A black man on the run from being accused of rape washes up on an island occupied by some strange Bunuel characters. Bunuel had taken to being controversial in more subtle ways at this time. Here the strangeness does not involve people's eyes being sliced open (Un Chien Andalou) or toes licked (L'Age d'Or) but in the fact that the island's natives are a middle-aged man and a 13-year old girl (or so, her age isn't given) he has some creepy intentions towards.There is at times a salaciousness to Bunuel's gaze, in the shots of the girl's thighs, or one where she adjusts a towel around her chest. Hopefully this experience didn't have anything to do with the young girl deciding not to become an actress.The film can be quite confronting: about child abuse, bitter truths about racism. In 1960, the civil rights movement was just about to take off, and race relations were in a bad place in America, so Bunuel's film must have been quite powerful at the time. In 2015 it no longer feels revolutionary in terms of its take on race relations, but its depiction of child abuse is still shocking. It feels like one of Bunuel's more focused films, telling a simple story with vivid characters and a powerful message.

I didn't think I would see a film from director Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou, Land Without Bread, Belle De Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) that was in the English language, I found most of them in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, including this one I was hoping would be deserving of the placement. Basically Miller (Zachary Scott) is a game warden who lives off the Carolina coast on an isolated island, there only other inhabitant with him is the naive and young Evalyn, better known as Evvie (Key Meersman), who he is very attracted to. Soon enough the two residents are joined by a man on the the run, black musician Traver (Bernie Hamilton) is trying to escape a lynch mob who have falsely accused him of raping a fourteen year old orphan girl, Miller wants to hand him in to turn him in, but Evvie is fond of him and does everything she can to protect him. Another arrival on the island from the mainland is preacher Reverand Fleetwood (Claudio Brook) who has come to rescue Evvie, and when Traver is discovered Miller has the hard decision of whether to let the mob take him or lose the affection of the girl he cares for. Also starring Crahan Denton as Jackson. The acting is alright, this was in fact Scott's penultimate film before dying of a brain tumour at age fifty one and he apparently often played nasty characters, Meersman I agree was a bit amateurish, I will say firstly that some of the story for me was a little hard to follow, maybe because the pace was a bit slow, but I suppose I could recognise moments that would be considered worthwhile for the book, a reasonable drama. Worth watching!

I have been looking for this film for some time, and it's everything I've waited for. For 1960, this film has some rather advanced themes. A black jazz musician named Traver winds up on an island used by a hunting resort. He has run away from a town after being accused of rape. The resort is kept by a middle-aged man named Miller and an older man who has just died leaving his granddaughter Evalyn (no older than 14). Traver finds the Miller's shack and takes some items. Miller wants to kill him, we assume for racial reasons. Miller is also in love with Evalyn, now in his care, and wants to make her a woman. This subplot is used through the eyes of two other characters who learn about Miller's relationship with Evalyn. You will notice quickly that one man, Jackson, wants to shoot and kill Traver for what others say he's done, and jokes with Miller about what he knows Miller's done. Statutory Rape is worse than rape, but to these people, black crimes are worse than white ones. Other reviewers seem not to pick up that Miller knows what he has done is wrong. He knows he is a worser man than Traver. After he finds out Traver left money for the stuff he stole, Miller no longer wants to kill him. Miller is not a racist man, any hatred for Traver that Miller has is spawned only from the fact that he's a stranger.This film is the ultimate drifter film (under Tokyo Drifter)...like a Spaghetti Western or a Samaurai movie, it starts as the man drifts into this new environment and follows him till he leaves this environment. The film is book-ended with a great exterior scene with a compelling song playing about running away. Traver's name is short for Traveling Man, what better for a drifter?As one of Bunuel's two English films, I wish Anchor Bay would pick this up and put it on DVD, or whoever distributed it if they still exist. Bunuel's attention to detail helps mix in some hidden undertones of prejudices. A clarinet called a 'Licorice Stick'. A priest offered a bed slept in by Traver asks how long Traver slept in it. "Only one night" the girl tells him. "It's okay, I'll just turn the mattress over." I'm frightened to even think what the character would have asked if Traver has stayed a week. Knowing Bunuel, the priest would probably say he'd just sleep on the floor after running to wash his hands.Bunuel is no stranger to prejudices, see Exterminating Angel. As a window breaks, the host shrugs it off and says "probably a passing Jew". Generally he is so much harder on Catholics than anyone else, yet in this film, the priest is the only character that wasn't flawed. Obviously, I love this film, if you can find it, you must see it. The scenes between Traver and Miller have such style in their words, you'll like them both. Every exchange they have is so smooth, I can't believe that Bunuel didn't make more films in English.RENT THIS FILM!!!!!!!

THE YOUNG ONE may not be one of Luis Buñuel's finest films, but it is certainly one of his most disturbing and provocative. This picture distinguishes itself from typical "race problem" movies in that Travers is not the familiar "ebony saint" character popularized by the likes of Sidney Poitier. Here Travers (played with intensity by Bernie Hamilton) does not take any mess from the racist Miller -- and lives to tell about it. Miller on the other hand is one of the most vile and despicable characters ever to grace the silver screen. Not only is Miller a bigot, but a pedophile too. When Miller is not spewing racial slurs at Traver, he's trying to bed Evalyn, the recently orphaned girl next door. Daring for the time, THE YOUNG ONE will provide Buñuel aficionados and those interested in the portrayal of African American men in the early 1960's with much fuel for discussion long after the films has been shown.