User reviews

OK, I agree, the movie does have some bad acting in it but until u meet the actual man the movie has a lot less meaning & does seem a bit laughable. I met Nicky Cruz not long ago & I believe meeting him & hearing the story from him made the movie a lot more meaningful & I really enjoy it. I suggest that if you get a chance meet the man. I believe his story can really change lives, something definitely changed in me when I met him. If you haven't seen it yet I suggest you do. If its your first time seeing it, keep in mind that it is a true story, maybe you will take it a bit more seriously. And just try to block out the bad acting in some points of the movie =)

To me it seemed that the movie was a rush job. The book is a very powerful tool for telling the word of Christ. According to the sequel: "Beyond The Cross and the Switchblade" after the movie came out contributions started to drop off. Finally Pastor Wilkerson found out that due to the success people thought their contributions were no longer needed. Funny thing, the distributor of the film went bankrupt. Overall the work that "Teen Challenge" later to become "World Challenge" is tremendous. From a tiny acorn a mighty oak has grown.

I saw this movie when I was 13 years old, while first released at the theaters. It has stayed with me ever since. I am not a religious person, and the heart of this movie is not in my memory for spiritual reasons. It is the true story of the heartbreaking struggles of a few, then dozens, then hundreds of streetkids. It is the true story of the bitter-sweet survival, recovery, success of one after another. And the utter sadness in the loss and waste of those lost to drugs, crime, and/or prison. What moved me wasn't as much the tenacity and courage of the preacher who gave up his comforts to live and work among those of the street, which was enormous, but the fact that these kids were found, or found someone, to pull them out, to fight for them until they finally became capable of fighting for themselves. There is both humor and drama in this story of kids who learned through the efforts of one single man, constantly, unrelentlessly, with creativity and iron testicles, that they can overcome.

What you may Learn from watching this film!!!

1. Cops should never try to stop gang fights. They just become new props for the taking.

2. Nice girls like to get high too...

3. To get info from a street kid in the South Bronx.. All you need are a pair of patent leathers.

4. If your name is Israel.. The Bible talks a lot about you..

5. Never expect someone to be happy to see you at 2am.

6. Never use the toilets at a drug dealer's home. You may poop on his stash.

7. Gangs always set the ground rules when they rumble. "No zips.. I had a hell of a time removing that bullet last week."

8. If you want to get a gang bangers attention during a revival meeting. Always have some hot chick sing "Bringing in the Sheaves"

9. It's nice to see that Pat Boone can do something else besides singing Tiny Bubbles.

********** Personal Commentary ***************

This film was great when I was a kid. It made me want to get right with God. As I got older. I realized how funny this film could be.. Eric Estrada as Nicky Cruz was entertaining. He is so cheesy an actor and combines him with Pat Boone.. Oh man.. But I have to say.. seriously.. The story is good & needs to be told..

In closing.. All I can say is... "Where's Jon, Ponch!" I give this film..... 6 moooos....

That's my story & I'm sticking to it...

Mooby "For GODs sake, let the Moobster dance!" quote: N. Fisher

An inspiring true story lifts this otherwise poor movie to being almost watchable. Pat Boone plays David Wilkerson, a small town preacher who finds himself involved in New York gang warfare, and Erik Estrada is Nicky Cruz, a violent gang member.

Unconvincing performances and leaden direction distract from what might otherwise be interesting. The action scenes are almost laughable. However, the true story on which the film is based is remarkable. It's a story full of hope and that in itself is sometimes enough.

I can't actually recommend it, but if you need a little hope it might be just the ticket.

I find it hilarious how other people are commenting that the film is unrealistic. Try reading the book, guys! This film is based on a true story, and although minor parts have been changed, the story about David and Nicky is true.

Also, another IMDb user wrote in their comment that David refuses to take a severely stabbed Nicky to hospital unless he accept Christ. Maybe this person hasn't seen the film, or their hate of Christianity was deluding them, but this does not happen in the film.

This film's a picture of what a messed up life on drugs is truly like, and the solution is Christ. Take it or leave it, but bagging a film just because it's Christian is just immature.

Watching the 1962 State Fair last night with Mom got me thinking about finally watching that movie's star-Pat Boone-in his last movie in a leading role that he made several years later, this one I'm reviewing right now. See, Mom told me how much of a fan she was of his growing up in the '50s which I sorta knew about since I remember my parents having several of his record albums on the shelf that I remember listening to as a kid. Anyway, here he plays real-life preacher David Wilkerson who comes to the New York ghetto hoping to convert some gangs there to God and Jesus. One particular gang member leader he hopes to convert is Nicky Cruz who feels such contempt for him he slaps his face and spits on him. He's played by Erik Estrada at the beginning of his acting career years before becoming popular on TV's "CHiPs". Initially, Mom thought the movie was weird when it showed some early scenes of some people doing drugs and I myself thought some of the songs weren't suitable for some sequences. Still, as the narrative went on we were enthralled by many of the conflicts being depicted and Wilkerson's attempts to reach the gangs' minds and soul. Boone is quite good in his role and Estrada was quite excellent in his angry scenes and some others near the end. So despite some cheesiness, I and Mom say give The Cross and the Switchblade a chance.

Recently I read that Erik Estrada came under fire for starring in a film produced by the religious right. What everyone seems to forget is that Estrada made his film debut in The Cross And The Switchblade playing the real life Nicky Cruz evangelical minister who turned to religion at the call of Reverend David Wilkerson back in the Fifties.

The Cross And The Switchblade might have the facts of the Cruz conversion right, but they were surely deficient in other things. I saw this film when it first came out in 1970 and it was in San Antonio, Texas while I was a weekend warrior at Fort Sam Houston. The story is in the 50s, but everyone was wearing contemporary fashions. It did not have the effect on me that it did on Nicky Cruz.

Pat Boone played Reverend Wilkerson whom I understand was very much like Pat Boone. This turned out to be Boone's last fling at film stardom as he concentrated more and more on his religious activities.

One thing that truly got me was the casting of female JoAnn Robinson as young gang banger Little Bo. No hint that she was transgendered and the only role cast cross gender boundaries like that is usually Peter Pan. I have to say I got one weird vibe from that, seeing cross dressing where one really doesn't expect it. And in 1970 this was not something I would have taken notice of.

Shot on those mean streets of New York where David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz did their evangelical thing, despite production values that could have used some polish, The Cross And The Switchblade is a sincerely made film. If Christian films is your cup of tea you won't be needing sweetener like production values.

This is the best made amateur Christian film of all time! It is the true story of preacher David Wilkerson who felt called by God to go into the city to help the troubled gang members. The acting can be uneven at times but the direction was very well done. Eric Estrada is excellent as Nicky Cruz. The biggest problem with this production is the musical soundtrack. The story is very good even if the dialog is somewhat hokey. All in all a good solid entertaining film that should convert even the toughest of skeptics. It realistically deals with what life on the streets is all about. See this movie, you'll be glad you did!

Long before faith-based films became a regular feature of mainstream movie theaters, there was The Cross and The Switchblade. The film was made squarely within the Hollywood system. For instance, it was directed by Don Murray, famous for his acting roles in such films as Bus Stop, in which he starred opposite Marilyn Monroe. The lead roles were played by Pat Boone, an entertainer with a long career in Hollywood, and Eric Estrada who would go on to fame as a TV star. Yet, despite its mainstream pedigree, the film was set apart by the unashamedly Christian vision of its producers who set out to produce a slate of mainstream films with redemptive themes in the late 60's and early 70's.

The book, The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson was first published in 1963. It depicts Wilkerson's experience with gang members in the mean streets of New York City in the late 1950's. This was a world of "jitter-bugging bee-boppers" and "rumbles" in the park using the eras' weapons of choice, baseball bats and chains. The 1970 film adaptation partially updated the setting with the late 1960's youth culture in mind, a decision that led to some incongruous scenes that seem caught somewhere between the world of groovy pot-smoking hippies and the world of the greaser-gangs from West Side Story.

But, despite that curiosity and other now-dated (maybe always dated) elements, The Cross and the Switchblade stands up to scrutiny, not least of all because of the truth of the story it portrays. The life-changing solution that David Wilkerson brought to desperate lives is forever relevant.

The change in the life of notorious gang leader Nicky Cruz, as shown in the film, led to a decades long evangelistic ministry that in turned changed the lives of countless people around the globe. And the work of the skinny country preacher, David Wilkerson, who braved the meanest streets of New York to tell desperate and lost young people that there was a better way, is still going strong. The ministry of Teen Challenge and World Challenge is still changing lives and offering genuine hope to countless souls who had given up on life.

There has been much criticism of the film's production values over the years but, a lot of this is unfair. Sure, the duel time-periods the movie seems to exist in and the now dated dialogue and hokey songs used on the soundtrack are all fair game for criticism. But other elements of the film are impressive including some intricately choreographed action scenes filmed on New York City rooftops and fire escapes and a rock-jazz fusion soundtrack by Ralph Carmichael. The film also features some truly sincere acting by Boone, one of Hollywood's most famous Christians, who at one time called the role the most important he had ever played. Eric Estrada also gives a gritty and emotional performance as Nicky Cruz. Estrada is perfect for the part and he displays some real leading-man charisma here.

This 50th anniversary re-release was professionally restored and re-mastered using the original 35mm camera negative and rendered in 4K.

I must say, this film really did amuse me for the 2 weeks it took to watch. We were shown it in our Religious Education lessons and it passed the time.

With me not being overly religious, this film was more of a comedy than an educational film. For the religious among us, this contains some serious religious messages.

However lines such as quoted above and the, "I'm gonna cut you preacher!", quote were just comical. It is really supposed to show the 70s culture well and quite frankly, I'm rather upset I wasn't around in that decade.

My overall score of 4/10 is because personally it didn't do anything for me (apart from make me giggle), but does contain religious messages that are meaningful. There are also some good direction and action pieces involving extras.

This movie is very spiritual and moving. For a low budget movie this comes across as very professional and mostly well acted. It goes on to show that belief in Jesus takes more guts than having cowardly self interest and hate in us. Great to see a movie that is not only a real positive message, but a fact, as I have met the real Nicky Cruise and know it is true.

Let's face it: the screenplay, acting, et al, is horrendous. This was Erik Estrada's first foray into the big screen, and it's not as if the height of his work was exactly Oscar worthy! Having said that, the common criticism of this movie (that this movie is the product of some middle class suburbanite Christian fantasy) is just as horrendous as the movie itself. The movie, as bad as it is, is based on the true story of how fate brought together the unlikeliest pair of men. For those who don't know, both Wilkerson (played by Pat Boone) & Cruz (played by Estrada) have for the past 30-40 years made a very positive impact on the rich & poor alike in New York City, and all over the world. These are two men that in real life have used the power of faith & religion for good to help countless thousands that were previously hopeless. It's a great story of a clean cut & unworldly young white man from a small town in Pennsylvania that cuts through cultural barriers to reach a lost but gifted Latino from the barrios; it deserves a movie that re-tells it more worthily. However, it's just a shame that the movie was preachy, sure of itself, and terribly executed!

I both read the book, and had seen the film adaption. I found it to be very real to life, as it was meant to be. Being a true story. My life was once much the same, on those same street of New York City (Spanish Harlem) East 113th Manhattan...I am glad to say a belief in a Higher Power helped turn my life, and ways of thinking, around. Not wanting to sound as if, I am a Bible Thumper. My belief is spiritual, I do not understand people mixing everyday life, with their opinions on religion. Although, the film is based on a true story, it is just that, a story. Meant to be used for entertainment, why not let it be just that, by keeping our prejudices to ourselves. It should be all about the information we are seeking, and not about us. J.V.L.

The Cross and the Switchblade was a huge, total disappointment. Whoever directed it should have been shot, sigh. The crazy people put the setting in the LATE 60's and made the kids all look like chubby little hippies with flowers in their hair. WRONG!!! they should have looked more like "West Side Story" hoodlums of the early 60's and late 50's. Pat Boone kept saying, "Would you shake the hand of a skinny preacher?" But when he turns sideways, his derrière looks anything but skinny. The casting is just poor, so poor. The movie follows the book, but just barely. The absolute worst scene was Nicky's conversion to Christianity. It would remind you of a toothpaste advertisement. Whoever made this movie surely couldn't have been a Christian and doesn't have a clue. Read the book, don't waste your time with the movie

Due to the fact this is a true story, these are real people, and this truly did happen, I believe it is a film every Christian needs to see. The acting was utterly heartfelt on the part of everyone, and is a storyline I will never be able to forget. David keeps on with the same message "Jesus loves you", even when he's threatened by thugs and hoodlums, it doesn't change his love for them and his desire to help them. There's no better love then what David Wilkerson shows for these young people, and he brings God's love right to their doorstep when no one else was willing to even try to breach the barrier. I know it may not be everyone's cup of tea, so if you don't like Christians movies, with a Christian message, and Christian actors, don't see it, but for those of you who desire to learn more about faith, the love of God, and where to turn to when things look blackest, then The Cross and the Switchblade is the movie for you.

I found this movie to be a strange one. Naive - even simplistic in its presentation of how David Wilkerson (played by Pat Boone) began his street ministry to troubled teens and gang members in New York City in the late 1950's. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with naive and simplistic. I'm a pastor myself and I'm willing to say that the Gospel message of divine love for the world is in itself somewhat naive and simplistic - but I believe it to be true. And yet things seemed too easy for Wilkerson in this movie. Yes, I know there was a lot of violence portrayed and a lot of drug abuse portrayed and a lot of gang fighting portrayed, but eventually it seemed as if it all came together thanks to one sermon Wilkerson preached to a youth rally? Perhaps that was just dramatic licence. You probably can't fit the whole story into a less than two hour movie so I guess it has to be abridged. Or maybe it really happened that way. Maybe the 50's were just a different era indeed. I could appreciate the turnaround in Nicky Cruz (played by Erik Estrada) who has, himself, become a fairly noteworthy evangelist. I don't want to deny the possibility of a truly dramatic conversion experience. And a lot happened through one sermon - and I don't want to deny the power of the preached Word of God, nor do I want to deny that the movie does make clear that Wilkerson did make real sacrifices for the sake of the street kids he ministered to and he took real chances, so it wasn't just one sermon - it was Wilkerson's decision to invest himself in the kids and not just to preach to them. I can appreciate that. That's ministry.

And yet, in spite of the testimony of many people about how powerful this movie is, I just didn't feel that power as I watched it. Maybe I'm just more cynical than I realize or care to admit, but I think the reaction of most kids today (just your average everyday kid and not a gang member) would be to sneer at what was shown on screen - or at least to roll their eyes. I can appreciate and be humbled by Wilkerson's Pauline-style call to Antiochean ministry (Paul and Silas went to Antioch and stayed among the people) or to a Mother Teresa ministry (who went to the slums of Calcutta and stayed in the slums of Calcutta) but I certainly wouldn't show this movie to a youth group in church. I don't think they'd get it.

There are parts of this that are quite moving - particularly the withdrawal of a young teenage girl from heroin addiction that was painful to watch. Overall, though, I just didn't feel the power that so many claim for this movie. (4/10)

One of the criteria by which I measure the quality of a movie is the ability for me to watch it again and again without the "you've seen it once, you've seen it" attitude. This is just such a movie... I can watch it and then a year later see it again and enjoy it just as much. This is an entertaining film that if it were not a true story, would seem contrived, but the fact that it is a true story only adds to the appeal of this film. Perhaps the only negative one might have to about this movie is the very dated style and soundtrack. Personally, I enjoy the "datedness" of this movie... kind of like aged fine wine, it just makes it better! If you see the movie then be sure to read the book "The cross and the switchblade" and to also read the book by Nicky Cruz called "Run baby run". Both can be found on Amazon.com and are even better than the movie.

I don't wanna comment on the technical side of this movie, either the acting. Both sucks. But the story is nice. First time i saw this movie,I was kinda like laughing in the end, 'couse this was just too 'morten korch' (danish expression for 'more than happe ending' - after a danish film director). But hey - the story really is true - so what are we learning? reality has once again showed itself stranger than fiction. So what am I saying... this movie stinks - but watch it anyway, cuz you can learn the most important message of your life from this story!

All I want to say is that the message in this movie has changed many peoples lives,it is not the movie that has changed people in desperate situations,but the life changing Power of what happened on the cross on calvary 2000 years ago with a Man called Jesus Christ,Jesus Christ saves,can deliver a man from any bondage,heals and continues to.He can make the impossible possible... and that message is seen in this movie.

Romans:3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans:4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

I know I shouldn't really hate this film as its religious and all that In fact my Religious Studies teacher showed it to us in a lesson, but it is so bad, it defies belief! Everything about it is awful and risible, the acting, direction, dialogue (God loves you, God loves you. He loves Nicky toooooo!). If you're not very religious, like I am, then it will be more of a laugh than anything else!