Boys Beware

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Boys Beware
Produced by	Sid Davis
Starring	Sid Davis
Distributed by	Sidney Davis Productions
Release date(s)	1961
Running time	Short: 10 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Boys Beware is a film released through Sid Davis Productions. The film deals with a perceived danger to young boys: that of predatory homosexuals. The film was released in 1961 and, through negligence of the copyright laws in the United States at the time of its release, lapsed into the public domain and is available from the Rick Prelinger archives.

The film was probably the most infamous of all Sid Davis's work, and has often been accused of equating homosexual men with child molesters. In fact, many believe that the word "homosexual" is used in cases where "pedophile" would be more appropriate.

Aside from the film's late '50s/early '60s culturally influenced conclusion that homosexual men are inherently dangerous to young boys, the film has been noted for its unusual perception of police procedure: one boy is taken to a hotel, presumably to be molested, and later reports the crime. The perpetrator is arrested; the victim is put on probation.

The film itself has other odd moments, generally the result of the film's shoestring budget of $1,000--a minuscule sum for a short film, even in 1961. At one point, a homosexual driving to what looks like a lover's lane alley is caught in the same car that the police detective uses. Sid Davis was friends with the police in Southern California and would accept their suggestions of topics to make films about, allowing them to guide the films' message and development. In another odd moment Sid Davis himself, the owner of the production company, cameos as a predatory homosexual stalking a boy along a beach.

Playwright Max Sparber's play The Older Gentleman, set in rural Nebraska in the early Sixties, includes a scene in which college students are shown Boys Beware in class.

[edit] Quotations

"What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious -- a sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual."