Themes: Age Disparity Romance, Boarding School Life, Fathers and Sons
Main Cast: Winona Ryder, Lukas Haas, Skeet Ulrich, John C. Reilly, Bill Sage
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Boys is a coming-of-age tale about an addled prep school student who nurses a woman back to health after an accident and becomes involved in her cryptic past. John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a tormented high school senior outcast who's weary of his upper-crust boarding school life and dreads his future as a supermarket chain manager. When he finds Patty Vare (Winona Ryder) unconscious in a field after being thrown from a horse, Baker sees this as an opportunity to break out of his humdrum existence, and he smuggles her into the school to take care of her. The relationship blooms into a somewhat bizarre love affair, as John discovers that Patty is concealing a mysterious secret involving a missing baseball player and a stolen car. Although the film takes a little time to get started, what originates as an analysis of guarded youths making foolish judgments evolves into a celebration of adolescent insurrection. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Wiley Wiggins - John Phillips; Chris Cooper - Mr. John Baker; Maddie Corman - Liz Curry; Angela Hall - Officer Julie Leroux; Jessica Harper - Mrs. John Baker; Catherine Keener - Jilly; James LeGros - Fenton Ray; Matt Malloy - Bartender; Bob Moore - Officer Darryl Cane; Christopher Pettiet - Jon Heinz; Vivienne Shub - Frances; John Fitzpatrick - Steve Hunt; Charlie Hofheimer - John Cooke; David Newsom - Curt; Spencer Vrooman - John Murphy; Rob Carlton - Tom Vare; John Reeves - Phil Rains Esq.; Carter McNeese - Floor Waxer; James Gardiner - Kellogg Curry Jnr; Cheryl Goode - Beer Girl; Marty McDonough - Teacher; David Paulson - Lieutenant Love; Gregorio Rosenblum - Dr. Paz; Miranda Syp - Ellen Vare; Russell Young - John Van Slieder; Andy Davis - Jonathan Marco
Credit
Gary Kosko - Art Director, Todd Thaler - Casting, Rudd Simmons - Co-producer, Lucy W. Corrigan - Costume Designer, Peter Bækkel - First Assistant Director, Eric Heffron - First Assistant Director, Michael J. Moore - First Assistant Director, Stacy Cochran - Director, Camilla Toniolo - Editor, Robert W. Cort - Executive Producer, Ted Field - Executive Producer, Scott Kroopf - Executive Producer, John Quaglia - Hair Styles, Lysbeth Hopper - Location Manager, Stewart Copeland - Composer (Music Score), Stewart Copeland - Songwriter, Naomi Donne - Makeup, Thomas Loizeaux - Camera Operator, Dan Bishop - Production Designer, Robert Elswit - Cinematographer, Erica Huggins - Producer, Paul Feldsher - Producer, Peter Frankfurt - Producer, Dianna Freas - Set Designer, Matt Vogel - Special Effects, David Kelson - Sound Mixer, Chuck Jeffreys - Stunts, Dana Belcastro - Unit Production Manager, Stacy Cochran - Screenwriter, Michael Dittrick - Music Editor, David Novack - Re-Recording Mixer, Julie Oppenheimer - Script Supervisor, Rick Raphael - Steadicam Operator, Lois A. Hoover - Assistant Sound Editor, Rusty Gardner - Best Boy Electric, Marina Marit - Costumes Supervisor, Sean Valla - First Assistant Editor, Stuart Sperling - First Assistant Editor, Alicia Stevenson - Foley Artist, Timothy A. Pearson - Foley Artist, Mike Revell - Production Accountant, Francesca Gerlach - Scenic Artist, Michael Luckeroth - Transportation Captain, A. Welch Lambeth - Transportation Coordinator, George Berndt - ADR Supervisor, Donna Barrett - Cable Person, D.R. Curtis - Cable Person, David Alstadter - Foley Mixer, Sharyn M. Tylk - Assistant Music Editor
Boys is a 1996American film starring Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas. The film was originally titled The Girl You Want. The film earned $516,349 in the United States box office. It is based on a short story called "20 Minutes" by James Salter.
John Baker Jr. (Haas) is a boy bored with his upper class life and the prospect of his future running the family grocery store chain. He no longer sees the point in school, stating what's the difference if he gets a zero attendance for being three minutes late or skipping the whole class so he might as well skip the class. Now close to graduating from boarding school, his life is turned upside down when he rescues Patty Vare (Ryder). After repeated statements that she won't go see someone, he hides her in his dorm room and the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery. This is not without its problems, as other boys in the dorm quickly find out she is being hidden in his room, leading up to a dramatic confrontation with Baker's close friends where his 'best friend' becomes enraged and punches a wall, breaking his hand, while the two continue to argue over the reason as to why Baker has hidden her in his room.
Throughout the movie there are continuous flashbacks of Vare's past, showing her with a famous baseball player with whom she steals a car, leading up to a drunken car crash and his death (for which authorities are searching for Vare for questioning). By the end, Vare has admitted all this to Baker and informed the authorities of the location of the body and the car (as they crashed into a river). At the police station both Baker and Vare begin to say goodbye when they unexpectedly jump into an elevator to escape from Baker's controlling father (Chris Cooper), and drive off with a car he had earlier stolen from the school.
