Reckless

Of the many high school movies that were released in 1984, this one has barely survived at all in the collective consciousness. That's kind of surprising because of all the amazing talent that got their start with this picture. It was the debut feature of James Foley, who would go on to make At Close Range, After Dark, My Sweet, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Fear. It was the first produced screenplay by Chris Columbus, who also penned 1984's Gremlins and would go on to direct Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, and the first two Harry Potter pictures. It was the second movie by the infamous theater, film, and TV producer Scott Rudin. It was the first feature to be scored by the ridiculously prolific composer Thomas Newman, who would write the iconic music for The Player, The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, In the Bedroom, Finding Nemo, Skyfall, and countless others. It was one of the first American movies photographed by the great German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who would lens three other films in 1984 before teaming up with Martin Scorsese for After Hours and going on to become one of the great DPs of the '80s and '90s. It was edited by a young film school grad, Albert Magnoli, who would make his directorial debut later this year with a little movie called Purple Rain. It was the feature debut of the only male actor I've ever had a serious crush on, Aidan Quinn, and a key film in the career of the insanely beautiful Daryl Hannah. It's also a pretty solid picture.

Of all the talented folks involved in this little movie, Hannah is the one who had the most interesting 1984. After small roles in Brian De Palma's The Fury and David Greene's Hard Country, she appeared as the replicant Pris in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. However, Blade Runner was not a hit when it was released in 1982, so she did not become iconic at that point. Nor did too many people see her in Randal Kleiser's sexy menage a trois romantic comedy Summer Lovers or Andrew Davis's bland slasher film The Final Terror, both released after Blade Runner. 1984 was the true breakthrough year for Hannah, first with Reckless, a small film but one in which she gives a performance that got her noticed as much as Blade Runner, and then the mega-hit Splash, followed by The Pope of Greenwich Villiage—which was not a big hit but has lasted as a presence in film history far more than Reckless. These three films all came out between February and June and made Hannah a movie star. The plot isn't all that special. It's a Romeo and Juliet story about an angry, rebellious, working-class, motorcycle-riding football player named Johnny Rourke (Quinn), who falls for a cheerleader from a wealthy family, Tracy Prescott (Hannah). The trouble is Tracy is dating Johney's dickhead teammate (Adam Baldwin), whose father (Dan Hedaya) is the foreman of Johney's drunken, disillusioned old man (Kenneth McMillan). The two star-crossed lovers are brought together when they are randomly paired up at a high school dance. There are a lot of great songs in this movie, but watching Quinn literally drop the needle on Romeo Void's "Never Say Never" and then lead Hannah and the other kids in a new wave dance to the lyrics, "I might like you better if we slept together," is a killer example of a great '80s needle drop.

What works so well in this movie is how tangible the feelings of teenage insecurity, lust, and desire for acceptance come through. This is not a teen comedy; it's a sincere drama that never comes off as awkwardly over-earnest because the performances are so good. Thanks to Foley and Ballhaus, the picture also looks better than any teen movie of this era has a right to. The setting, a dying steel town, visually reflects the characters' desperate feelings of going nowhere fast. The picture was ahead of its time in its depiction of a factory town that will soon have no factory jobs to support the kids currently in high school, and kids like Johney seem to understand this inherently. The film is also a minor study of how toxic masculinity is nurtured and cultivated. Quinn's Johnny is not the nicest guy in the world, but you can see why Hannah's Tracey falls for him. It's not just those penetrating eyes! The film should also be remembered for its stylish, tasteful, erotic love scenes lit by the reflecting water of an indoor pool and the red glow of the high school boiler room.