Over the Edge (film)

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Over the Edge is a movie completed in 1979 and released on HBO two years later because its controversial content led to a decision to forego a theatrical release. It stars Matt Dillon in his feature film debut.

Because of its depiction of teenage rebellion, marijuana and alcohol use by high school students, a painstakingly accurate depiction of suburban life in the late 1970s, and a rock & roll soundtrack featuring such bands as The Ramones and Cheap Trick, Over the Edge has achieved cult film status, and in turn inspired the music video for the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.^{[citation needed]}

Over the Edge was inspired by actual events that took place in Foster City, California in the early 1970s. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film follows a group of teenagers living in a fictional planned community called New Granada, which is isolated beyond other existing suburbs, in the nearly-treeless plains east of Denver, Colorado. Their needs were not considered by those who designed the community, and so there is nothing for them to do but go to school and hang out at the local recreation center, which closes at six o‘clock. The kids turn to substance abuse and petty crime as a way to kill their boredom, but their outcry falls on deaf ears, as the adults are too concerned with pursuing wealth and stomping out the seemingly-senseless rowdy behavior to actually understand the reasons why the adolescents are acting up. After one of the kids is shot and killed by a police officer, the youths violently rebel against their parents and the authorities, an uprising that results in fiery mayhem in and around the junior high school.