More film at eleven...

Over the Edge (1979) – The first Matt Dillon movie features a no name cast of believable kids and occupied adults in suburban hell. The film believes in the kids and when they do what every kid dreams of – locking up the parents who have assembled at the school and then bashing and blowing up all the folks’ cars – you feel you should have done more damage to old people with your own youth. A semisweet love story, some beautiful scenes of the desolate landscape, and enough Cheap Trick in the soundtrack to justify more than one viewing. This movie should have killed John Hughes but they banned it from theaters and gave that shitbird a career.

The Warriors (1979) – The flipside of suburbia finds a Coney Island street gang having to make for home after a summit goes wrong in the Bronx. Somewhat aspiring to Anabasis with a touch of The Odyssey (the sirens are a girl gang, the Lizzies), the film moves with true action pace. The Warriors battle toughs from all boroughs and there’s time for a little smooching with a burnout whore. It’s a night movie with vitality and edge, and lost New York is the stage. There’s a perfect subway scene involving prom-date kids and the Warriors, and when the whore tries to straighten her hair and is stopped by gang leader Swan, you know the meaning of dignity and honor in a vital, simple cinematic method. Walter Hill uses the city to terrific effect no matter if he’s shooting underground or the mean streets. Michael Mann must have loved this flick because when his features took off in 1981 he borrowed from Hill’s score, technique, and unflinching belief in his protagonists. One is forced to root for the Warriors and shelf whatever wisdom from Leo Buscaglia one hopes to share with shattered youth.

Cassandra’s Dream (2007) – Woody Allen tries to reinvent Crimes and Misdemeanors. This UK drama leads two brothers to murder to help an uncle and right their own spiraling lives. It works best with the set up as the characters develop in real time and the viewer attaches sympathy to the brothers, especially Ewan McGregor as he makes a stretch for a life beyond his means. Sympathy is rare in any Allen film, and the feeling wanes as the post-kill movie is played out in too much capital D Drama. C&M had a good mix of funny with the anguish, and in this flick Woody goes straight for dark Dostoyevsky and he can’t pull it off. Allen’s probably afraid of comedy unless he’s playing it, but he’s too old and disgusting to make fans of his yesteryear laugh. It was compared to Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead but it’s nothing like it. It’s better than that waste of time, but that’s not enough.

Endless Love (1981) – EL is a bad interpretation of Scott Spencer’s perfect novel of the same name. There is little of Spencer’s wonder in the movie, and the cinematic vilification of Hugh Butterfield is tantamount to criminal. I’ve dreaded viewing this since I first saw it 300 years ago, but I shouldn’t have. On its own it is rather pleasant. EL works on a couple levels. It’s smart about its two main characters; their teenage lives, however fantastic, are real enough to the kids and they make good on the chance to play adult. I’d probably like it less if Brooke Shields wasn’t one of the best uses for eyes. James Spader as an ass, and Tom Cruise’s first movie – he’s in it for less than two minutes, a requirement that should have been mandatory for his career.