Dead End Kids

"Dead End Kids" was an unusual theatrical production staged in 1980. It combined blackout sketches, found film footage, and cuttings from Goethe's classic play "Faust" to create an avant garde examination of the effect of the atomic bomb on American culture. The film version is a less successful work, an obvious statement rather than a subtle satire. The play's collage structure is essentially retained, along with many of the same sequences and actors. Other than the basic theme addressing the dangers of nuclear armament, the film is excessively disjointed. Director-writer Akalaitis originally had no intention of transmuting this production to film--and for good re...