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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most Underrated films of the 1980s!, May 8, 2001
RECKLESS is an overlooked classic, and quality wise, it is far superior to most of the better known teen angst classics of the eighties. Aidan Quinn gives a fantastic early performance as Johnny Rourke, who he plays as a pensive combination of James Dean and Steve McQueen. Daryl Hannah gives her second-most-memorable performances (after Pris in Blade Runner) as the popular but unsatisfied girl who is attracted to Johnny's rebelliousness. There are several other young actors who would go on to fame (including Adam Baldwin and Jennifer Grey). But the film's biggest draw is it's amazing soundtrack (ironically enough, there never was an "official" release of it)... When I first saw the film, I was a big fan of INXS' current (at that time) release, Shabooh Shoobah, and I was thrilled by its extensive use in the soundtrack to this film. "The One Thing" and "Soul Mistake" play during opening scenes, and later in the film, director James Foley transcends the usual bubbleheaded attempts to copy MTV editing in films (most notable in megahits like FLASHDANCE and FOOTLOOSE) with a truly BRILLIANT use of the song "To Look at You" that actually manages to further the plot stricly through visual + aural means. Also brilliant is the prom sequence, when Quinn turns off the wimpy music and cranks up some Romeo Void in its place, then pulls Hannah into an uninhibited dance while the camera circles them at an increasing speed.. it's a truly exhilarating moment that ranks (in terms of cinematic choreography) with the famous "Do You Love Me" scene in DIRTY DANCING, and the classic moments of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. I love this film, and I still watch it often. It's like an old friend that I like to revisit now and then. It gets my highest recommendation!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An ultimate teen movie, April 30, 2007
So much better than the new MTV, I watched this James Foley movie obsessively when it first came out on VHS years ago. The astonishingly beautiful couple of Aidan Quinn (Johnny) and Darrell Hannah (Tracey) work really well together as high school seniors who feed upon each others emotions. You just have to see it because it is almost impossible to describe the chilling atmosphere of this movie set in a cold little mountain town where the steel mill is the major employer and the fact that someone has a job is pretty remarkable. It has an amazing 80s soundtrack, a dance scene set to Romeo Void that is one of the best I have ever seen, a really great cast and full frontal by Aidan himself. My favorite line is when Johnny has forced his way into Tracey's house and upon seeing her parent's bedroom says "So this where they made you" in his low sexy voice.
I dearly loved it when I was young and romantic so I bought it and watched it again recently. I must say that maturity took the edge off my enjoyment, I was concerned that Tracey was going to regret riding off in the sunset with an attractive but very angry kid from a really bad home life with a tendency towards violence (I think that Jackson Browne was abusive toward her in real life also). However, were I seventeen again and Johnny had showed up at my door on a motorcycle looking very punk in his father's suit coat and a narrow tie, bearing a corsage he had thoughtfully dyed black to take me to the high school dance, I too, would have put on my cheerleader jacket and climbed on back for ride of a lifetime.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixing James Dean with THE DEER HUNTER - Reckless Recovered, December 19, 2002
Reckless RecoveredIn 1983 a beginning Hollywood director, James Foley, called me up. He wanted to make a film in the spirit of "The Deer Hunter." He wanted to find a cemetery near a steel plant, and he did find such a location in Weirton. The film was shot in Weirton, Wheeling, Steubenville, and a few other local places. He came to town with an unknown actor by the name of Aidan Quinn. His co-star was Daryl Hannah who had been in "Blade Runner"
(1982) and a handful of other lesser-known films. Foley had a screenplay by a then-unknown writer, Chris Columbus (director of Harry Potter films and "Home Alone 2"), a German transplant cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus, who had shot John Sayles' film, "Baby, It's You"(1983) after a career in Germany shooting Fassbinder's films. The last credit in the film is to moi. Unfortunately, the film died, and even the Weirton Public Library refused to show our 16 mm print of the film since it has
a torrid love scene in the high school pool between the stars. For almost two decades I have been showing it at libraries and film festivals around the state - and just when I read that Edgar Scherick, the famous independent film producer, has died, I also discovered that the film is available for sale in VHS from Amazon.com. So now YOU can check out this early film by some of our current superstars.
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