Little Darlings

I grew up with this movie, surprising considering that I was born in 1979 and literally cannot remember a time when I did not know and enjoy this movie. I suppose my parents figured that being a small toddler and child I wouldn't get the sexual aspects of the movie. They were right. Although I nearly died of embarrassment years later when I asked my father quite innocently what were those "balloon things" that the girls stole from the restroom.

This movie is campy (no pun intended) this movie is 80's-style cheesy, but none of these factors change the fact that this is a GOOD movie. It details the exploits of a group of teenage girls at summer camp more accurately than any other summer camp movie I've seen. The acting isn't sterling at all times, but it doesn't change the fact that you feel as if you really are watching a bunch of girls goofing off and having fun at summer camp. The food fight scene is wonderfully real with the actors all genuinely laughing and having a great time, the condom-thieving scene is legendary and never loses its hilarity. All the fun and silliness is balanced with the seriousness of some of the situations they get themselves into, and there is a wonderful sense of shared growth between the characters. As stated by many other reviewers, Kristy McNichol shines in her role as Angel, and pulls off a startlingly emotional performance opposite a young Matt Dillon.

I recommend this movie to every preteen girl, even though it is a tad outdated, I think the heart of the movie will still ring true to all girls out there.

Just recently watched it again,still holds up to this day.

It's interesting seeing many well known actors,that were cast years back.

The overall movie premise,casting,acting & cinematography was decently done.

Worth checking out!

I still remember the first time I saw this movie. It was a sneak preview with Steven Spielberg's occasionally funny comedy "1941." I still remember filling out my preview card rating Tatum O'Neal and Matt Dillon as "Very Good" but rating Kristy McNichol as "Excellent." At the time, I thought I would see the movie once and forget about it. I have seen the movie many, many times and I have never forgotten it. The late Gene Siskel said in his TV review of the movie that it was really two movies, a broad "Animal House" type comedy with food fights and condom jokes (which it is) and a very good coming of age story (which it is). When Matt Dillon was recently on the Bravo series "Inside the Actor's Studio," Dillon heard so many students say they liked this film, he actually said they ought to do a sequel. I hope they don't. I think he was really surprised to hear people praise this movie twenty years later. Some films stay with you and this is one of them. Interesting to see Cynthia Nixon on the HBO series "Sex And The City" after doing this project.

This film impressed me so much back then that I not only made all my friends and family see it, but I drove all the way to Georgia to see where it was filmed.

It's not just about sex - it's about the two ways you can look at sex when approaching puberty. The wrong way - the Ferris Whitney way - is to romanticize it like Romeo and Juliette. The other wrong way -- Angel's way and the way I saw it at the time -- is to see it as something scary, invasive, animalistic, and biological which is approaching to seize you, engulf you, and reprogram you into a mindless reproduction-machine.

Of the eight characters, only Angel discovers the truth: "God, it was so... PERSONAL, like you could see right through me". Sex turns out not to be storybook romance OR a tyrannical usurping of your body by the Forces of Evolution, but something very, very, very, very real, immediate... and YOU.

In the boathouse, Angel discovers that sex is not something scary she is forced to be, but something wonderful she was always meant to be.

In the words of the novel, "All the fear and uncertainty melted away as they kissed. Soon she didn't know who was touching whom, only that it was wonderful, and right, and fine. And the moon stared impenetrably through the window".

Notice how "before", she's withdrawn, sarcastic, and hostile; and "after", she's relaxed and kind of at one with the world, like she's a part of it, instead of a stranger in it.

In the very last scene, she hugs her mom -- something she NEVER would have done before -- saying "What's this crap about sex being nothing? You've been hanging around creeps!" This resonated very, very strongly with me at that age; I wanted that to happen to ME. And I don't mean getting laid.

The movie was supposedly filmed in Madison, Georgia,at Hard Labor Creek state park. I was wondering if any evidence that a movie had been made would even still exist after two years. The first thing I came upon was a big sign over the road: "Camp Little Wolf". My God! All the sets and props were intact... and abandoned.

Alone, I explored. I walked on the dock and sat on the swing. When night came, I slept in Cabin A, in the bed that Angel did. The next day, I jumped into the lake, hoping that this baptism would somehow cause the same ...transformation which happened to her: the transformation from child to adult.

And finally, before leaving, I sat for hours in the boathouse, on the spot where "it" happened, just thinking.

Did I like the film, "Little Darlings"? Yeah.

Yeah, I did.

I was a pubescent fan of the two "kid" actresses when this film exploded with a print ad featuring Tatum (The Bad News Bears) and Kristy (TV's Family) with breasts and looking hot! hot! hot! Coming of age never looked so good. The scene where Matt Dillon snaps Kristy's bubble gum bubble from her lips and puts it in his mouth is forever molded into my memory.