Four Friends

This is one of the best presentations of the 60's put on film. Arthur Penn, director of Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man, saw that Steve Tesich's outstanding script rang with truth, and from these two talents comes solid cinema. Jodi Thelin's Georgia Miles gives male viewers a hit of pained nostalgia for the archetypal beauty who is almost within our grasps, but, always just out of reach. Just see it, or you cinematic education will be incomplete.

I haven't seen this film for over 20 years, but it had such an impact on me that I remember sitting through the credits and for several minutes after in complete awe. This is one of the most underrated films of the entire decade in which it was originally released. I just ordered a copy of it on DVD and paid for overnight shipping and can't wait for it to arrive. It is uplifting at times, and also very dark and somewhat disturbing. It's a story of a close-knit band of regular kids growing up in the inner city and makes one feel as though they are actually sitting on the sidelines, rather than watching on a movie screen or television. Hard to explain, but it is something that must be experienced. The story starts at childhood and tracks the lives of the four main characters through high school and as they embark on their separate journeys in life. The entire cast did an incredible job and it's by far the best work of Jodi Thelen's career. I'm hoping that the DVD lives up to my memory and plan on watching it this Friday with a good friend.

This is a great movie. It is one of my favorites. It covers a great time in history to have grown up. It addresses several of the problems of that era, including the Vietnam war, racism, the moon landing, patriotism among others. It also includes smatterings of comedy, drama, horror, incest, and romance. That is a lot to cover in one film. It does not have the time to adequately develop the story or the characters. Therefore, you have to watch it attentively. If you leave it without pausing it , you can miss something that is never explained again. There is so much for the brain to absorb, it seems to drag. I compare it to Deer Hunter which does the same thing. The acting is great, but other than Craig Wasson, the actors disappeared after this movie, and he only seems to have gotten small roles.

I watched it again tonight (once or twice a year); and it got me curious re: what new comments were here, if any. I'm both pleased and surprised to see the relative glut of new reviews -- which do NOT add up to a 6.1 rating, btw! -- for this most excellent film. I guess it was released on video....... FINALLY!!!?

In a comment dated 18 June 2001, Nozz wrote: Melville said that "Moby Dick" was only "a sketch of a sketch"... the book illuminated so many avenues that it never took time to explore. So too with "Four Friends." ... So it's a little unfair, but there's a sense of missed opportunity because everything in the movie is so good that it seems to deserve more attention.

I think that's part of the point/its poignancy and bittersweet sense of loss at the end, which is what makes it so evocative; as so is life -- small moments of apparently frivolous experience/choices/opportunities -- which will rarely, if ever, come again; and certainly not while we are the same. We always think of/were taught the 20/20 hindsight bit; but there's NO guarantee path "x" would have been more ideal/fruitfil/ better than path "y"! One can never KNOW w/o taking the path/making (whatever) choice -- Talking about good things here, not stupid things like OD'ing on some lame chemical or suicide! Can't speak for today's youth -- as it is indeed a different, more cynical world! -- but given the idealism, hope, and energy inherent in the 60s youth, who wanted to LIVE (after so much repression)...... and experience everything, a legacy of feeling loss was inevitable. There's just not enough time being young. I never grew tired of being young, as long as my body was! That's not to say many/most did not have many good times, even wonderful lives and families. But the ideals we hoped for the world certainly didn't materialize; and few realized it in their personal lives, I suspect, at least on the braod scale we hoped. And for that, we greive; for few have the choice. "Four Friends," as does few films, conveys that loss so splendidly and the rewards of the remaining, though not ideal, friendships -- whose importance in our lives is timeless. And yeah, it always elicits tears and longing for what could have been! Someday it will be recognized, I hope, for the great film it is!

This movie is, yes, melodramatic, overdone, super-intense, and at times ridiculous. So what? It is a deep and touching exploration of human relationships that struggles to understand, from the very beginning of adulthood -- from the hopefulness of high school graduation to the emancipation of college graduation -- what it is that makes us individuals. And it takes us to a very disturbing conclusion that all of us -- idealists and cynics -- have to resolve: Life's hard. Real hard. Jodi Thelen is particularly effective as the Isadora Duncan-like free spirit who wants so badly to be taken seriously but can't seem to find an audience that really matters. And Craig Wasson plays a tender soul who clings to dear sanity as the craziness of the '60s wreaks havoc with his mind. See this movie; it reveals a great truth -- about relationships, about this country, about..... you.