HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Endless Love Teenage Dream Or Teenage Nightmare
Year: 1981
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Stars: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Beatrice Straight, James Spader, Ian Ziering, Robert Moore, Penelope Milford, Jan Miner, Salem Ludwig, Leon B. Stevens, Vida Wright, Jeff Marcus, Tom Cruise, Jami Gertz
Genre: Drama, RomanceBuy from Amazon
Rating:  4 (from 2 votes)
Review: Fifteen-year-old Jade Butterfield (Brooke Shields) and her slightly older boyfriend David Axelrod (Martin Hewitt) are so much in love, and today when their classes take a trip to the planetarium he skips his to be with Jade and gaze at the presentation together. The vastness of space scares her, and makes her wonder what they'd do if she died, but he reassures her that if she did go, he'd die too. That night, they are to attend a party at her family's house, and David gets dressed up in a tuxedo for the occasion; it all goes so well that at the end of the evening, something very special happens...

Can you guess what that is? More importantly, can you contemplate that without feeling slightly queasy rather than hopelessly romantic? Franco Zeffirelli apparently had the idea he was making a Romeo and Juliet for the eighties when he started work on Endless Love, adapted by Judith Rascoe from Scott Spencer's novel, but what he wound up with was a laughing stock for anyone over the age of sixteen. It didn't do newcomer Hewitt's career any favours, but actually he's not that bad if you thought you were watching a creepy psychothriller.

The snag is that you're never very sure if you are meant to take the love affair at the film's heart at face value and be swept along by its swoonsome contrivances, or be outright disturbed by David's obsession and Jade's difficulty in shaking her feelings for him (and why is he named after the respected composer and arranger David Axelrod, anyway?). The main emotion most will be experiencing, at least in the first half, is a bone-deep cringe, not least at the scene where the two teens lose their virginity to each other (don't worry, Brooke used a body double) and Jade's mother (Shirley Knight) catches them, but merely looks on affectionately.

If that's not enough to raise some chortles of disbelief then you ain't seen nothing yet. David lets his libido get the better of him, and he ends up taking every opportunity to, uh, make love to his girlfriend, to the extent that their schoolwork suffers and Jade's dad (Don Murray) objects strongly, eventually banning David from seeing her for a month. If your skin wasn't crawling enough already, this merely fires up the lovelorn young man's ardour even further, and be begins moping around school to catch a glimpse of Jade, and hanging around her house until a squeaky-voiced Tom Cruise (debuting as one of his friends) gives him a great idea.

What could be more inspired than setting fire to the Butterfield's home and then acting the hero by raising the alarm? Yes, this actually seems like a sensible course of action to get his girl back, and he lights a pile of newspapers on the porch, which promptly burns the house to the ground although, all credit to him, he does raise the alarm and save everyone. Next stop: psychiatric hospital, but we're only halfway through the movie, and there are fresh lunacies to be inflicted on us. There is a tension between Jade's mother's hippy-dippy liberal take on her daughter's relationship and dad's hardline "get this creep away from here" one, but by the end most reasonable viewers will be on dad's side all the way. At best you'll be rolling your eyes at the hero's antics, at worst, you'll be rolling around laughing that this is supposed to be serious - and yet, there are still a fair amount of fans who do react to it as sincere. Music by Lionel Richie and Jonathan Tunick, who reprise the treacly title song more often than most will be able to stand.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 4900 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: