I remember when this movie came out. Seeing the music video on MTV of Bob Dylan singing away about the street life made me incredibly excited. I pictured a movie that would be like THE WARRIORS -- all gang fights, sexy chicks, and endless pounding rock music.
Years later, I rented the film, and it was really like that -- for about two minutes during the opening credits. After that it becomes almost a Saturday Night Live sketch of a comedy, showing Eighties teens with silly hair dragging their sorry behinds through the swamp whining like toddlers while a stereotypical Indian brave keeps grunting stuff like "Teamwork!" and "Survive!" A CLOCKWORK ORANGE this ain't, folks. It's more like ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, mixed with THE BREAKFAST CLUB, mixed with LORD OF THE FLIES.
The film makers apparently couldn't decide what they were going for. The teen angst clashes with the gun battles, and the adult level crimes (including a creepy Harvey Weinstein style rape) just get shrugged off in a hail of bullets. The Indian is supposed to be the hero they all look up to, but he's never more than a cardboard cutout of stoic Injun virtue. He's really Injun Joe from TOM SAWYER, only played as a good guy.
They even work a spin on the famous scene of Tom getting all his old buddies to take turns painting the fence!
Years later, I rented the film, and it was really like that -- for about two minutes during the opening credits. After that it becomes almost a Saturday Night Live sketch of a comedy, showing Eighties teens with silly hair dragging their sorry behinds through the swamp whining like toddlers while a stereotypical Indian brave keeps grunting stuff like "Teamwork!" and "Survive!" A CLOCKWORK ORANGE this ain't, folks. It's more like ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, mixed with THE BREAKFAST CLUB, mixed with LORD OF THE FLIES.
The film makers apparently couldn't decide what they were going for. The teen angst clashes with the gun battles, and the adult level crimes (including a creepy Harvey Weinstein style rape) just get shrugged off in a hail of bullets. The Indian is supposed to be the hero they all look up to, but he's never more than a cardboard cutout of stoic Injun virtue. He's really Injun Joe from TOM SAWYER, only played as a good guy.
They even work a spin on the famous scene of Tom getting all his old buddies to take turns painting the fence!