Little Darlings

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Little Darlings
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"Little Darlings succeeds in treating the awesome and scary subject of sexual initiation with some of the dignity it deserves." -- Roger Ebert[1]
"Little Darlings succeeds in treating the awesome and scary subject of sexual initiation with some of the dignity it deserves." -- Roger Ebert[1]
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Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell
Produced by Stephen J. Friedman
Written by Kimi Peck, Dalene Young
Starring Tatum O'Neal
Kristy McNichol
Music by Charles Fox
Cinematography Bedrich Batka
Editing by Pembroke J. Herring
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) March 21, 1980
Language English
IMDb profile

As of 2006 the film has not been released on DVD.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story is about a group of teenage girls that go to summer camp and bet on which of two of them will lose their virginity first. After that, they choose targets, or guys they want to be the ones they lose the virginity with. Unbeknownst to the adults, all the girls in camp bet money on the contest and divide into two "teams", each rooting and egging on either Ferris or Angel. At the same time, the girls engage in typical teenager acts of fun, such as food fights and other activities.

The girls involved in the contest are opposites and rivals: cynical, suspicious and streetwise poor girl Angel Bright (McNichol) and romantic rich girl Ferris Whitney (O'Neal). Both girls discover that "it" isn't what they thought it was.

Ferris thinks of love as romance and wine and flowers. She imagines herself swept off her feet by Gary, the camp counselor. When she lies about "making love" with him, the biological side manifests itself in others' reactions to what she said she did. She discovers that, at least in the context of a camp counselor having sex with a fifteen year-old, sex can be dirty and hurtful and ugly. Her attitude is now more grounded in reality; she has become more like street-wise Angel.

Angel approaches the same issue from the other side. She views winning the contest as a mechanical, purely biological function, "no big deal" as her mother has told her. But when she tries to do "it" with Randy in the boathouse, she becomes confused by feelings she didn't know she had. She behaves very defensively, as if Randy is trying to force her to have sex. Randy, who could take it or leave it, is disgusted with her recalcitrance and leaves. She then must admit to herself that sex isn't a mechanical function she can cynically turn on and off, but is something she deeply WANTS to do.

In the final frame of the film, Ferris (left) and Angel (right) are friends
In the final frame of the film, Ferris (left) and Angel (right) are friends

She reconnects with Randy later with a much improved attitude, one closer to Ferris'. This time she pays attention not to clothing removal procedures and condoms, but to her feelings for Randy. Then, as the novel describes it, "All her fear and resistance melted as they kissed, and soon she didn't know who was touching whom, only that it was wonderful and right and fine. The moon stared impeneterably through the window."

In the end, Ferris discovered that love involves sex (which isn't always romantic), and Angel discovered that sex involves love, which deeply touched her and transformed her soul.

Both grew up that summer.

Little Darlings was filmed in Hard Labor Creek State Park, 50 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia. McNichol and O'Neal are in their forties; Ferris and Angel would be grandparents now. But the signs and props built for the film remain for any visitor to see, mute reminders of the profound transformation which happened that summer at Camp Little Wolf.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Nominee: Second Best Young Actress in a Major Motion Picture - Kristy McNichol

[edit] Main cast

[edit] External links

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