Thanks to the nature of HBO, et al, I have seen this movie about a half-dozen times. I saw it when it first hit cable and as recently as last month. It's just as laughable and ridiculous as ever. The movie is full of one-dimensional characters. The cop with a heart. The parent(s) who beat their children. The spoiled rich kid (actually, two of them). Throw in dozens of teenagers who run an Underground Railroad, cheering on the poor kids from the trailer park while driving brand new cars and wearing expensive clothes for good measure, ridiculous dialogue, allusions to Joan of Arc (for going on the lam?) and mostly uninspired acting and you get LBJ. There are only two reasons for whatever attraction this movie had: Christian Slater and a good soundtrack.
Besides Christian Slater (in rare, pre-Jack Nicholson-obsession mode), the rest of the cast is ordinary or worse. Helen Slater is beautiful but not terribly compelling. Peter Coyote decided to use one facial expression during the entire film. Keith Gordon is boring as the nice rich kid. Billie Jean's two friends are parodies of deep-south trailer park denizens (and why are they the only two with back-woods accents? Helen Slater's accent is mild and Christian Slater didn't even attempt one). Their stereotyped performances (and their parents) undercut the film's egalitarian theme.
Even the source of conflict between Binx and the bad rich kid is silly; he's attracted to Binx's sister and he trashes the brother's bike? Does that make sense? I guess it makes as much sense as a cottage industry springing up overnight for a teenager accused of shooting someone and on the run. The funniest scene for me was when she shows up in the sewer or some type of damp, dank warehouse, and there's about a hundred or more teenagers there to give her a standing ovation. Yeah, that's where I hung out when I was a teenager in the early 80s. Hopefully she enjoyed the ovation -- it was the only one she got in connection with this film.
If you want to see teenage rebellion movies, '80s style, I'd recommend Footloose. The conflict is less contrived and far more believable than this movie, and the characters are more complex and interesting.
Besides Christian Slater (in rare, pre-Jack Nicholson-obsession mode), the rest of the cast is ordinary or worse. Helen Slater is beautiful but not terribly compelling. Peter Coyote decided to use one facial expression during the entire film. Keith Gordon is boring as the nice rich kid. Billie Jean's two friends are parodies of deep-south trailer park denizens (and why are they the only two with back-woods accents? Helen Slater's accent is mild and Christian Slater didn't even attempt one). Their stereotyped performances (and their parents) undercut the film's egalitarian theme.
Even the source of conflict between Binx and the bad rich kid is silly; he's attracted to Binx's sister and he trashes the brother's bike? Does that make sense? I guess it makes as much sense as a cottage industry springing up overnight for a teenager accused of shooting someone and on the run. The funniest scene for me was when she shows up in the sewer or some type of damp, dank warehouse, and there's about a hundred or more teenagers there to give her a standing ovation. Yeah, that's where I hung out when I was a teenager in the early 80s. Hopefully she enjoyed the ovation -- it was the only one she got in connection with this film.
If you want to see teenage rebellion movies, '80s style, I'd recommend Footloose. The conflict is less contrived and far more believable than this movie, and the characters are more complex and interesting.