River's Edge
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River's Edge
Plot
The nude, strangled body of a teenaged girl lies on the edge of the river. Her murderer is her boyfriend, Daniel Roebuck. All the kids in Roebuck's dismal, dead-end town know who committed the murder. Trouble is, no one bothers to turn Roebuck in; some of the teens don't know how to react to the crime, while others, strung out on drugs and booze, just don't give a damn. A study of contemporary alienation, River's Edge was based on a real-life incident that occurred in Milpitas, California, in 1981. That same year, Neal Jimenez wrote his screenplay for River's Edge, but was not able to finance the project until 1987. Except for Dennis Hopper, cast as a holdover from the sixties who hobbles about on one leg and makes love to a blow-up doll, the cast was largely comprised of unknowns, many of whom (Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye) would definitely be heard from in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Tim Hunter's 1987 The River's Edge arrived a few years after the disaffected teen pictures of the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as Foxes, The Outsiders, and the Hunter-scripted Over the Edge. These films were cautionary tales inspired by the proliferation of drugs, sex, and parental negligence, and their tone was reminiscent of the restless-youth pictures of the 1950s. River's Edge, on the other hand, captured the dead-end world and incidental amorality of its teen characters with a distant, cerebral eye. Quietly artsy, the movie's unsensational commentary is guided along by ironic, scene-stealing performances from Dennis Hopper and Crispin Glover. Seldom has Hopper's crazed rebellion been exploited to better effect. Even his reclusive drug dealer can't fathom the amorality of the kids who surround him. As the leader of the teens, Glover isn't conventionally menacing. He's more of a personification of the "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" commercial, with an oddly sweet side to him. His warped, eerie performance is miles away from anything seen in typical estranged-youth movies. ~ Brendon Hanley, RoviCast
- Crispin Glover - Layne
- Keanu Reeves - Matt
- Ione Skye - Clarissa
- Daniel Roebuck - Samson "John" Tollette
- Dennis Hopper - Feck
Credit
Mick Muhlfriedel - Art Director, David Streit - Co-producer, Claudia Brown - Costume Designer, Tim Hunter - Director, Sonya Sones - Editor, Sonya Sones Tramer - Editor, Howard E. Smith - Editor, John Daly - Executive Producer, Derek Gibson - Executive Producer, Jürgen Knieper - Composer (Music Score), Gabor Kernyaiszky - Makeup, Kenny Myers - Makeup, John Muto - Production Designer, Frederick Elmes - Cinematographer, Sarah Pillsbury - Producer, Midge Sanford - Producer, Anne Huntley-Ahrens - Set Designer, Neal Jimenez - Screenwriter| River of Unrest (1936 Film), River of Stone: The Powell Expedition (1992 Film) | |
| River's End (1931 Film), River's End (1940 Film) |
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River's Edge
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River's Edge
For the 1957 film, see The River's Edge.
| River's Edge | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Tim Hunter |
| Produced by | Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford |
| Written by | Neal Jimenez |
| Starring | Crispin Glover Keanu Reeves Ione Skye Dennis Hopper |
| Music by | Jürgen Knieper |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Editing by | Howard E. Smith Sonya Sones |
| Studio | Hemdale Film Corporation |
| Distributed by | Island Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million |
| Box office | $4.6 million |
River's Edge is a 1986 American drama film directed by Tim Hunter. Written by Neal Jimenez, it stars Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper.
The movie was awarded Best Picture during the Independent Spirit Awards of 1986.
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Contents
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Plot
A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, John, has murdered one of their friends, Jamie. He brags to them all at school about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary. Layne, the self-proclaimed leader of the group, is intent on keeping the murder a secret and protecting John, while the rest of the group (Matt, Clarissa, Maggie, and Tony) debate going to the police.
Basis
While the Jimenez screenplay is fiction, it draws from the November 3, 1981 murder of 14-year-old Marcy Renee Conrad, who was raped and strangled to death by 16-year-old Anthony Jacques Broussard in Milpitas, California.[1]
Broussard bragged of raping and murdering Conrad, later showing the body to at least thirteen different people; despite this, the crime went unreported for two days.[2]
The 6-foot, 4-inch, 280-pound, 16 year old Broussard had been mentally disturbed since finding his mother dead in the shower at the age of seven.
Broussard pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life with parole possible after 16 years and 8 months.[1]. He was denied a new trial in 1985,[3] and has repeatedly been denied parole.[4][5] As of December 2010 (29 years) Broussard is still incarcerated at California's Folsom State Prison.[6] Kirk Rasmussen, 16, was sentenced to three years in a juvenile center for kicking dirt and leaves to help hide the girl's partially clad body.[7]
Neal Jimenez read about the story in the newspaper while visiting friends, wrote a script and turned it in to his instructor while he was an English major at Santa Clara University. He got a "C+" so he rewrote it and received an "A". Jimenez said, "that the incident is merely the inspiration for the screenplay".[8]
Cast
- Crispin Glover as Layne
- Keanu Reeves as Matt
- Ione Skye as Clarissa
- Daniel Roebuck as Samson 'John' Tollet
- Dennis Hopper as Feck
- Roxana Zal as Maggie
- Joshua John Miller as Tim
- Josh Richman as Tony
- Phillip Brock as Mike
- Tom Bower as Det. Bennett
- Constance Forslund as Madeleine
- Leo Rossi as Jim
- Jim Metzler as Mr. Burkewaite
- Taylor Negron as Checker
- Danyi Deats as Jamie
- Tammy Smith as Kim
Music
- Then-independent California record label Metal Blade Records provided the metal soundtrack, featuring artists from their roster like Slayer, Hallow's Eve and Fates Warning.
- U.S. underground punk band Wipers its featured on the soundtrack.
- Crust Punk band Dystopia sampled dialogue from the film on its album Human = Garbage.
- U.S. band The Goo Goo Dolls song "You Know What I Mean" from its 1990 release Hold Me Up was based upon the film.
See also
References
- ^ a b Klinger, Karen. "A Town Looks at a Murder: Many Could Share the Blame". Detroit Free Press. July 25, 1982.
- ^ "Law: Age of Accountability". Time. 1981-12-14. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925121,00.html. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ "Milpitas Youth Loses Plea in 1981 Strangling of Girl". The San Francisco Chronicle. January 19, 1985.
- ^ Hoover, Ken. "Parole Denied to Killer Of Milpitas Teenager". The San Francisco Chronicle. August 17, 1996.
- ^ Broussard, Anthony Jacques (September 2007) (PDF), Life Prisoner Parole Consideration Hearings, p. 9, http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/BOPH/docs/hearing_sched_0907.pdf, retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ "Broussard, Anthony Jacques Inmate #C56988", Inmate Locator, CA, USA: CDCR, http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/search.aspx, retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ Mathews, Jay. "California Suburb Sorts Out Fear and Confusion in Teen Slaying". The Washington Post. December 6, 1981.
- ^ Villagran, Nora. "'River's' Writer: 'I Made It Up' Filmmakers Say Movie Depicts a Rootless Post-Watergate World". San Jose Mercury News. May 22, 1987.
External links
- River's Edge at the Internet Movie Database
- River's Edge at AllRovi
- River's Edge at Rotten Tomatoes
- Henry A. Giroux on River's Edge and postmodern education
- Marcy Renee Conrad Web Site
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