Dreadful film of an obsessive love between two teenagers--David (Martin Hewitt) and Jade (Brooke Shields).
The book is fantastic--very well written and honest. The movie is just utter crap. I remember very clearly when it came out in 1981--there was a huge controversy (back then) over the fact that it dealt with two teenagers having sex. Supposedly it was slapped with a X rating originally because of the sex scenes (My guess is that the studio made that up--they realized how hopeless the movie was and decided to make up a controversy to "sell" it). Anyways, it was "edited" and released with an R rating. I saw it opening night...the audience HATED the film! They were actually laughing at the sex scenes! The real howler was when the mother saw her daughter and boyfriend having sex...and SMILED and WATCHED!!!!
It's really hard to believe Franco Zefferilli did this. Brooke Shields can't act (but that's a given). Martin Hewitt was drop dead gorgeous and actually gave a good performance as David. Also Shirley Knight was superb as Jade's mother--she ALMOST makes the film watchable. Also it's Tom Cruises film debut--another reason to hate the film. In his (thankfully brief) scene he proves that he's an even worse actor than Shields! James Spader does what he can as Jade's brother. Also the ending makes no sense at all.
Listen--read the book. It's great. Avoid this movie at all costs. Easily one of the worst films of the 1980s. Good for laughs only.
The book is fantastic--very well written and honest. The movie is just utter crap. I remember very clearly when it came out in 1981--there was a huge controversy (back then) over the fact that it dealt with two teenagers having sex. Supposedly it was slapped with a X rating originally because of the sex scenes (My guess is that the studio made that up--they realized how hopeless the movie was and decided to make up a controversy to "sell" it). Anyways, it was "edited" and released with an R rating. I saw it opening night...the audience HATED the film! They were actually laughing at the sex scenes! The real howler was when the mother saw her daughter and boyfriend having sex...and SMILED and WATCHED!!!!
It's really hard to believe Franco Zefferilli did this. Brooke Shields can't act (but that's a given). Martin Hewitt was drop dead gorgeous and actually gave a good performance as David. Also Shirley Knight was superb as Jade's mother--she ALMOST makes the film watchable. Also it's Tom Cruises film debut--another reason to hate the film. In his (thankfully brief) scene he proves that he's an even worse actor than Shields! James Spader does what he can as Jade's brother. Also the ending makes no sense at all.
Listen--read the book. It's great. Avoid this movie at all costs. Easily one of the worst films of the 1980s. Good for laughs only.