Studs Lonigan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Studs Lonigan (film)

Directed by	Irving Lerner
Produced by	Philip Yordan
Written by	Philip Yordan
Starring	Christopher Knight Frank Gorshin Jack Nicholson
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Haskell Wexler
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	1960
Running time	95 min.
IMDb profile

Studs Lonigan is the subject of a trilogy of novels by American author James T. Farrell: Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day.

In James T. Farrell's classic novels of Irish life on the South Side of Chicago, Farrell portrays sympathetically and graphically his protagonist's coming of age. In a large section describing Studs' participation in the 1919 race riots, the author captures the split between the oppression of the Irish and their oppression of others, particularly African Americans.

The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan helps us understand the virulence of racism and how its unchecked rapacity helped produce and reproduce the ghetto.

[edit] Studs Lonigan in film and television

The Studs Lonigan story was made into a film in 1960, directed by Irving Lerner and starring Christopher Knight in the title role. Other cast members included Frank Gorshin, Venetia Stevenson, and Jack Nicholson (in one of his first movie roles).

In 1979 Studs Lonigan was produced as a television miniseries starring Harry Hamlin, Colleen Dewhurst, Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, and Charles Durning. Production Designer Jan Scott won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special.