This film starts with a very eye-raising scene in a 1963 Bronx classroom where an avant-garde teacher has an exercise on racial tensions which results in some colorful language. The classroom, mostly half black and Italian, already has enough tensions going on, but that gets the film rolling with the issues of the era which of course are accompanied by a soundtrack of some of the greatest hits of the time. The Italians want to dominate their school and their streets, their turf they say, and they have enough issues with a gang called the baldies, whom by the looks of it aren't people they should mess with. There's one three times their size who doesn't take any crap from anybody, but obviously is going to get some when he is drunk and we manipulated into joining the Marines, something his teeny little sidekick is unhappy about. The lead character played by Ken Wahl is basically a decent guy, getting into all sorts of teenage pranks that would be considered a no no in any civilized society in any era, but it helps get him the girl played by Karen Allen. Other members of their gang have various issues, and there is an insinuation that one of them (who has switched from their gang to the baldies) is having issues with his sexuality, a disturbing scene that leads to an even more disturbing scene.
There really isn't a strong plotline, just daily events in their lives that shows their conflicts with more than just the big bald dudes that hang outside the Marine recruiting station, and that leads to a rumble on a football field during an actual game. Nearly a decade before she became a household name as Cher's mother in "Moonstruck", Olympia Dukakis had a bit part in this film as one of the young men's mothers, obviously abused by her husband, but in her first scene giving her sona knowing eye of what a jerk she thinks her husband is. This has some interesting characterizations, as well as some vintage Bronx footage, and the film doesn't resort to ridiculous teenage gang cliches. Not a classic, but a well-written study about growing up in a tough time in a tough neighborhood.
There really isn't a strong plotline, just daily events in their lives that shows their conflicts with more than just the big bald dudes that hang outside the Marine recruiting station, and that leads to a rumble on a football field during an actual game. Nearly a decade before she became a household name as Cher's mother in "Moonstruck", Olympia Dukakis had a bit part in this film as one of the young men's mothers, obviously abused by her husband, but in her first scene giving her sona knowing eye of what a jerk she thinks her husband is. This has some interesting characterizations, as well as some vintage Bronx footage, and the film doesn't resort to ridiculous teenage gang cliches. Not a classic, but a well-written study about growing up in a tough time in a tough neighborhood.