The Boy with Green Hair facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Boy with Green Hair |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Joseph Losey |
| Produced by | Dore Schary |
| Written by | Ben Barzman Alfred Lewis Levitt |
| Starring | Robert Ryan Pat O'Brien Dean Stockwell |
| Music by | Leigh Harline Constantin Bakaleinikoff |
| Cinematography | George Barnes |
| Editing by | Frank Doyle |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 16, 1948 (U.S.) |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $900,000 or $800,000 |
The Boy with Green Hair is a 1948 American fantasy-drama film in Technicolor directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Dean Stockwell as Peter, a young war orphan who is subject to ridicule after his hair mysteriously turns green. Co-stars include Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, and Barbara Hale. The film was released on DVD on March 10, 2010 as part of the Warner Archive Collection.
The overall construction is an allegorical anti-war story, with the message that war always damages children.
Plot
Finding a curiously silent young runaway boy (Dean Stockwell) whose head has been completely shaved, small-town police call in a psychologist (Robert Ryan) and discover that he is a war orphan named Peter Fry. Moving in with an understanding retired actor named Gramps (Pat O'Brien), Peter starts attending school and generally begins living the life of a normal boy until his class gets involved with trying to help war orphans in Europe and Asia.
Peter soon realizes that—like the children on the posters, whose images haunt him—he, too, is a war orphan. The realization about his parents and the work helping the orphans makes Peter turn very serious, and he is further troubled when he overhears the adults around him talking about the world preparing for another war. The next day, after having a bath, Peter is drying his hair with a towel when, to his astonishment, he sees that his hair has turned green, prompting him to run away after being taunted by the townspeople and his peers.
Suddenly, appearing before him in a lonely part of the woods, are the orphaned children whose pictures he saw on the posters. They tell him that he is a war orphan, but that with his green hair he can make a difference and must tell people that war is dangerous for children. He leaves determined to deliver his message to any and all. Upon his return, the townspeople urge Gramps to encourage Peter to consider shaving his hair so that it might grow back normally. Peter returns to the woods to find the orphan children from the posters, but is chased by a group of boys from school who attempt to cut his hair.
He later decides to get his head shaved, and the town barber does the job that night. However, Peter leaves home in the middle of the night, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a baseball bat, as the soundtrack plays "Nature Boy". Later reunited with Gramps, Peter learns that there are adults who do accept what he has to say and who want him to go on saying it. He's sure that his hair will grow back in green again, and he will continue to carry his message.
Cast
- Pat O'Brien as Gramp Fry
- Robert Ryan as Dr. Evans
- Barbara Hale as Miss Brand
- Dean Stockwell as Peter Fry
- Richard Lyon as Michael
- Walter Catlett as The King
- Samuel S. Hinds as Dr. Knudson
- Charles Meredith as Mr. Piper
- Regis Toomey as Mr. Davis
- David Clarke as Barber
- Billy Sheffield as Red
- Johnny Calkins as Danny
- Teddy Infuhr as Timmy
- Dwayne Hickman as Joey
- Eilene Janssen as Peggy.
Dale Robertson, William Smith (actor) and Russ Tamblyn appear, but are not credited.
Score
The song "Nature Boy" written by eden ahbez and sung by an uncredited chorus was a primary theme of the score for the motion picture. Nat King Cole's version of "Nature Boy" shot to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and remained there for eight weeks straight during the summer of 1948.
