Boys ** (1996, Winona Rider, Lucas Haas, John C Reilly, James LeGros, Skeet Ulrich, Wiley Wiggins) – Classic Movie Review 1486

Stacy Cochran’s interesting 1996 drama film Boys, with the theme of teenage lost innocence and growing up, has an excellent young cast of Winona Rider, Lucas Haas, John C Reilly, James LeGros, Skeet Ulrich and Wiley Wiggins.

Writer-director Stacy Cochran’s interesting 1996 drama Boys on the theme of teenage lost innocence and growing up is loosely based on the short story Twenty Minutes by James Salter. Winona Rider heads an excellent young cast that also includes Lucas Haas, John C Reilly, James LeGros, Skeet Ulrich and Wiley Wiggins.

Following a riding accident, a posh boy, prep school student John Baker Jr (Haas), assists a young woman, Patty Vare (Rider) who is lying unconscious in a field after she has fallen off her horse. Taking her back to his dorm, John finds Patty is hiding from something. With the girl hidden in the boy’s room, the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery.

Cochran’s movie is an extremely well-acted and atmospheric but rather listless and thin growing-up saga.

The engaging acting from the highly impressive cast is the main asset, especially the intense and compelling performance from Haas. The story is involving enough but the movie is nowhere near as gripping as it needs to be for it to be outstanding.

Russell Young, Chris Cooper, Jessica Harper, Catherine Keener and Matt Malloy also co-star.

Originally titled The Girl You Want, the film earned only just over $500,000 at the American box office (just $516,350). Set in an East Coast boys’ boarding school, it was shot in Baltimore and on the campus of St John’s College in Annapolis.

It is shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit. He won for the 2008 There Will Be Blood.

Roger Ebert called it ‘A low-rent, dumbed-down version of Before Sunrise, with a rent-a-plot substituting for clever dialogue’, which is unusually unkind and unfair of him, and can’t have helped its box office chances.

Skeet Ulrich, who plays Bud Valentine.

Stacy Cochran recalled: ‘A dispute with the studio led to an extensive involuntary editing process. Much of the original intent and beauty of the film was lost due to the studio interference.’ Maybe this is why is runs only 86 minutes.

It is made by Touchstone Pictures, Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

It was released by Buena Vista Pictures on 10 May 1996.

Writer-director Stacy Cochran’s only features so far are My New Gun (1992), Boys (1996) and Drop Back Ten (2000), all three with James LeGros.

But in 2018 she made a new feature Write When You Get Work starring Emily Mortimer, Finn Wittrock, Rachel Keller, Scott Cohen and Jessica Hecht. Shot on Super16mm by Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit, it premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW in March 2018. It was distributed by Abramorama and went on online in February 2019.

Lukas Haas, who plays John Baker Jr.

The cast are Winona Ryder as Patty Vare, Lukas Haas as John Baker Jr, Wiley Wiggins as John Phillips John C Reilly as Officer Kellogg Curry, James LeGros as Fenton Ray, Skeet Ulrich as Bud Valentine, Matt Malloy as Bartender, Spencer Vrooman as John Murphy, Charlie Hofheimer as John Cooke, Bill Sage as Officer Bill Martone, Marty McDonough as Teacher, Vivienne Shub as Frances, Russell Young as John Van Slieder, Christopher Pettiet as Jon Heinz, Catherine Keener as Jilly, Maddie Corman as Liz Curry, Andy Davis as Jonathan Marco, Jessica Harper as Mrs John Baker and Chris Cooper as John Baker Sr.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1486

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/