Larry Rose
I have seen this movie as teen when it first came on Prism and HBO, and it hit home with the setting for the movie. Not all places portrayed in movies are happy go lucky and this once showed life as it was for a lot of us growing up.We all had that one girl we always wanted, we that did not fit the bill for society was the out cast and the rebel, had a broken home, etc. And this what makes the movie shine, hit home and show the TRUE meaning of growing up in a poor town.It had a great soundtrack, that for me at the time was more into the hard rock/metal genre, that I still catch myself singing along when it comes on radio, which should say a lot for a music selection in a movie.Also I get weird looks when I bring up this movie to friends whom never even heard of it or stores when asking if they have it or can get it. HMMMM pretty good lasting Impression for a movie that is now lost in time but not forgotten.I would love it if this movie could be released on blue ray so all can enjoy a forgotten gem and for us that grew up to it to re-live our youth once again.Darryl Hannah, Quinn, and Baldwin deserve the recognition and credit for this movie that helped launch their careers, please bring it back to the masses so at the end we can ride off on the bike again with the girl of our dreams.
James Hitchcock
In the 1980s the youth market was becoming increasingly important to film-makers, and the decade saw a growth in the number of films aimed at, and about, teenagers. "Reckless" is a good example of the sort of high school romance in which the main characters are both in their mid-twenties. Or rather, the two characters are supposed to be teenagers, but the actors who play them are in their mid-twenties. This is something of a convention in American films of this type, the rationale presumably being that story lines about underage sex become more acceptable to the censors (and possibly to the viewing public as well) if the roles are played by adults. Adherence to this convention was particularly important in the case of "Reckless", which is a good deal more sexually explicit than most high school romance dramas.Director James Foley makes quite deliberate reference to a number of earlier movies about youthful rebelliousness, such as "The Wild One", "Rebel without a Cause" and "The Graduate". The film is set in a Mid-Western industrial town where the main industry is steel making. During the Reagan years America's traditional heavy industries were in decline, and towns like the one shown here were often badly hit by unemployment. (Something similar also happened in Britain at the same time).The main character, Johnny Rourke, is a boy from a working-class background. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his hard-drinking, foul-mouthed father, a worker at the local steel mill. Although Johnny is supposedly from a poor family, it is notable that he drives a powerful motorbike, which struck me as improbable. As their relationship is, to say the least, a difficult one, it is unlikely that his father would have bought him such an expensive present, even if he could have afforded it, and there is no way that Johnny could have purchased it himself while still at school. Ever since Brando in "The Wild One", however, motorbikes have been a powerful symbol of rebellion, and this is clearly a case where symbolism was felt to be more important than verisimilitude.Like Jim Stark in the film of that name, Johnny can be classed as a "rebel without a cause", although he seems to have even more anger than James Dean's character. During this period many young men in his position would have been fearful of the prospect of unemployment, but Johnny seems to be more worried about the prospect of employment, or at least of being employed, like his father, in a dead-end job in a dead-end town. Johnny has seen what his home town has to offer, and doesn't want it. The problem is, he doesn't know what he does want, with one exception.Johnny is a star player in the school football team (although he later gets thrown off the team for insubordination), and the one thing he does want is Tracey, a glamorous blonde cheerleader from a wealthy family. Although Tracey already has a boyfriend, Randy, she finds herself attracted to Johnny, largely because of what he represents- rejection of her family's snobbish middle-class values. (They, needless to say, disapprove strongly of Johnny).There are some good things about the film. There is some effective photography of the industrial landscapes, similar to those in "Flashdance" which had come out the previous year. Contrary to the impression sometimes given by Hollywood, not everyone in America lives in affluent white-collar suburbia. The film also makes good use of the pop music of the period, such as Kim Wilde's "Kids in America", to the strains of which Johnny and Tracey make love.On the whole, however, I found the film disappointing. Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah were two attractive young people, but neither seemed convincing as a teenager. James Dean, of course, was also in his twenties when he made "Rebel….", but he seemed completely believable as a confused, vulnerable adolescent. Quinn and Hannah, however, are less credible. Quinn in particular comes across as too adult, too confident and self-assured. There are also some very strange scenes, such as the one where Johnny and Tracey, as a prelude to making love, belabour each other with what look like gigantic sausages.Wilde sang in "Kids in America" that "You know life is cruel, life is never kind". Foley, however, evidently felt that his intended teenage audience would not be mature enough to appreciate this stark truth, so he provided the film with a contrived happy ending, presumably based upon the one in "The Graduate", as Tracey jumps onto Johnny's motorbike and they go roaring off down the highway together. At least, this was presumably intended to be a happy ending, although I was left with the awkward feeling that these two characters made a very ill-matched pair. Tracey, after all, is committing herself to a man with no job, no home (after his father's death in an industrial accident, Johnny has set fire to the family home) and no prospects, except possibly the prospect of serving a jail sentence if the police ever find out who was responsible for the fire. If Tracey had stopped to think more clearly, she might have wondered (as I did) whether Johnny is really in love with her, or whether seducing a virginal middle-class cheerleader is simply his way of expressing his anger and resentment against the system. This was a film which really needed a more downbeat ending. 5/10
moonspinner55
The drawing card of "Reckless" in 1984 was in seeing its sexy young stars sans clothes. What...you thought it was the plot? The script is a relentless rip-off of every teen-angst drama from "Rebel Without A Cause" on down. Misunderstood high schooler (Aidan Quinn), whose brooding manner derives from an unhappy home and has alienated him at school, falls for the class sweetheart (Daryl Hannah), who is unhappy but doesn't know it yet. Yes, we get to see Quinn and Hannah partly nude, but their characters are clichés, as are the roles played by Kenneth McMillain (Quinn's surly pop) and Cliff De Young (overdoing it as an unsympathetic coach). Lots of gritty, industrial-town atmospherics, fine '80's rock on the soundtrack, but the leads don't act or speak like high schoolers--and Quinn looks far too old to still be cracking the books. ** from ****
Marta
I'll admit I love this film. Quite a bit of the dialog doesn't make any sense; some of the characters are just there to hang the plot from; and Cliff DeYoung as the football coach gets most of the bad lines and his character, as well as the snotty cheerleaders, are all clichés. But these flaws don't detract from the appeal of the film. Darryl Hannah, and Aidan Quinn in particular, have a presence and a chemistry that keeps the film vibrant and alive. This was Quinn's first film, and I've liked him ever since I first saw it. Even as a novice he's a great actor. Hannah is not as good as he, but she's still very good as a well-to-do high school senior who's looking for something different but not sure what she wants. Quinn plays the misunderstood poor boy with an alcoholic father, who is beset by teachers, father, peers and police every way he turns. Due to a random pairing for a charity dance, they are brought together and eventually discover that what they are looking for is in each other. The last shot of the film, as the camera speeds down the highway to Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away", is one of my favorite shots of any movie. I'll agree it's corny, but it works and so does this film.The authentic steel-town atmosphere also helps to give the film a gritty realism; dark, smoggy, atmospheric and disturbing, it reminds me of the feel of the 80's. The soundtrack is superb; Romeo Void, INXS, and Kim Wilde's "Kids in America." Whenever I want to recapture that 80's feeling, when watching MTV was still new and exciting and they still played music you could take pleasure in listening to, and when the 80's groups were so avant-garde and on-the-edge, I watch this film. Sure enough, it can take me right back. Look past the sometimes inane dialog and be sure to catch this film; if you immerse yourself in the music it will work its spell. It hasn't been shown on on regular cable in years (it's rated R for some candid but convincing sex scenes), but in mid-2005 it was playing on the high definition cable channel INHD, looking and sounding fantastic, so it does show up occasionally. Warner Archive (http://www.warnerarchive.com) now (2011) offers it for sale as an "on demand," widescreen DVD. A great film for Friday or Saturday night, and don't forget to turn the volume way up!
