River's Edge

River's Edge
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tim Hunter
Produced by	Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford
Written by	Neal Jimenez
Starring	Crispin Glover Keanu Reeves Ione Skye Roxana Zal Daniel Roebuck Joshua Miller Dennis Hopper
Music by	Jürgen Knieper
Cinematography	Frederick Elmes
Editing by	Howard E. Smith Sonya Sones
Studio	Hemdale Film Corporation
Distributed by	Island Pictures
Release dates	September 10, 1986 (1986-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.7 million
Box office	$4.6 million

River's Edge is a 1986 American drama film directed by Tim Hunter, written by Neal Jimenez, and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, and Dennis Hopper.

The movie was awarded Best Picture at the 1986 Independent Spirit Awards.

Plot

A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, John, has murdered one of their friends, Jamie. He brags to them all at school about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary. Layne, the self-proclaimed leader of the group, is intent on keeping the murder a secret and protecting John, while the rest of the group (Matt, Clarissa, Maggie, and Tony) contemplate going to the police.

Cast

• Crispin Glover as Layne
• Keanu Reeves as Matt
• Ione Skye (credited Ione Skye Leitch) as Clarissa
• Daniel Roebuck as Samson 'John' Tollet
• Dennis Hopper as Feck
• Roxana Zal as Maggie
• Joshua John Miller as Tim
• Josh Richman as Tony
• Phillip Brock as Mike
• Tom Bower as Det. Bennett
• Constance Forslund as Madeleine
• Leo Rossi as Jim
• Jim Metzler as Mr. Burkewaite
• Taylor Negron as Checker
• Danyi Deats as Jamie
• Tammy Smith as Kim
• Christopher Peters as Tom

Basis

While the screenplay is fiction, it draws from the November 3, 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad, who was raped and strangled by Anthony Jacques Broussard in Milpitas, California.^[1]

Broussard bragged about the crime, showing the body to at least thirteen different people; despite this, the crime went unreported for two days.^[2]

Neal Jimenez read the story in the newspaper while visiting friends, wrote a script and turned it in to his instructor while he was an English major at Santa Clara University. Jimenez said "that the incident is merely the inspiration for the screenplay".^[3]

Soundtrack

The film featured early Thrash Metal/Death Metal tracks from bands such as Slayer and Fates Warning, an unprecedented noncommercial approach that created a very dark vibe and aided the film becoming unconventionally monumental for its era. ^[4]

• "Kyrie Eleison" Written by John Arch & Jim Matheos Performed by Fates Warning

• "Captor of Sin" Written by Jeff Hanneman & Kerry King Performed by Slayer

• "Tormentor" Written by Jeff Hanneman Performed by Slayer

• "Evil Has No Boundaries" Written by Jeff Hanneman & Kerry King Performed by Slayer

• "Die by the Sword" Written by Jeff Hanneman Performed by Slayer

• "Lethal Tendencies" Written by Stacy Anderson & David Stuart Performed by Hallows Eve^[5]

• "Let Me Know" Written by Greg Sage Performed by The Wipers

• "Fire in the Rain" Written by Mike Palm Performed by Agent Orange

• "Happy Day" Written by Winston Rodney Performed by Burning Spear

• "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" Written and Performed by Hank Ballard

• "I'm Gonna Miss You" Written and Performed by Hank Ballard

See also

• List of American films of 1986

References

External links

• River's Edge at the Internet Movie Database
• River's Edge at allmovie
• River's Edge at Rotten Tomatoes
• Henry A. Giroux on River's Edge and postmodern education
• Marcy Renee Conrad Web Site