Cosh Boy (1953)

AKA: The Slasher

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Writers: Bruce Walker, Lewis Gilbert, Vernon Harris

Composer: Lambert Williamson

Starring: James Kenney, Joan Collins, Betty Ann Davies, Robert Ayres, Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Nancy Roberts, Laurence Naismith, Ian Whittaker, Stanley Escane, Michael McKeag, Sean Lynch

More info: IMDb

Tagline: WILD... WAYWARD... HELL-BENT!

Plot: The life of a juvenile delinquent is threatened by his own incessant desire for trouble.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again? Probably.

Don't be enticed by the alternate title, THE SLASHER.  Roy (Kenney) only brandishes a blade for maybe a minute and that's only in the last five minutes of the film.  It's very misleading but then that's what the exploitation machine does, right?  A cosh is British slang for a thick heavy stick or bar used as a weapon or bludgeon.  Teenage Roy and his pals rob old ladies in the night.  Naturally Roy gets more ambitious and when you combine that with his single mother who lets him get away with everything, you just know it's not going to go well for anybody.  He even knocks up Rene (Collins) who has her own tragic fate.  It's a good picture that packs one hell of a great ending.  There's no sympathy for Roy nor is it elicited.  He's a bad kid and he deserves to be punished.  When things get real ugly, his true colors come through.  Everyone does a fine job all the way around.  I can't say enough about the last five minutes.  I was riveted to my seat.  It's the kind of ending that could sway you to watch the picture again someday...and I just might.