Endless Love ** (1981, Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray) – Classic Movie Review 735

Endless Love was advertised as ‘the greatest love story of all time’. But posh Italian director Franco Zeffirelli turns Scott Spencer’s novel about 17-year-old American high school student David Axelrod (Martin Hewitt)’s obsessive love for 15-year-old Jade Butterfield (Brooke Shields) – and hers for him – into a 1981 trashy movie potboiler. It was also advertised as ‘the love every parent fears’!

When her dad Hugh (Don Murray) bans them seeing each other for a cool-off period, Hewitt’s David concocts a bizarre plan to torch the Butterfield family home alight and become popular by putting out the blaze. David burns down the house, but is caught and is sent away in custody. But, when he gets out, he goes to look for Jade.

Despite Zeffirelli’s guiding hand, there is very little quality work here. It is just not that kind of movie. But it is watchable as steamy pulp fiction teen romance and it is all quite fun in a so bad it’s good kind of way.

Hewitt and Shields’s acting isn’t really strong enough to carry it, though they are suitably pretty looking, while talented veterans Murray, Shirley Knight (as Jade’s mom Ann), Richard Kiley and Beatrice Straight (as David’s parents) are struggling with Judith Rascoe’s weak dialogue, thin characterisations and clumsy plotting, leaving a hole where the performances should be.

It is Tom Cruise’s film debut aged 19, but he is hardly in it, as Billy. Bet he wished he’d had the star role, and he could have done it too. Zeffirelli picked the wrong actor. And it’s James Spader’s second movie, aged 21, as Jade’s brother Keith.

Making his debut too, at the age of 23, Hewitt beat 5,000 actors to win the lead role of David Axelrod. Now he lives in Los Osos, California, and owns and runs two businesses, selling home inspection software and inspecting homes for prospective buyers. His last TV work was in 2003 but he is still active in local theatre.

Shields was 16 at the time of filming.

Lionel Ritchie’s title song was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Endless Love was remade in 2014 again as Endless Love, with Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde and Bruce Greenwood. Times change. The underage love theme of the original is quietly dumped for Jade being 17 and David’s now a good kid who doesn’t torch the house and get sent away, and there’s no nudity.