Dangerous Years

Early Glimpse of Marilyn Monroe

Jul. 09, 2012

1:13 p.m.

The 1947 movie Dangerous Years (out on DVD) would be unremarkable matinee filler from its era except for two things. First: the third name from the end of the actors\' credits soon became one of the 20th century\'s most famous figures, Marilyn Monroe. Second: Dangerous Years was an early effort by Hollywood to examine the mounting panic over juvenile delinquency that would soon attend the rise of rock\'n\'roll. Playing a hot waitress at a “jukebox hangout” for teens, Monroe has maybe two minutes of total screen time but already makes an impression. Two years later she won a slightly bigger role in the film noir classic Asphalt Jungle and from there, her arc was launched. The delinquent angle is historically important. Dangerous Years follows a small band of high schoolers in the representative everytown of Middleton, USA, led astray by a slightly older youtha hot shot in pinstripes and a bowtie. The lure of gangs and crime is given a sociological explanation: the kids are disadvantaged either through poverty, broken homes, abusive fathers, working mothers… The not entirely unreasonable analysis of Dangerous Years is dragged down by some uninvolved performances and melodrama that must already have seemed laughable in 1948. Still, it\'s an interesting document of its time. The delinquent kids are listing to hot swing on the jukebox, by the way. Rockabilly was still unknown.