Stakeout on Dope Street (DVD)

From the director of Eyes of Laura Mars and The Empire Strikes Back comes this powerful noir about teenagers, greed and narcotics. When a pusher is killed so he can't rat out the mob, his briefcase winds up in the hands of 18-year-old Ves (Jonathon Haze), who finds it in the bushes. Discovering that the bag contains two pounds of smack, Ves and his pals (Morris Miller and Yale Wexler) take the dope to a neighborhood junkie (Allen Kramer) who agrees to help them sell it. Unaware that the police are hot on their trail, the boys dream of what money can buy, while the syndicate wants its heroin back and is closing in for the kill. The feature film debut of director Irvin Kershner, Stakeout on Dope Street was shot on the mean streets of Los Angeles and features a cool West Coast jazz score performed by the Hollywood Chamber Jazz Group.