One of my all time favorites.

Don't Believe the Hype

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

After playing class clown Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Sean Penn was looking to change his image for something tougher. He found the perfect vehicle in 1983's "Bad Boys." Where Spicoli was a slack-muscled mop haired surfer dude in boardshorts, his character of Mick O'Brien in "Bad Boys" is a dangerous street tough. Changing his body image to play O'Brien, Penn added pounds of muscle to his frame and traded Spicoli's stoned grin for a permanent scowl. This flick really begins Penn's long line of playing angry young men who use physical strength to get what they want (think "At Close Range" and "Colors") and it's one of his best.In a botched drug robbery, Penn accidentally kills a young latino boy who happens to be the brother of his high school rival Paco Moreno, played by a smoldering Esai Morales. Both Morales and Penn are in their 20s, but nail the younger look, making them believable as teens. Morales, whose ripped physique is on display as much as Penn's, is a menacing force to contend with. His promise to make Penn suffer for slaying his little brother puts the plot in motion.Penn is sent to a juvenile prison where the adults look the other way while the young inmates go wild. Penn's cellmate, oddball brainiac Horowitz, fills him in on the power structure. The place is run by Viking and Tweety, two older boys who terrorize the weaker ones. We watch Tweety rape a young black boy who, when he resists, is brutally slain by the two. Ultimately, they target Penn but, in a brutal fight, he savagely injures them both. In the shower afterwards, we see Penn in just a towel, his powerful young body on display, being told by Horowitz that he is now the top dog. Together they use his muscles to take over the day to day life in the prison.Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Morales takes his revenge by raping Penn's girlfriend played by Ally Sheedy. Though wearing a ski mask during the attack, he purposely removes it as he climaxes so that she knows it's payback for her boyfriend's actions. This lands Morales in the same prison as Penn and now the plot picks up speed with the inevitable showdown between these two. Inmates -- and even some of the adult guards -- start betting on which one of these two "bad boys" will take the life of the other. Intimidation becomes the watchword, as we watch them preparing for the fight. In one telling scene, Morales is shirtless, doing concentration curls with a dumbbell, while Penn and the others watch. His ripped latino physique sends O'Brien an unmistakable message of physical power.The fight finally takes place with the smirking guards encouraging the young gladiators to square off. The prison becomes an arena where the two boys are to battle to the death. It's muscle to muscle, with fists and vicious kicks and finally a prison shank. Each boy struggling to get in a killing blow. Rumors swirled around the production that Penn was jealous of Morales's obvious physical superiority and that he wanted a darker ending where he uses the shank to off the young latino. However,when Penn has Morales pinned with the blade poised over his heart, he spares his life. Led off by the guards, we assume that he is now on the road to redemption --- maybe. As an actor, we know that Penn is definitely on the road to more roles like this, including 2003's "Mystic River," where he is another "bad boy" --- just grown up.

I must say this is not a film, I'm particularly fond of, but nonetheless, it is a good movie, and an important one, especially in it's time, when it would of been visually affecting. With not the most inviting of covers, which has a drained Penn, nose beaten, looking towards us, with malice, but you should see Morales, underneath him. The scene pits these two enemies in a no holds fight to the death, Morales, fuelled with an unrelenting vengeance, over the death of his brother, to which Penn was partly accountable, which makes for a frightening premise and showdown, as the two have ended up in the same penitentiary. Morales in retribution which didn't land him in here, raped Penn's girlfriend, a young Ally Sheedy. There are a few scenes of Bad Boys, that are memorable, some of them violent. But Bad Boys is a very violent movie, the cover isn't falsifying the bloody content of the film. One bloody scene, which had me howling with revenge, was Penn cracking top dog/daddy, Clancy Brown, in the face with a pillow cover full of RC cola, therefore taking Brown's place, him and his black sidekick, not too happy, where earlier they murdered a smaller black kid, and got away with it. Of course, no one's gonna testify against big oaf Brown, that was until Mick O Brien stepped into the picture as a proper daddy, but of course is mot gonna lag about something that's ancient history, as that would make him a dog. Clancy Brown gives one of his best ever bad guy performances here, you'll forget just how good, this much versatile actor was. Eric Gurry, a not much known actor who you would of seen in the Pacino vehicle, Author Author, or a little known film, could The Zoo Gang to name not many) I guess, plays the joker of the group who hates solitude so much, it's scary, after one incident where he rigs a radio, where Brown plays a very bad price for messing around with it, defects. A shockingly violent scene. Gurry bunks with Penn, where the two become good friends. I don't know, I found Bad Boys disjointed in bits. It has repellent violence, yet still it has a terrifying edge about it, that would of come handy as a student video/teaching tool for wannabe tough guys, which like Scum, this is another pull no punches frightening prison tale and teenage rebellion. Reni Santori is a relief, and adds a softer touch as a prison counceller. Released in 1983.

The reason being my father was in this movie right when he was out of high school, still living in Chicago. Right around 9 minutes in during the scene where all the "students" are standing outside the "high school", he was standing there with his group of friends at the time almost dead center of the camera in the dark blue and white checkered shirt. It's fascinating to me because I never knew my dad during this time since this movie was filmed 3 years before I was born. He had hair and was incredibly thin, which of course 30 years later much has changed. I believe he told me the school or building (can't even remember if that building WAS a school because I don't think the interior that was filmed was the same building) was in a very dangerous neighborhood and they were told not to be there after dark. So they could only be around during the day while filming and he got lucky and became an extra. This was the entire reason I knew of this film nearly 20 years after it's creation and watched it and loved it. It's an awesome film even though you can clearly tell it was from the 80's (Similar to watching something like The Warriors) it sends a message that is timeless and still relevant to this day. It's incredibly powerful and still one of my favorite movies and since Sean Penn is an incredible actor, it's great to see him at such a young age before his career had really taken off. Definitely give this movie a watch, it starts out kind of slow in my opinion but once it gets to the meat of the film where the rest of it takes place, it's a wild ride.

Bad Boys, starring Sean Penn as Mick O'Brien and Esai Morales as Paco Moreno, is one of the most entertaining and disturbing movies ever. But to focus on the two leads is unfair to the host of other actors who put in magnificent performances, particularly actor Eric Gurry as Barry Horowitz.Teen Mick O'Brien is a vicious gangster punk. When one of his armed robbery schemes goes awry, a robbery of a drug deal involving Paco Moreno, he unintentionally runs down and kills Moreno's little brother, and ends up in juvenile prison. His cell mate is Horowitz. After an awkward start they become close friends and confidantes. Horowitz, who has been there a while, teaches O'Brien the ropes. Meanwhile prison guard and counselor Ramon Herrera (actor Reni Santoni) wants to set Mick on the right path, but this is not an easy task.The prison officials have given authority over other prisoners to two tough inmates, cell mates Viking (actor Clancy Brown) and Tweety (actor Robert Lee Rush), who get to hand out prison work assignments, receive the profits from cigarette sales, etc. They immediately come into conflict with O'Brien and Horowitz. O'Brien manages to usurp their position of authority, leading to further conflicts. O'Brien's toughness and street smarts make him the winner time and again.The character of Horowitz, a young Jewish boy who came to juvey after a botched revenge plot, is worth a whole review by itself. What a shame that this magnificent actor, Eric Gurry, has appeared in relatively few films. Though he is small and weak and would appear to be of little help in a fight, his wit, dogged determination and superior intelligence help him to survive in this environment where he is very out of place. Despite being nothing like the other prisoners, as the film progresses we learn that he has strong criminal tendencies and prison is probably where he belongs.Moreno, seeking revenge on O'Brien, beats and rapes O'Brien's girlfriend (actress Ally Sheedy) so he can go to prison and get even. Tweety is paroled, and Moreno moves in as Viking's roommate. These kindred spirits promptly begin plotting against O'Brien.Circumstances take both Viking and Horowitz out of the picture, leaving Moreno and O'Brien to face a final showdown alone.