Here's another youth film recommended to me because I'm writing a book on the subject. Fandango is John Hughized by Kevin Reynolds seven years after Animal House defined frat life in the 1960-78 period. Judd Nelson plays the rich kid with the Flounder like Cadillac to destroy on a road trip. Nelson is a nebbish, future Viet Nam bound Officer. He's trying to improve his resume while fighting self-doubt and cowardice. Weren't we all? I liked the Texas, Austin angle in Fandango. Kevin Costner, thin and handsome with a drawling twang essentially propels himself to stardom in this vehicle as the worldly, cynical, fast talking frat boy leader. Chuck Bush is another Texas hunk who has dumped his girl at the alter although she had a fling with the Costner character sometime in the near past. Suzy Amis looks pretty, but does not have one line in the film.
These college films depict with comical exaggeration hedonistic behavior during the last period in youth where one can act like a child and it's rather expected. So while mom and dad dream of the kid's future career as an accountant, the kid is drunk with his girlfriend on top of a pile of beer cans. Ah, those formative years. The trouble is: films like Fandango are not about the choices of adulthood; these films glorify the unforgettable friendships of fleeting childhood, and that's what we old farts prefer to remember.
These college films depict with comical exaggeration hedonistic behavior during the last period in youth where one can act like a child and it's rather expected. So while mom and dad dream of the kid's future career as an accountant, the kid is drunk with his girlfriend on top of a pile of beer cans. Ah, those formative years. The trouble is: films like Fandango are not about the choices of adulthood; these films glorify the unforgettable friendships of fleeting childhood, and that's what we old farts prefer to remember.