Reckless

I saw this movie when I was just 10. I was up watching movie late one night with my older brother. So maybe it was just the happy memory, but this movie was always in a special place for me. Aidan Quinn was great! I think he is what made the movie. To bad they don't show it on late night cable that much any more, but if you ever get the chance to see it, I think its a good way to spend an hour and half. :D

Where can you get the soundtrack?? Romeo Void, INXS ("The one thing" - probably their best song) Bob Seger - very nice. Sure it's a little lame in the plot dept. but cool motorcycle, plenty of teen angst-it ain't Schindler's List but it works when you are surfing and happen upon it on a rainy weekend. Besides, Daryl Hannah never looks bad!

On the surface, there's a lot about Reckless that spells turkey. Troubled and angry boy from the wrong side of town falls for the pretty rich cheerleader. Well, we all have seen that a million times, from Rebel Without a Cause to The Breakfast Club. Then there is the casting of actors who are transparently too old to play teenagers. Yet there is something about Reckless that draws one in and keeps them there for the full 90 minutes, and that something is in two words: Aidan Quinn. His performance is so on the mark, we can so easily feel his pain and angst, and that's not easy considering much of his lines are insipid. And yes, we cant overlook the fact that he is very easy on the eyes (the word dreamy comes to mind). But Quinn shows in this picture and most of his subsequent work that he is not merely just another pretty face, but a fine actor.

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.

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!