First released in 1970, The Cross and the Switchblade stars Pat Boone as David Wilkerson.

David is a small-town preacher who heads to Brooklyn in the late 50s.  Having read an article about the prevalence of violent gangs in New York City, David is determined to make a difference and bring some peace to the city.  Why exactly he feels that he can do that, as opposed to someone who is actually from New York and who has some actual experience dealing with gangs, is never really explained.  David starts going to drug dens and back alleys and rooftops in the poorest parts of the city.  At first, no one takes him seriously but, because he refuses to give up, he does slowly start to win the neighborhood’s respect.  He’s even given a place to live so that he’ll no longer have to spend his time sleeping in his car.

(Sleeping in his car?  David really didn’t think this out before heading up to New York, did he?)

David becomes obsessed with trying to reach Nicky Cruz (a young Erik Estrada), who is one of the most fearsome member of the Mau Maus gang.  The problem is that Nicky really doesn’t want to be reached.  He’s been betrayed too many times by the system to trust anyone who claims that they want to help.  Nicky is a lot like the character that Michael Wright played in The Principal, basically threatening to cut off any helping hand this offered to him.  When one of Nicky’s girlfriends begs for a fix of heroin, Nicky instead sends her to the local church with orders to “take care of” David.  When she instead accepts David’s offer of help and gets sober, Nicky becomes even angrier….

The Cross and the Switchblade is an early example of the type of “mainstream” religious film that, as of late, has become popular in America.  It may be about religion but it also has a lengthy fight scene and some mild cursing, as if the film wanted to make sure that everyone watching knew that it was a “real movie” as opposed to just being a religious tract.  The film was shot on location in Brooklyn, which does bring an authentically gritty feel to certain parts of the film.

Unfortunately, the film itself is done in by a slow pace and a few odd casting choices.  One would think that a young Pat Boone would be a good choice for a fresh-faced preacher from Middle America but, instead, Boone gives a rather stiff performance as David Wilkerson and certainly shows none of the charisma that would be necessary to get the film’s gangs to even momentarily put down their weapons and listen to a sermon.  If Boone doesn’t show enough emotion, Estrada shows a bit too much.  The film was Estrada’s acting debut but, even at the age of 21, Estrada had already developed the Shatneresque acting style that makes him so entertaining in films like Guns and Chupacabra Vs. The Alamo but less credible in films where he actually has to play characters who go through a change or learn a lesson.

In the end, perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is that it was directed by Don Murray, the actor who was nominated for an Oscar for Bus Stop and who played the doomed senator in Advice and Consent.  Three years after Cross and the Switchblade, Murray would make quite an impression as the evil Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.  More recently, he played Dougie’s surprisingly sympathetic boss in Twin Peaks: The Return.  Murray is a great, albeit underrated actor.  But, as a director (or at least as the director of this particular film), he struggled to keep the action moving and far too often, he used gimmicks like slow motion and weird camera angles in an attempt to liven up the story.

The Cross and the Switchblade asks the viewer to choose one or the other.  Ultimately, it doesn’t make a compelling case for either.