Bad Boys

1983 "There's only one person left who believes Mick O'Brien can make it... Mick O'Brien."
7.2| 2h3m| R| en
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Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

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Universal Pictures

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Reviews

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Matt Bouchard It's pretty dark and definitely of the "gritty and important" genre, but I enjoyed it. Well, I should say I was satisfied. Basic plot rundown: 1) kid going down the wrong path, has a girlfriend, friend and rival. 2) Heist goes wrong, friend dies, hero accidentally kills little brother of rival. 3) Hero goes to prison. Interesting characters there. Finds a new friend and some new enemies. 4) Deals with enemies (though not completely), friend is kind of awesome. 5) Out of prison rival sexually assaults and nearly kills girlfriend then ends up in same juvey facility as hero 6) Tension mounts! 7) Climactic battle! In a moment I didn't really know which way they would go, Hero decides not to kill Rival. End. No wrap up with girlfriend (in fact, he burns his picture of her before the final battle). No leaving prison to reform. Very interesting.It was a little flabby in the middle (though I imagine that's an era thing), and the writing felt a little...forced to me. The kids sounded like they were TRYING to be cool, rather than being cool. But again, that might have been purposeful or even just a problem of it being an older moving (I'm seeing it for the first time in 2014). The performances were just excellent, and it's nice to see where Sean Penn probably came from. I quite enjoyed it though I said it was dark and long enough that you weren't looking for happiness in the end, just resolution and some satisfaction. Both delivered.
Jamie Spraggon At the age of 9, they've joined a street gang. At 12 they're pushing drugs. at 16 they're part of a nightmare teenage underworld of rape, mugging, armed robbery and murder.Mick O'Brien, a juvenile delinquent imprisoned for the murder of a rival street gang member. The dead man's brother, Paco, wants his revenge but he can't get at Mick, so he goes after his girlfriend instead.If Mick thought life on the outside was tough, life on the inside is even tougher, and the only person who can help him is himself.This film starred: Sean Penn, Reni Santoni & Jim Moody BAD BOYS is an excellent film Sean Penn gives an absolutely brilliant performance as O'Brien. I highly recommend this film, 2 hours well spent in my opinion. ****/***** A near perfect movie!
bkoganbing Bad Boys and The Falcon And The Snowman are the first film that Sean Penn was taken seriously as an actor and not just a James Dean wannabe. A lot of people with that rebel persona have come and gone, but Penn's proved to have staying power in his adult roles.But it was a part like Mick O'Brien, kid from the mean streets of Chicago that first attracted the movie going public to Sean Penn. Bad Boys is not your usual teen dream Brat Pack film. Penn's representative of some of the baddest of the bad from the Eighties.Penn's a high school kid from Chicago, but the kind who only goes to school on occasion, maybe to get messages from his hoodlum friends. A heist he plans goes horribly wrong and the little brother of another tough kid, Esai Morales, is accidentally killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.That last crime finally puts him in reform school and of course Morales winds up there as well. That's after raping Ally Sheedy who is Penn's girl friend. That sets up the final confrontation between them.Bad Boys is one of a long line of films going back to Wild Boys Of The Road dealing with the juvenile delinquent problem and the incarceration thereof. It's interesting how rape is used as a weapon in two instances here and how it's thought of that way. Morales rapes Sheedy as a way of getting back at Penn and in the reformatory the two who run the cell block where Penn and later Morales is put, Robert Lee Rush and Clancy Brown, use it as a way of establishing their authority. Brown who will tell you this is a method of enforcement belies his own gay nature with those muscle pictures in his cell. And O'Brien's cellmate, Eric Gurry is also a latent case, maybe more. His performance in many ways is the most interesting in the film. He's a nerdy kid who happens to be one unusual inmate for the place. He's been picked on and in retaliation bombed a bowling alley where his tormentors were hanging out. Not too many kids his age have the scientific knowledge to pull off that and what we see him do here. Still the film builds up to the climax between Penn and Morales and Bad Boys does not disappoint in the end. Bad Boys might have some charter Brat Pack members in the cast, but John Hughes wouldn't be doing a project like this.
James Lawrence Bad Boys, starring Sean Penn as Mick O'Brien and Esai Morales as Paco Moreno, is one of the most entertaining and disturbing movies ever. But to focus on the two leads is unfair to the host of other actors who put in magnificent performances, particularly actor Eric Gurry as Barry Horowitz.Teen Mick O'Brien is a vicious gangster punk. When one of his armed robbery schemes goes awry, a robbery of a drug deal involving Paco Moreno, he unintentionally runs down and kills Moreno's little brother, and ends up in juvenile prison. His cell mate is Horowitz. After an awkward start they become close friends and confidantes. Horowitz, who has been there a while, teaches O'Brien the ropes. Meanwhile prison guard and counselor Ramon Herrera (actor Reni Santoni) wants to set Mick on the right path, but this is not an easy task.The prison officials have given authority over other prisoners to two tough inmates, cell mates Viking (actor Clancy Brown) and Tweety (actor Robert Lee Rush), who get to hand out prison work assignments, receive the profits from cigarette sales, etc. They immediately come into conflict with O'Brien and Horowitz. O'Brien manages to usurp their position of authority, leading to further conflicts. O'Brien's toughness and street smarts make him the winner time and again.The character of Horowitz, a young Jewish boy who came to juvey after a botched revenge plot, is worth a whole review by itself. What a shame that this magnificent actor, Eric Gurry, has appeared in relatively few films. Though he is small and weak and would appear to be of little help in a fight, his wit, dogged determination and superior intelligence help him to survive in this environment where he is very out of place. Despite being nothing like the other prisoners, as the film progresses we learn that he has strong criminal tendencies and prison is probably where he belongs.Moreno, seeking revenge on O'Brien, beats and rapes O'Brien's girlfriend (actress Ally Sheedy) so he can go to prison and get even. Tweety is paroled, and Moreno moves in as Viking's roommate. These kindred spirits promptly begin plotting against O'Brien.Circumstances take both Viking and Horowitz out of the picture, leaving Moreno and O'Brien to face a final showdown alone.