Farlig Ungdom


Johnny Farlig is a 1953 Danish crime drama directed by Lau Lauritzen Jr. and starring Ib Mossin and Birgitte Bruun. The film tells the dark story about a naive youth being drawn into a life of petty crime and unable to break away. The film received the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film in 1954.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Egon, an apprentice mechanic in a small town near Copenhagen, naively falls into the company of criminals. When the thieves dare Egon to prove himself worthy of their company, Egon steals a doctor's bag from a parked car. Getting away easily, Egon becomes involved with crime. After brutally mugging a local butcher one evening, Egon and his buddies are arrested. Egon is sentenced to a home for juvenile delinquents. He meets the sympathetic Ruth, who tries to encourage him to go straight, but finds she has little power to change him. When Egon is released from the juvenile home, he has lost his naivete and become a hardened criminal. He organizes a gang, proving himself a merciless leader, and says they will commit crimes "the right way." Egon surrounds himself with a group of the town's antisocial individuals: Manchester a drug addict and dealer, Johnny the spoiled doctor's son, the callous Karl, the weakling Ejnar, and the dimwitted but sweetly loyal Alice. Egon decides to burglarize a slaughterhouse. But his new girlfriend Tove betrays him to the police out of jealousy. The new band of criminals is arrested and sentenced to prison. Only Ejnar is able to break free of his criminal connections, and the community gives him a new chance.

Selected cast