney
Vincent O'brien
Jay Devlin
Paul Haney
Darrel Adleman
Victor Bumbalo
Stanley Finesmith
Sal Christi
Andrew T. Murphy
Kleg Seth
Laura Figueroa
Jonelle Allen
Mark Dawson
Dolores Raskin
Norman Bly
Tim Pelt
Crew
Charles Bailey
Robert Baron
Samuel N. Bennerson
James Bonnet
Ralph Carmichael
Nicky Cruz
Ken Curtis
Tom Harris
John Jiras
Steven M. Marshall
Don Murray
Chris Newman
Angelo Ross
Dick Ross
Pearl Somner
Julian Townsend
David Wilkerson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
I could kill you, preach!- Nicky Cruz
Yes, you could, Nicky. You could cut me up in a thousand pieces! And every piece will say 'I love you!'- David Wilkerson
Trivia
Notes
Filmed on location in New York City.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1970
Released in United States 1970
