The 1980's. It was a decade of economic greed and some have noted, a moral vacuum, captured in popular books like "Less Than Zero" and "Bright Lights, Big City." and reinforced in films like "Wall Street," "Angel Heart," and "Blue Velvet," all of which were the antithesis to the John Hughes comedies and Brat Pack phenonomen which happened at the same time. Within this pop-cultural framework stepped Neal Jimenez, a film student in San Jose who submitted a screenplay for his screenwriting class about a 1981 rape and murder of a 14 year old by her 16 year old unrepentent boyfriend.
The incident occurred in a well-off Milpitas, California neighborhood and made national headlines when it was learned that the boyfriend bragged about the killing to high school friends and over a period of days took them to the corpse (by the river's edge) and no one reported it to the police. Jimenez received a C+ from the teacher, who found the screenplay, told from the students' point of view of "corrosive nihilism" (Sheila Johnston, Keanu biographer), to be too dark to have any commercial value. Hemdale, a British producer and distributor (Platoon), disagreed, bought the screenplay, and gave it a budget of $1.7 million with Tim Hunter as the director. Hunter was known for two other teen angst films: "Tex" and "Over the Edge."
The movie was filmed over 32 days in early 1986 in three locations in California: L.A., Tajunga, and Sacramento, all of which became a mid-western town in the movie to match the dreariness of the subject matter.
Hemdale postponed the release of RE when it experienced financial troubles, despite positive reviews at a Seattle preview in October, 1986. It then was shown at European film festivals, noticed, and bought by an independent distributor called "Island." RE was finally released in the U.S. in May, 1987, backed by an ad campaign calling it the "most controversial film you will see this year." It made $4.6 million, but when it was released on video, it became a cult hit, with several lines frequently quoted by teen fans. Not bad for a movie which made no effort to entertain its audiences with, what Time Magazine called, its "bleak and deeply disturbing vision of adolescent life."
Keanu was 21 years old when he auditioned and won the role of Matt, the teen who becomes the moral center of the film after reporting the murder to the police. Keanu calls RE "great cinema." It's an incredibly slow moving film,
punctuated with explosions (Matt with step-dad, Matt at police interrogation), and bizarre characters: Dennis Hopper's Feck as a one-legged ex-biker with an inflatible sex doll, and Crispin Glover's Layne, who was so over-the-top, the writer had to add that he was a speed freak to explain his behavior. Crispin, I'm convinced, is just a visitor to planet Earth. I remember David Letterman talking off the stage while interviewing him. He won brief fame in "Back to the Future" as the dad and recently appeared in "Charlie's Angels The Movie", so he hasn't returned to his home planet. Can you even picture him with Keanu on the set and hear that conversation?
And then we have Keanu as Matt in the bag with Ione as Clarissa, making love, BUT it's interspersed with a reenactment of the murder. You've heard of Generation X, Generation Y, well this film shows "Generation-Why Bother," with none of the adults providing direction out of the moral abyss. So why bother watching RE? People Magazine called it "a youth picture...that matters." It won Best Feature and Best Screenplay at the 1988 Independent Spirit Awards. It was widely reviewed and seen by people in the industry and it made Keanu the first choice on many lists for off-beat teen movies. It certainly made Keanu stand apart from the trendier Brat Pack as their careers declined. Where are Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Emilio Estevez today? Movie fans did not discover Keanu with this movie, but the power elite in Hollywood did, and it transformed his career. Many of Keanu's later directors would cite RE as their reason for wanting Keanu. Of course, we have our own reasons.
RE was the first time Keanu met the mainstream media as he promoted the movie with the director. It was before Keanu learned how to go into lockdown mode with the press. So he made comments like "I'm trying to pursue what I'm curious about, trying to survive, and hopefully not be f_____up the ass by irony and the gods." You know, before the filters?
At the L.A. Independent Film Festival in 1999 they showcased one film from each of the last four decades that reflected the "cultural, socio-economic, and artistic climate" of that era. River's Edge was chosen to represent the 1980's. Not a bad way to start a Hollywood career, you think? The balcony is now open.
RE was a great launchpad for Keanu and I understand why the movie industry still hold this movie and Keanu's performance in high regard.
Who plays angst better than Keanu? Who plays innocence better than him?
He's angry, he's vulnerable, he's sexy, he's protective [of his sister], he's lawless [the weed], yet law abiding [grasses up Tollet], all within one movie.
River's Edge is poingant and makes a bold statement against the society we live in. People's apathy to wrong doing.
Yet there are the few out there that will do the right thing.
Something to think about...
Posted by: Keanuette on June 17, 2002 03:26 PMas an accurate representation of white trash, death metal youth in the eighties, river's edge stands alone; crispin glover performs with such impeccably caustic,sanguine alacrity it demonstrates the blackest of humor.
Posted by: dogheadedboy on January 20, 2003 09:58 PMi've never seen river's edge yet but i'm planning to very soon. i'm from milpitas, and here, the story about the murder is like an urban legend...many people don't believe it's true. a lot of kids go up to Marsh Road...(which is where he dumped the body....except the river here is really just a small pond or stream if you will) just for fun and excitement. it's the only thrill we get here in our small little town =D. i personally thought it was an uban legend also until i did some research and looked over the newspaper archives at our local library. it just surprises me that a movie was made based on it. next time i go up to the hills and pass marsh road...i'll be scared..haha. well that was just some info for the starving mind =D. can't wait to see the movie!
Posted by: jay on May 6, 2003 08:02 PMSame as dogheadedboy, I myself haven't seen the movie, but I would really like to. I still live in Milpitas and this incident happened the year I was born. I heard about this incident from my parents and my sister when I got older, and I thought it was all a joke. Me and my friend did some research about it, to see if it really was true, and it was. I've been to Marsh Road twice, but not at night, cause the thought of it scares me. And yes, the river is really really small! My boyfriend is from Santa Clara and he doesn't believe me still about this incident! ...Wait till I find this movie and show it to him!
Posted by: Michelle Foronda-Gonzalez on July 22, 2003 07:42 PMI believe the town in CA is Tujunga, not Tajunga.
Posted by: Susan on September 14, 2003 01:51 PMis it true there's an albino that chases you out of marsh road? b/c both my friend and cousin (who went at different times and dont know each other) said there was an albino that chased them out
Posted by: milhouse on September 29, 2003 03:47 PMThe real life events of THE RIVER'S EDGE took place near the end of Marsh Road near the Milpitas/San Jose border. The rape and murder was by the reservior. There is nothing more dangerous there now than the old man who lives near the bridge. He has been known to shoot at tresspassers who go up to the reservior in search of the urban legend. He is often mistaken for the albino but any other stories of the albino are strickly fairtales. There are however moutain men and separatists who live up there, not to mention homeless, who can be dangerous. Take it from me, some on who has been up there many times, there is nothing to see or do but piss off people who are trying to go about their normal lives.
Posted by: BASHFUL on October 11, 2003 03:56 PMThe important thing to remember here is that this movie is VERY LOOSLY based on a real life tragedy. I have lived in Milpitas all my life. I was in one of the last truck loads of kids that went up there. Everyone tries to make it sound as if we were uncaring and had no morals. The truth is that we were very scared kids. Most of us between 14 and 16 years old. We had never had to deal with a death before, let alone a murder of one of our friends by another friend. I did not commit this crime and yet I have to live with it everyday for the rest of my life. If I close my eyes, I can still see Marcy laying at the bottom of the ravine. I remember all the smells around me and the cold that went through me as I realized that the talk at school had been true. She had already been dead for 2 days by the time I went up there. The next day I reported it to her school principal. That is one of the facts that has never been released. One of us uncaring without morals kids did report this crime to an authority figure. I have not been back to Marsh Road since this happened. It is now 21 years later. Some say that her spirit continues to be seen up there. Truth is, I live with her spirit every day.
Posted by: Anonymous on November 25, 2003 01:32 PMAnonymous makes a good point, that Hollywood manipulated this movie to make a point about the "moral vaccuum of the greedy 80s." Most of our impressions about the immoral, greedy 80s come from Hollywood movies about the era, not from actual events. Why was Hollywood so determined to demonize an era of relative prosperity and peace? Might it have something to do with the 1980s being "The Reagan Years" and Hollywood being full of committed left wing types?
Posted by: Bethanie on January 1, 2004 10:52 AMI recently saw this movie and thought it was very moving. I can certainly see why so many see this movie as one of his best. I think it is so different than all the other hollywood glam movies. The movie relied on pure emotion and energy. I loved his performance. Anyone agree?
Posted by: Allison on February 1, 2004 01:20 PMThis movie is one of my all time favorites and I'll tell you why. These kids are real. I was one of those kids. No, I'm not from Milpitas, but I was a kid in the 70's and that is exactly what we were like. No I never witnessed a murder, or saw a dead body, but I know that dumbass Layne, who was played by Crispin Glover so brilliantly. He really nailed that role. We were all so stoned, and lived by the "never be a snitch" creed that paralysed so many of us. That scene when they are all out at the river, stoned and idiot Layne comes running up to them, and looking for Samson, like he is on the most important mission of his life; which is trying to help his murderous buddy get to Portland. That was me out there at that river, wasting my youth, hanging out with idiots like that. Then to see Layne lose it, when he finds Samson is classic! Oh.. now he cares all of a sudden! Now its all real, when something that he is passionate about comes crumbling down.... This is a classic movie and will remain in my archives forever. Oh and I must finish with this. I did finally pull my head out of my butt, like those kids probably did too.
Posted by: dennyhil on February 3, 2004 11:56 PMThis entry has gotten some amazing responses.
Posted by: krix on February 4, 2004 01:08 PMi been to marsh rd once. and me and my boyfriend was just chased out by the so called ALBINO guy. it was freeky. haven't seen the movie yet. but i will someday. Make sure when you go up there, you look behind. i seen things. and watch out for the road. you'll know what I mean when you see it.
Posted by: norman jean dorthy on February 8, 2004 12:10 AMbethanie must not have read the post!! Neal Jiminez was a film student in San Jose. The murder occured in 1981 and it was already being filmed in 1986! What does any of this have to do with Hollywood?? Neal took a concept from real life and used it to create a piece of art - in this case a very successful one. I seriously doubt that he was trying to 'define' the 80's 5 years before they were even over!! As far as the raising of RE to revelatory status after its release and critical acclaim - well, everyone has an opinion. I lived through the 80's at the ages of 16 - 26, and I don't think that any of the books and movies mentioned above "define" the eighties. Like the three blind men and the elephant - we all see what we see. No more, no less. Oh, and if you see keanu, have him give me a call... ;o)
Posted by: older now on February 29, 2004 11:21 AMthis is definatley in my keanu top 5.along with the other 34.<3xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Posted by: ~*HaNnY*~ on March 24, 2004 11:09 AM