Dino
Cast & Crew
Thomas Carr
Sal Mineo
Brian Keith
Susan Kohner
Frank Faylen
Joe Desantis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Dino Minetta returns to his old neighborhood after serving three and a half years in a state reformatory for his participation in a robbery that resulted in a night watchman being killed. Dino's parole officer, Frank Mandel, insists that, as a condition of his year's probation, Dino meet with local settlement house director Larry Sheridan in order to try to prevent his return to a life of crime. When Dino enters his family's modest apartment, he finds a brief note from his parents, who are both at work, welcoming him back. His mother works in the garment business while his bullying father, who regularly beat him, is a short-order cook. Dino reluctantly keeps the appointment Mandel has made for him with Sheridan, but is extremely hostile and belligerent. When Dino decides to leave prematurely, Sheridan tells him to return the next day. After returning home, Dino hears his parents arguing and is treated with indifference by them. However, Tony, Dino's thirteen-year-old brother, is happy to see him and proudly tells him that he is in a gang with some older boys who are planning an armed robbery of a gas station. Next day at the settlement house, Dino sees a plain, shy girl, Shirley, being tormented by two other girls for writing poetry. Dino then reveals to Sheridan that he hates his father. That night, Mr. Minetta, embarrassed because Mandel visited him at work, orders Dino to stop talking with the "head doctor." When Dino refuses to obey his father, Minetta hits him several times in the face, bloodying the boy's mouth. This treatment prompts Dino to agree to join Tony and the gang in the gas station robbery. The next night, Tony takes Dino to meet with the others, who are impressed by Dino's prison record. It is agreed that the robbery will take place the following evening and that Dino will carry the gun. When Dino returns home with the weapon, he contemplates shooting his sleeping father, but is unable to do so. At his session with Sheridan the next day, Dino is more hostile than ever and eventually breaks down, and after telling Sheridan that his parents never showed him affection and that he has never been kissed, swears that he will break off his conversations with Sheridan. Despite Dino's hostility, Sheridan persuades several of the settlement house teenagers to invite Dino to a dance they are planning. Later, Mandel visits Dino at home to bring him a bottle of shaving lotion as a gift. Mandel then tells Dino about his first dance and persuades him to attend the settlement house event. At the settlement house, wallflower Shirley asks Dino to dance and tells him that she remembers him from the time they were children. Although the robbery is scheduled for later that evening, Dino walks Shirley home. Dino admits to Shirley that he has never been on a date with a girl and, after she tells him that she does not care about his past, they kiss. Later, Dino keeps his rendezvous with the gang and assigns the members their respective tasks. Confused by his encounters with Sheridan and with Shirley, Dino then tells Tony they are not going to commit the robbery. When a disillusioned Tony protests, Dino knocks him out in order to prevent him from participating in the robbery. The next day, Dino asks Sheridan if they can resume their conversations and if Sheridan will also counsel Tony. Outside Sheridan's office, a radiant Shirley waits for Dino.
Director
Thomas Carr
Cast
Sal Mineo
Brian Keith
Susan Kohner
Frank Faylen
Joe Desantis
Pat Desimone
Penny Santon
Richard Bakalyan
Mollie Mccart
Cindy Robbins
Rafael Campos
Ken Miller
Kip King
Lee Erickson
Michael Mineo
Speer Martin
Joel Collin
Pete Kooy
Robin Riley
Edwin Bruce
Gene Collins
Fred E. Sherman
Don C. Harvey
Gary Murray
Peter Haymond
Whitey Haupt
Byron Foulger
Melvin Stevens
Emil Mancine
Philip Phillips
Ralph Reed
Stephen Lodge
Kay Colominas
Mary Carr
Crew
William Austin
Bernice Block
Ralph Butler
Wilfrid Cline
Gerald Fried
Sam Gordon
Bert Henrikson
Austen Jewell
David Kramarsky
Emile Lavigne
Richard Michaels
Robert J. Mills
David Milton
Eve Newman
Reginald Rose
Charles Schelling
James West
Allen K. Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Dino was based on a one-hour CBS teleplay by Reginald Rose that he expanded to feature-length for the theatrical version. Sal Mineo reprised his role as "Dino Minetta," while Brian Keith took over the part played by Ralph Meeker in the television production. As noted in Hollywood Reporter news items, location shooting took place at several downtown Los Angeles sites, including the Southern Pacific railroad yard. Additional news items include Ray Corrigan, Wes Christiansen and Tom Brown Henry in the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.
Actress Mary Carr, who had a bit part in the film, was the eighty-four-year-old mother of director Thomas Carr, according to a Hollywood Reporter news item. Although one news item mentioned that Dino marked the film debut of Sal Mineo's brother Michael, Michael Mineo had previously appeared in the 1947 Warner Bros. production Life with Father (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941-50). As noted in a June 9, 1957 New York Times article, Dino marked the first film of producer Bernice Block. Block was not credited on any additional films.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer July 1957
Released in United States Summer July 1957
