Johnny (Bill Bixby) is a thoroughly self-absorbed playboy. Despite nearing 40, he spends most of his free time chasing very young girls and trying to have a good time. However, his carefree lifestyle is about to be rocked, as one day a guy shows up at his door...and it turns out to be his 17 year-old son, BJ (Darrell Larson). That is, it turns out to be his son that he never knew existed. It turns out that one of his many, many one-night-stands long ago resulted in a son. Now that the young man's mother died, he has no family he can live with and so he's come looking for his biological father.
The young man is incredibly idealistic and he expects that he and Johnny will become just like father and son. However, Johnny isn't emotionally equipped to do anything other than have a good time and it soon becomes obvious that Johnny would rather NOT have a son. He also, sadly, can't even recall his son's mother. Soon, Johnny ends up alienating himself from two of the women in his life as well as this son. What's to come of this? Will Johnny step up and act like a man or will he just continue being a teenager stuck in a man's body?
This film is pretty modern in some of its sensibilities. It's pretty casual about sex and even has references to homosexuality....something very risqué for the time. But it also has some depth to it...despite the sexually charged nature of the film it also has a lot to say about masculinity and responsibility. Because of the depth you see later in the film, it makes this film much deeper than it really appeared to be at first. Well worth seeing and try to ignore the kooky beginning...there's more to it than that.
The young man is incredibly idealistic and he expects that he and Johnny will become just like father and son. However, Johnny isn't emotionally equipped to do anything other than have a good time and it soon becomes obvious that Johnny would rather NOT have a son. He also, sadly, can't even recall his son's mother. Soon, Johnny ends up alienating himself from two of the women in his life as well as this son. What's to come of this? Will Johnny step up and act like a man or will he just continue being a teenager stuck in a man's body?
This film is pretty modern in some of its sensibilities. It's pretty casual about sex and even has references to homosexuality....something very risqué for the time. But it also has some depth to it...despite the sexually charged nature of the film it also has a lot to say about masculinity and responsibility. Because of the depth you see later in the film, it makes this film much deeper than it really appeared to be at first. Well worth seeing and try to ignore the kooky beginning...there's more to it than that.