The Last Days of Paradise

I look at this movie, which tries to collect all of this rebel youth spirit and embody it within a six or seven characters, as most movies about the 60s often seem to do. The result is often clichéd and I'm wondering whether, in the end, these movies are encouraging a sort of myth. Yes, there was the civil strife that lasted at least twenty years, starting with the culmination of the civil rights movement in the mid fifties and continuing to the end of the Vietnam War. That's a long time for a lot of anger, confusion, and energy to come out. And, of course, it did. But how much of it was done in this sort of way, this almost ritual arrangement of characters and themes? This movie made it look like, first, that all of the youth (at least in this town) were in favor of simply one side of questioning their parents or teachers (or other's) judgments and rebelling non-stop against that. Is that the way things went on after being saturated in this struggle for change on so many fronts (civil rights, the war, the feminist movement, etc)? Movies like this tend to be less realistic in their efforts to mark a particular decade, or a particular era, with this desired representation. And "There Goes My Baby" does with particularly little, if any, relent.

This is the story of six friends on the eve of their high school graduation in 1965. Post high-school plans for one involves going into the Army, after having enlisted. For two others, it means hitting the road and "discovering this Country" and sort of getting lost in that hippie culture (at least as embraced by the character, Sunshine). For two of them, it's off to college. And for yet another, it means trying to get famous (an odd one out in this particular mix of characters). But, things suddenly change when, in such a short span of time, they each seem to have their little flirtations with the bigger restlessness of the decade (riots, protests, and so forth) that cause them to rethink things (although, some already realize what's what). It just seems to easily, and done with an abundance of corniness that should have been held at bay if this movie was to be as effective as the filmmakers anticipated. There are far too many ultra-patriotic speeches that seem more laughable than dramatic. And as such, it makes the entire film even more ridiculous.

As others may be attracted to the film for the same reason I was, you do get to see a number of well-known actors in their early days. Look for then-unknown Mark Ruffalo talking to "Stick" (Ricky Schroeder) in one scene where he talks about having found someone to buy Stick's Woody (yeah, that sounds funny).

So,much like Steve-O who just posted his review today,I just last night (3/31)@ 11pm watched this film. Unlike Steve,I like it quite a bit more.

Although I will agree that,yes,we've gone down this memory lane before at the movies and truthfully I'd never even heard of it. It was pretty entertaining but this particular plot was done on a stronger level in the TV movie "The 60's" a few years back and as mentioned "American Graffitti". Still,I think it could be a good introductory film for young people to watch as a way to teach them about this era.

A great plot idea to set it around the closing of the favorite high-school hang out,complete with one of those fun but at times annoying DJ's (The Beard),who used to talk in rhyme! Places like "Pops" stand as a symbol of the innocence of the previous era that was soon to be lost.

Now,Rick Schroder is a good actor,not great like say Johnny Depp or (I can finally say without laughing)Leonardo DeCaprio. He's almost first billed but doesn't do as much as I though he would. His emotional breakdown at "Pops" was done quite well along with the scene with his character's father.

Pirate is he school's delinquent who is always at odds with Principal Maran (they call him moron of course). The actor who plays the principal is okay but should have played it a bit stronger. Pirate,for being a delinquent,sure is a quiet one...at least until later.

The early days of Vietnam protest and the Watts riots are recreated very well also but are not as graphic,as done in other films. I found it a bit odd to put "Turn-Turn-Turn" by The Byrds over the riot scenes. Could they not find an appropriate song by an African-American act?? I could say the song might be lyrically relevant but musically,it's too light for such scenes.

In the middle of this a young man named Morrisey burns his draft card and is,roughed up by the police and then later hangs himself. The scene that comes later of Pirate and crew (no joke intended)burning the statue in front of their school,is truly the strongest scene in the whole film. I would say the Watts riots as first,but again,The Byrds song kind of waters that scene down.

The young ladies in this movie are good at portraying the females of the time,who are the last generation to grow up with "finish school,find a man,get married & have kids". The actresses do an admirable job and the emotions from them really felt genuine to me.

The music is great of course because,hey,these are classics. Although some have been used countless times before in movies.

Overall it's not a bad little film but I do once again agree,it could have been so much more for a movie depicting the beginnings,of the most turbulent of times,in our country's history. By the way,this movie was filmed & then shelved in 1990.

8 stars because...again..a stronger sense of the mood of times,as they were,would have made it a 10 star. (END)

"There Goes My Baby" (title of a 1965 song) is one of the many movies that deals with the end of an era in this case: the American innocence established between the end of WWII and the murder of President Kennedy. The movie shows us the last day and evening of the class of '65 where the boys and girls are together before they take off to the real world i.c. college, tour of duty in Vietnam, discovering the real America by car, becoming a music-star or a member of the flower-power movement in San Francisco... Each of these students have their hopes and dreams. Each character represents a different aspect of the American society. At the end of the movie not many dreams have come true. The difficulty of this kind of movie is that there are several students that are being followed so each story is very thin spread during the course of the movie. There is no real depth of caracter or background. The movie never explains why these students act the way they act or what their motive is to do something. Nevertheless the performance and drive of each actor is superb especially Dermot Mulroney, Rick Schroder and pre-E.R. Noah Wyle. They are all very convincing in their role and they glue very well together. A great asset of this film is the use of the music from 1965. Dialogue is not needed because the songs of that era say it with more passion and determination than any scripted dialogue could ever do. This movie is a-must-see for everyone who wants to know how it was in 1965 when America lost her innocence. After seeing this movie it seems that the golden sixties were never that golden and the youth had as much trouble as they have today! Highly recommended.

I try not to comment on films that have so little merit, but this one caught my attention. There were many enthusiastic comments, but the overall rating was low, though not low enough.

This is a facile, one-dimensional music video about the 1960's. It would be hard to gather from this lighter than air treatment that those issues made the 60's the most important decade of the 20th century. Oh, there's Watts, Berkeley and Viet Nam stirred together in a sickly sweet soufflé', but it was a waste to film this movie in color, since everything comes off so black and white. The teachers, representing the Establishment, are all stupid and wicked. The students are all on their way to Harvard or Princeton, to underscore how much smarter they are than everyone else. And everyone proceeds in a straight line toward their destiny, without any of the internal conflict that makes for good fiction.

Dermot Mulroney is pitifully wasted as Pirate, the Free Spirit. Noah Wyle shows the promise of one day rising to mediocrity, with a lot of hard work. And poor little Rickey, or Rick, or Rikki or whatever it is now Shroder. Maybe one day he'll be Richard, fulfilling his potential of becoming as bad an actor in adulthood as he was in childhood. The only thing that made this movie bearable was the great soundtrack provided by rock DJ The Beard, serving as a sort of Greek Chorus to keep this limp litany pumped up as much as possible.

If you want a good movie about this era, dust off American Graffiti. If you want a lighter look, you'd probably like Hairspray or Shag. Unless you were in this stinker and wanted to show off to your friends, and even then I'd think twice, don't waste your time on this one.

I can understand people disliking this movie who were not of age to remember the year 1965. It looks and seems really corny.... And yeah, the movie is a drop of a caricature and corny. But, I was 10 years old in 1965, and if you're using today's society as the measuring rod, those times were certainly corny. But the movie isn't that far off from the way it was. Things were so, so different, and this movie does capture the look, dialog, and general mood of society at that time. It was a definite turning point in American society. The fight at the beginning between the teacher and student was definitely something that would have occurred in 1965. People calling this movie silly are way off.... Somebody said much of the cast was embarrassed to have made this movie. Well, most of the cast had no way of knowing what 1965 was like, they are wrong for panning their own movie. The fact is, this movie is entertaining and not all that inaccurate as far as portraying the year 1965. Certainly anybody my age and older would thoroughly enjoy this movie.