A Inocência do Primeiro Amor

Lucas was released with little fanfare in 1986, and many think it is one of the greatest "teen" movies ever made. I would agree, for the simple reason that this particular film has realistic, sympathetic and likeable characters and, with the exception of all the football heroic antics towards the end, it's just full of sweetness and charm.

Looking back, it's one of those films with a very interesting cast...

Corey Haim (Lucas Blye) - this was Haim's finest hour, giving a really excellent performance as the title character, a misfit who listens to classical music and collects bugs in lieu of rock 'n' roll and partying. He followed this up with The Lost Boys the following year, but then WHAT happened?!!?...

Kerri Green (Maggie) - everyone loved this sweetly appealing, auburn haired actress in The Goonies (1985) and Lucas - she was lovely in both films. However, Kerri sadly chose not to persue an active film career, which is a disappointment as she would certainly have become a big movie star had she wanted to be...

Winona Ryder (Rena) - even in such a small supporting role, not to mention a debut performance, Winona indicated that she had an extraordinary acting talent. Even though her Lucas co-stars had the bigger roles, it was Winona who has become a major movie star with a huge array of films to her credit, plus two Oscar nominations for her work in The Age of Innocence (1993) and Little Women (1994)...

Charlie Sheen (Cappie) - 1986 was a great year for Martin Sheen's son. In Lucas and Platoon, Sheen did some great work. But like Corey Haim, what on earth went wrong?!...

Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alise) - who would have thought over a decade later this actress would do such a good job as Georgia Thomas in the hugely successful TV series Ally McBeal?!...

Despite its almost universal acclaim and brilliant young cast, Lucas is not as well-known to movie lovers as, say, Pretty in Pink or any other teen movie of that era. Well, all I can say is that those who have not seen Lucas are sadly missing out on something incredibly special.

There's something extraordinary about "Lucas"; something that makes it impossible for us to reject it. We have always watched movies like "Lucas" along the ages, I have watched plenty of movies like it; and have disliked them all. Not that "Lucas" is great, but you know what I say about 'Love Actually"? If you express it with this film, "Lucas" is good as a movie, but almost brilliant as a family inspirational picture.

What happens in the film is like a tale…An old tale of a boy who is not accepted in his everyday environment and tries to live with it. The hero of this tale is the special Lucas, played by Corey Haim as a boy who is definitely stranger and more intelligent than the rest of his companions; it's something you notice immediately.

Or at least Maggie (Kerri Green) notices it. She spends the entire summer with him and when school starts he doesn't know what's going to happen. Logically, he has his two or three nerdy best friends that are there for him, included a girl named Rina (the first role Winona Ryder ever played, with 15 years old or so…Gorgeous), who obviously likes him and follows his look while he is searching for Maggie on the first day of classes.

It's not that Lucas dislikes his friends, but that he had sensed something different when knowing Maggie. But Maggie is older, and interested in older guys like Cappie (a very young Charlie Sheen), for example. In a very good scene where Cappie takes care of Lucas, Maggie thanks him and they both talk about Lucas…My brother thought Maggie was in love with Lucas, but I told him that she had a crush on Cappie…The movie understands the characters so well that it turned out the way I said, of course.

The language these kids deal with, the situations they live are real. David Seltzer, who directed and wrote the film, puts strong and hurtful words in his screenplay so they generate an impact in the picture's most moving moments. "But that doesn't turn you on, does it?", Lucas tells Maggie…That's not the kind of phrase you'd commonly listen a 13-year old say, even less on a film. That's the way Seltzer shapes his characters, in a way that we believe everything they declare and in a way that the only thing that becomes predictable in the movie is the storyline itself.

A known writer, Seltzer has directed few things. As a director, he also preserves his characters. Watch a beautiful scene where the choir is singing and the camera goes from side to side showing each of the main characters looking at the person he likes, but not one of them being corresponded with the look. That's perfect directing, even more in a film of this type…So classic: the simple edition (Priscilla Nedd-Friendly, "Down to Earth"), the touchy score (Dave Grusin, "The Goonies", "Hope Floats", "Selena").

What I'm trying to say is that, to Seltzer, is all about the movie. The actors don't show off, Corey Haim is the hero but not the star. It's about the movie; a piece with an absolutely clichéd resolution that we find inspiring and therefore embrace.

During the summer vacation, the fourteen year-old Lucas Bly (Corey Haim) meets the sixteen year-old newcomer in town Maggie (Kerri Green) and they become best friends. Lucas is an intelligent boy that loves bugs and shows the mansion where he lives to Maggie. When classes begin, Maggie learns that Lucas is not a popular student but an outcast nerd at school and bullied by the football players. The football captain Cappie (Charlie Sheen) protects Lucas because the boy helped him when he was ill. Soon Lucas has a crush on Maggie but she falls in love with Cappie, while Lucas' schoolmate Rina (Winona Ryder) loves him. When Maggie joins the cheerleaders, Cappie's girlfriend Alise (Courtney Thorne-Smith) becomes jealous of her and she ends the relationship with Cappie. Meanwhile Lucas joins the football team expecting to impress Maggie. During a game, Lucas is hurt and Maggie finds that he lives in a trailer with his alcoholic father. What will happen to Lucas?

"Lucas" is a touching classic from the wonderful 80's, with a pleasant and sensitive story of unrequited first love. Corey Haim has a magnificent performance in the role of a boy with no family that falls in love with an older girl. The difference of two years for a fourteen year-old boy is indeed too much. Another attraction is to see Winona Ryder, Charles Sheen and others very young in the beginning of career. After almost thirty years, "Lucas" is still a delightful heartbreaking film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Inocência do Primeiro Amor" ("The Innocence of the First Love")

Note: On 10 April 2019 I saw this film again.

Haim gives his overall best performance as the 14-year-old title character who has a crush on new girl Green and they bond during the summer, but by the time school begins, he gets teased by the jocks and Green leaves him out in the cold and has eyes for football hunk Sheen, who has become Lucas's bodyguard. Fraught with rejection and neglect, Lucas attempts to prove himself worthy by trying out for the football team, which he knows is no easy task for a boy his age. Unlike many other teen movies, LUCAS gives us a character that we can actually relate to, and the other characters fit in perfectly. One of the best teen movies of the 80's.

4 out of 5

I saw Lucas for the first time today... more than 20 years since it first came out. I have to admit, I'm a huge 80's fan and even though I was just a kid during the 80's I consider myself to be pretty familiar with the pop culture of the time. However, for some odd reason, I never got around to seeing Lucas. I have to say that, despite the fact that this movie is so old and I've seen movies with similar plots since, this movie still made me teary-eyed. I absolutely adored Corey Haim when I was a young girl and his role as the sweet, vulnerable, yet highly intelligent nerd gave me the fuzzies... the same way he used to when I was young. He, along with the rest of the cast (including Kerri Green, Winona Ryder, and Charlie Sheen), gave a great performance... typical of the 80's teen flicks (with an over-abundance of clichés), but, nonetheless, touching. It's definitely up there with the all time classics: Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink... and any of the flicks including the Brat Pack. Definitely worth seeing if you're in a nostalgic mood and want to revisit the old days of knee-high tube socks and head bands.