There was a time when Jack Elam was actually a pretty good looking young actor, but by the time his late Fifties TV Western days rolled around he had that weird eye sinister look going and it's on display here in all it's glory. Man, what a creepy looking guy! And speaking of Westerns, this might be the only time outside of one where there's a lynch mob going after a suspected murderer. Considering it was set in modern times, I had some trouble reconciling that scene with my own recollection of 1960 and growing up in a small town. I guess it could have happened somewhere, but I don't recall ever hearing of one.Anyway, this story is about as off the beaten path as you'll find considering the understated yet overt subtext between the principals - Britt Halsey as Bix Dugan and Lowell Brown as Danny Winslow. Other reviewers have elaborated on the subject convincingly enough so I won't have to go into detail with my own review. I will say though, it did give me the creeps the very first time Danny put his hand on Bix's shoulder way back on the freight train ride. The other thing that kept me off balance was Bix's unusual resemblance to Michael Landon which I just couldn't get out of my mind while watching.With all that, I'm not sure why this one was called "The Girl in Lovers Lane". Maybe it was for the benefit of the unidentified couple out parking near the lake when they heard Carrie scream. Now there was a real hero, the guy who went to investigate. And Bix never even saw him.

I have noticed that a lot of films that have been featured on "Mystery Science Theater" have received a tons of low ratings on IMDb. However, a few of the films featured on the films weren't that bad and it's not fair to rate a film that's been given the "MST" treatment--with the hosts making funny comments during the film. Now I am NOT saying that "The Girl in Lover's Lane" is a great film, but it's not nearly bad enough to merit its current IMDb score of 2.1.The film begins with Bix and Danny meeting. Bix is a veteran drifter and Danny a younger guy who seems to have no particular reason to be wandering about the country. Once they blow into a small town, Bix needs to rescue Danny again and again because Danny is quite naive--a nice way of saying he has the intellect of a tomato.Along the way, something happens to the self-assured Bix--he finds a nice young lady and finds the lure of staying put pulling at him. And, in an odd subplot, Jack Elam plays a super-creepy sicko who wanders the town scaring the crap out of everyone--yet oddly, the police don't seem to take much notice nor does anyone on their own do anything about him. Ultimately, however, when Elam puts the moves on a girl who Bix is falling for, things come to a full boil.Overall, while not at all a great film, there were many interesting plot elements in this film--enough to merit a score higher than 2.1. The biggest negatives are a simplistic conclusion to the mystery that occurs near the end as well as the total stupidity of Danny one time too often. Considering the minuscule budget, however, it's a watchable little film.

****SPOILERS**** Late 1950's youth movie about two young drifters Bix & Danny, Brett Halsey & Lowell Brown, drifting in on a fright train into the peaceful little town of Sherman. A town where the police chief says that nothing bad ever happened there in 20 years. It didn't take long for something bad to happen in peaceful Sherman where on just the first night there the two outsiders are attacked by a gang of local thugs because one of them had a $50.00 bill that he changed at the towns pool hall to play a game. $50.00 seems to be a very small price to corrupt the local boys from their 20 years of peaceful endeavors. The people of Sherman weren't that bright either by beating to a pulp ,and almost lynching, Bix for raping and murdering his girlfriend Carrie, Joyce Meadows, after her body was found in the woods. The locals didn't have enough sense to know that Carries killer may well have been the local town weirdo Jesse ,Jack Elam, who was alway after Carrie. Jesse even tried to rape her the day before but was stopped by none other then Bix himself who belted Jesse and left him in dreamland. Bix was saved from being lynched by the mob led by Carrie's emotionally upset father Cal,Emile Meyer, by his friend Danny who came to his rescue, just when he was about to leave town, by telling them that it may very well have been Jesse who killed Carrie. Jesse who just happened to be at the scene to watch the lynching then broke down and confessed to the crime and was taken away into custody by the police. The cops were released from the towns jail in which they were locked up in when the townspeople stormed the police station to get and then try to lynch Bix. The townspeople, including Carrioe's dad Cal, were more kinder to Carrie's actual killer then Carrie's boyfriend by not trying to apprehend or kill him like that tried to kill Bix who they should have known was innocent. It was also interesting to see that Danny who was in town for just a few days could put two and two together and come to the conclusion that it was Jesse who killed Carrie when the local townspeople, who lived in the town all their lives, who knew about Jesse's dangerous obsession for Carrie didn't have the brains to figure that out by themselves? Danny who ran away from home when his parents divorced gets the good news at the end of the movie, I guess that his parents are back together, and happily invites his friend Bix to come home and live with him and his parent which Bix readily agrees to do, just what was meant by that? Isn't two grown up young men living together a bit odd especially in movies made back then in the 1950's? The movie "The Girl in Lover's Lane" seems to have more under the covers then over them, when it comes to Bix & Danny, and may have been made for other reasons other than what those watching it back then really thought.

This is a film I would have thought I would be seeing as part of one of those Something Weird Video double feature disc's. Pretty much your typical 1950's "troubled youth" films. Though this one is a bit talky and light on the action, I did enjoy it somewhat. I guess I have a soft spot in my heart for these kinds of films. Basically you have this young guy who leaves home in order to come to terms with the fact that his parents have decided to get a divorce. He meets Bix, a road weary and very experienced drifter. They end up in a small town and stay longer then they expected which leads to romance, complications, confrontation, rape and murder. Brett Halsey stars as Bix and gets fine support from Joyce Meadows and a perfectly cast Jack Elam as the town letch. All in all, it's no great shakes but it is entertaining enough.