Themes: Innocence Lost, Sexual Awakening, High School Life
Main Cast: Kevin Bacon, Brad Renfro, Maximilian Schell, Calista Flockhart, Paul Dooley
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro) was born in Hungary and immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1960s where he felt adrift in a strange sea of American culture. Jonas tries to fit in at the Catholic high school he attends but finds himself a laughing stock. At home, his stern father (Maximilian Schell) insists that he adhere to traditional Hungarian ways. Karchy's only respite is the rock & roll music he adores. A year before he arrived, flashy, failed disc jockey Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon) rolled into town, found a job at WHK and became the host of the High School Hall of Fame contest, something that Karchy decides he must win so he too can be cool and therefore impress his lovely classmate Diney (Calista Flockhart). Eventually, he does win and before long has made friends with Billy. The DJ proves to be a real pal and pays Karchy a C-note a week to run a few errands and do odd jobs for him. Some of those tasks involve taking money from promoters. When not working, Billy is introducing Karchy to life's wild side. But despite such fun times, there is much the naive youth is destined to learn the hard way about his new buddy Billy. The film's story comes from screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' (Basic Instinct) script, penned around 1982. Himself a Hungarian immigrant, Eszterhas added a few autobiographical touches to the script. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
A warm, nostalgic tale of hero worship gone wrong, this sweet comedy-drama follows young Hungarian immigrant Brad Renfro's idolatry of sleazy payola-taking DJ Kevin Bacon in the early days of rock and roll. Renfro is funny and believable in the lead and gets some great help from Maximilian Schell as his understanding father and Calista Flockhart as his true love. The story is predictable but thrives on keenly observed detail and anecdotal remembrance, and, while Joe Eszterhas' script is just as morally ambiguous in the end as Renfro's previous film with Bacon (Sleepers), it at least forgives Renfro's transgressions on behalf of a worthy goal. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Susan Brown - Casting, Emily Schweber - Casting, Fred Caruso - Co-producer, Laura Cunningham-Bauer - Costume Designer, Dennis Benatar - First Assistant Director, Guy Ferland - Director, Jill Savitt - Editor, Mickey Liddell - Executive Producer, Brian Swardstrom - Executive Producer, Naomi Eszterhas - Executive Producer, Kaz Kazui - Executive Producer, Nicholas Pike - Composer (Music Score), Peter Afterman - Musical Direction/Supervision, James A. Gelarden - Production Designer, Reynaldo Villalobos - Cinematographer, Ben Myron - Producer, Frank Kuzui - Producer, Thomas Paul - Set Designer, Sarah Young - Set Designer, Tim Chau - Sound/Sound Designer, Jonathan Andrews - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Eszterhas - Screenwriter
Tagline: Dress sharp. Drive fast. Look cool. Laugh last.
Synopsis
Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro) is a 17 year old high school student (who migrated from Hungary 7 years previous) trying to find his way in the world. He meets radio personality Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon) who takes him under his wing. However, authorities are after Billy for accepting bribes from record companies to give their songs air time. A semi-autobiographical tale from Joe Eszterhas.
