Customer Reviews

Baby It's You [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have watched this movie several times over the years. It is a sleeper hit in my opinion-- a story of ending high school and heading for college, at least for the female lead, whereas her boyfriend is not college material and tries to make it as a club singer. They try to have a romance, though they have differences, but because they are both scared of their new lives they keep trying to hold on to one another. I can not put my finger on it, but I really like this movie. The soundtrack is great too, with songs of the 60's. This is not a movie with high drama or special effects-- but the script is great in my opinion, for anyone who remembers the struggles and romance of high school, and the fears and struggles of starting out in college or elsewhere after graduation.

I flipped on the television and got sucked into this movie half way through. Had no idea what I was watching and thought it was a light hearted cheesy movie from the late 70's/early 80's. Boy was I wrong! This movie absolutely blew me away. I was not at all suprised to learn John Sayles (Passion Fish, The Secret of Roan Inish) had directed it. A fabulous depiction of teenage life and self discovery. I have never seen people of this age portrayed so accurately. I can not get Vincent Spano's performance out of my mind. He reminds me of so many of the dumb, yet loveable (but sometimes "dangerous") boys I dated as a young girl. It almost gives me the creeps - and yet, keeps me rivoted. I do not understand why it is that Vincent Spano has not become a bigger box office draw. He is an amazing actor with great range in everything I've seen him in and also very physically attractive. Boggles the mind why he hasn't been in more movies. And Rosanna Arquette gives an amazing performance as well as a young girl just realizing what she wants out of life but unable to break away completely from her youth. PHENOMENAL!!! I immediately went out and bought this movie on eBay - I have to watch it again and again. Not at all what I expected on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This is one of my all time favorite movies... sometimes the film makers just get it; the dialogue is right, the feel is right... we baby boomers can relate to something here... an age of innocence story, early 60's; where you still didn't have to take life all that seriously (pre-Vietnam); almost another Dinks Stover at Yale / Lawrenceville time in the World. Everything about this movie is on... the language is just right... the early 60's elitism, as per Matthew Modine's role and Tracy Pollen really hit its right. and Rosanna Arquette as the good-hearted girl from Trenton, who can still show affection for the "Sheik" and humility too... this movie is a gem. If only they could get the price down to under $20.

This is one of John Sayles's earliest works that slipped by
most people. It is set in the late 60's in New Jersey and
depicts a high school romance between an upper class brainy
beauty , Jill Rosen ( Roseanna Arquette ) and a lower class
greaser, the Sheik (Vincent Spano). It documents an unlikely
but plausible courtship and breakup. The performances are uniformly perceptive and it even has several Bruce
Springsteen tunes from before he became an American icon.
What struck me the most was the transition from the 1960's high school preppy scene to the college hippie scene. It
is the best depiction of the late 1960's college life I have
ever seen.
After their breakup, Jill attends an elite northeastern
private woman's college and the Shiek travels to Miami to follow his show business dream and also wash dishes in a nightclub. Their attempted reunion at Jill's college is
sweet but poignant ; there is no future for them together. I would really
like to see their characters 20 years later. I would suspect
Jill was an unhappy, divorced attorney and the Sheik was
an unhappy union official with a fat Italian wife and five
kids. Sayles really captured that moment in young adult
life where you are totally unsure about everything. To me , the
film is the closest thing to Splendor in the Grass. Grab
it now on VHS as it is not available on DVD.

I saw this film during its first, and probably last run. I thought it was wonderful at the time and would love to see it again. At first glance it has some of the attributes of a teen movie, such as Pretty in Pink, but don't be fooled. The characters are drawn with a harsher hand. The backdrop: coming of age in America, boy meets girl, class clash. If you get the chance, watch it.

A perfect story about idealizing the days that you thought you couldn't wait to get away from. Classic Sayles. Great music, classic Motown and some Springsteen. Painful, funny, real and true. An all-time favorite.

The great film director John Sayles delivers with this magnificent film. Its release date is 1983 while the setting is essentially 1960s Trenton, New Jersey. Arquette tosses in one of the best acting performances you'll ever see and Spano more than holds his own in what is probably the best love story of the last twenty years. What makes this one work is the incredibly real dialogue along with the progression of time and setting. Unlike other similar films this one is special because it charts the relatively typical high school romance into the post high school work and college world. The smallest lines in the script are truly brilliant and filled with realism. The scene where Arquette meets an old classmate in a working class bar is priceless ("We used to be in gym class together"). Later her portrayal of drunken and stoned college reminiscing is also sensational.

Sayles sprinkles some timely 60s Motown and rock n roll into the scenes and also adds in some 70s Springsteen fare that help to give the film an authentic texture. He absolutely nails the scene in which they take a weekday trip to the deserted boardwalk. Also the argument in the dorm stairwell is brilliant in its simplicity and reality.

Baby It's You has sort of an independent film feel to it, which of course isn't unusual given that Sayles made his bones with excellent stuff like the Return of the Secaucus Seven and Matewan. Do not miss this one, it's definitely one of the best love stories ever.

Haven't seen this movie in a while, but I remember it well. It is the story of a relationship that outlives itself. Rosanna Arquette's Jill realizes it can never last, but cannot tear herself away from the idea of the relationship, if not the reality. She finally completes her "part" when she visits and sleeps with the Vincent Spano character. To him, this is proof they belong together. To her, it is the way to release any obligation she may have felt to him for his loyalty and devotion. When he tells her he loves her, the response is "I know." Although he doesn't grasp the significance of the response, when I saw it in the theater, it was almost as though I'd been punched in the stomach, it struck so close to home. Totally realistic view of young love between those of different backgrounds and futures.

John Sayles' films are never what you think they're going to be, and "Baby, It's You" is no exception. Accurately capturing the messiness and immaturity of youth, Sayles still manages to involve you emotionally with his characters. He gets career best performances out of Spano and Arquette, and while his film is quite rooted in reality he still manages to pull off a first rate romantic ending. Hey, any film that features both Springsteen and Sinatra on its soundtrack must be worth a watch. More heartwarming than world changing, this one still has the ring of truth to it.

For me, one of the top ten films ever made. I feel that I know Jill Rosen (Rosanna Arquette) better than most people I have known in real life. Jill is an A student. The streetwise boyfriend she discovers is not dumb. They are both very young. One wonders if either of them ever got it together. SO many endearing lines from Jill! Her college room "It's small but it's ugly." The funky gold star on the door. And when she gets drunk! I think maybe this film says when we have the least we have the most.