Stakeout on Dope Street is a 1958 film by Irvin Kershner. It is about three teenagers who inadvertently get themselves involved in a drug ring. It was the directorial debut of Kershner. Late one night in Los Angeles, Sgt. Fred Matthews and Officer Lynn Donahue arrest pusher Jerome Lake, who is carrying two pounds of uncut heroin. They are ambushed by gangsters Mitch Swadurski and Lenny Potter, who kill Matthews and wound Donahue, then shoot and kill Lake after he tosses the briefcase containing the heroin into the underbrush. Unable to recover the drugs before other police cars arrive, the... criminals retreat, and the next day, the case is found by eighteen-year-old Julian "Ves" Vespucci as he delivers groceries from his father's store. Ves takes the case to the back room of his father's store, where he and his pals, would-be artist Jim Bowers and bodybuilder Nick Raymond, hang out. Because the case contains samples of women's cosmetics, and the canister containing the heroin is labeled face powder, the young men assume that the powder is worthless and throw the can away, although Jim keeps some of the cosmetics for his girl friend Kathy.
more
| Release date: | May 3, 1958 |
| Directed by: | Irvin Kershner |
| Runtime: | 89 Minutes |
| Producer: | Andrew J. Fenady |
| Music by: | Richard Markowitz |
| Cinematography: | Haskell Wexler |
| Screenplay by: | Andrew J. Fenady, Irvin Kershner, Irwin Schwartz |