The Boy with Green Hair

1948
PG
1h 22m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

3.4K

YOUR RATING

Dean Stockwell in The Boy with Green Hair (1948)

Play trailer0:52

1 Video

69 Photos

Comedy Drama Family

This parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.This parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.This parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

3.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins total

User reviews67

Featured review

An Enduring Message

It's been years since I last saw this film, but it stays with me. I was an adolescent in the early 60's when I first saw The Boy With Green Hair on a local television station in southern California. It was one of those stations that has a playlist of movies which they repeat at intervals. I must have watched this film a dozen or more times, and each time I so completely identified with the character played by Dean Stockwell (even though I was a girl and had very brown hair). I'm sure it had something to do with my age, the times I was living in, and the fact that I was a bit different from the "popular" kids. I have looked for a video copy of this movie for years and finally discovered that the producer/owner of the movie pulled all rights for reproducing it because of some dispute, I can't remember now what it was about. At any rate, it is a real shame. I would certainly like to share this treasure with some young friends of mine. I think its message would come through, despite the years.

frizzsg
Feb 22, 2000
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Trivia
Unfortunately for the film's director, Joseph Losey, the eccentric, politically conservative Howard Hughes took over RKO while this film was being shot and, hating the film's pacifist message, did his best to sabotage it. Losey, however, managed to protect the integrity of his project. Screenwriter Ben Barzman, who was also later blacklisted along with Losey, would later recall that "Joe shot the picture in such a way that there wasn't much possibility for change. A few lines were stuck in here and there to soften the message, but that was about it." Barzman also remembered that 12-year-old Dean Stockwell was called into Hughes' office, and Hughes told him that when the other children spoke of the horror of war, he should say, "And that's why America has gotta have the biggest army, and the biggest navy, and the biggest air force in the world!" According to Barzman, little Stockwell was so in sympathy with the film's message that he dared to respond, "No, sir!" Even after Hughes started to scream at him, the boy held his ground and refused to do it. Dean Stockwell later played Howard Hughes in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).

Goofs
When the barber is preparing to cut his hair, a close-up shot shows a chunk of cut hair on his right side. Then when the barber begins cutting, it's not there. But re-appears for the next close-up of him crying.