"The Young Stranger"

 We're at the movies in John Frankenheimer's "The Young Stranger" (RKO, 1957). We'll later learn that the theatre is supposed to be the Bruin Theatre in Westwood. But except for two exterior shots it was all done using sets.

The film stars James MacArthur as a 16 year old son of a wealthy movie producer who gets into a scuffle with the obnoxious Bruin manager. Kim Hunter and James Daly are his parents. Here MacArthur and a friend are coming out of the auditorium after upsetting another patron.

It's a nice little set with evidently only one door into the auditorium, unlike at the Bruin. And at the Bruin, the doors into the auditorium are deeper into the lobby, not at the left end of the snackbar.

Coming out the front doors. Nope, not quite the Bruin. The manager wants them to stop and go up to his office so he can call the cops. When they guys don't stop he has a doorman tackle MacArthur.

Back in the lobby for the fight. The guys end up at the police station. MacArthur's father doesn't believe his son was acting in self defense.

Finally a shot of the real theatre. Kim Hunter has brought MacArthur back to pick up his car. Only with this shot is it evident which theatre we were supposed to be at.

MacArthur back at the Bruin the next night to ask the manager to tell the truth about what happened the night before. It doesn't go well and he ends up at the police station again. Yes, it all gets sorted out, the theatre manager is revealed to be a bully, and father and son have a touching moment. 

Thanks to veteran projectionist Mike Schleigel for commenting on the presence of the Bruin in the film. The theatre, an S. Charles Lee design from 1937, is still going strong as a single-screen first run house operated by Regency Theatres. See the Los Angeles Theatres Bruin Theatre page for a bit of history and some photos.

On IMDb: "The Young Stranger"