Boys (1996 film)
Boys | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Stacy Cochran |
Produced by |
Paul Feldsher Peter Frankfurt Erica Huggins |
Written by |
Stacy Cochran James Salter (short story) |
Starring |
Winona Ryder Lukas Haas John C. Reilly James LeGros Skeet Ulrich |
Music by | Stewart Copeland |
Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
Editing by | Camilla Toniolo |
Studio |
Touchstone Pictures Interscope Communications PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release dates | May 10, 1996 |
Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language |
English Spanish |
Box office | $516,350 |
Boys is a 1996 American film starring Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas. The film was originally titled The Girl You Want. The film earned $516,350 in the United States box office. It is based on a short story called "Twenty Minutes" by James Salter.
The film is set in an East Coast boys' boarding school in the United States, and was shot in Baltimore, Maryland and on the campus of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, which represents the school.
Plot
John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a boy bored with his life at an upper middle class boarding school, and the prospect of his future running the family grocery store chain. He no longer sees the point in school, stating what's the difference if he gets a zero attendance for being three minutes late or skipping the whole class so he might as well skip the class. Now close to graduating from boarding school, his life is turned upside down when he rescues Patty Vare (Winona Ryder), a young woman he finds lying unconscious in a field. Patty regains consciousness that evening in John's dormitory. She stays awake long enough to tell him she will not go to a doctor, and then passes out and does not awaken until the next morning. She seems to recover completely and to be grateful for John's assistance; the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery. This is not without its problems, as other boys in the dorm quickly find out she is being hidden in his room, leading up to a dramatic confrontation with Baker's close friends where his 'best friend' becomes enraged and punches a wall, breaking his hand, while the two continue to argue over the reason as to why Baker has hidden her in his room.
Throughout the film, there are continuous flashbacks of Vare's past, showing her with a famous baseball player with whom she steals a car, leading up to a drunken car crash and his death (for which authorities are searching for Vare for questioning). By the end, Vare has admitted all this to Baker and informed the authorities of the location of the body and the car (as they crashed into a river). At the police station both Baker and Vare begin to say goodbye when they unexpectedly jump into an elevator to escape from Baker's controlling father (Chris Cooper), and drive off with a car he had earlier stolen from the school.
Cast
- Winona Ryder as Patty Vare
- Lukas Haas as John Baker, Jr.
- 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
- Wiley Wiggins as John Phillips
- 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
- Chris Cooper as John Baker, Sr.
Reception
"Boys is a low-rent, dumbed-down version of Before Sunrise, with a rent-a-plot substituting for clever dialogue." —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times[1] Christopher Pettiet as John Phillips
Official soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was released on April 9, 1996.
- "She's Not There" - Cruel Sea
- "Alright" - Cast
- "Gotta Know Right Now" - Smoking Popes
- "Honeysimple" - Scarce
- "Wildwood" (Sheared Wood Mix) - Paul Weller, remixed by Portishead
- "Colored Water" - Orbit
- "Sad & Beautiful World" - Sparklehorse
- "Fading Fast" - Kelly Willis
- "Tell Her This" - Del Amitri
- "If I Didn't Love You" - Squeeze
- "Inside" - Slider
- "Wait For The Sun" - Supergrass
- "Belly Laugh" - Compulsion
- "Begging You" - The Stone Roses
- "Evade Chums" - Stewart Copeland
Footnotes
- ↑ Ebert, Roger. Boys review, Chicago Sun-Times, 10 May 1996.
External links
- Boys at the Internet Movie Database
- Boys at Box Office Mojo