WELCOME TO 18

US, 1986, 91 minutes, Colour.
Courtney Thorne -Smith, Mariska Hargitay.
Directed by Terry Carr.

Welcome to 18 is a slight story about three young women turning 18, spending a summer vacation together at work, and their naivety leading to strange experiences. It is one of the many youth films of the '80s. It has a rather permissive tone
in the behaviour of the girls, their moral stances, their desire for sexual experiences. One hopes that their future will be substantial.

1. Youth film, girls with hopes, naivety, turning 18, wanting experiences, sexual experiences, their future?

2. A piece of Americana, the American roads, Nevada? Songs and score?

3. The three at 18, rowdy, hopes, silly? Robyn and her relationship with a boy, the parents' rejection? Others searching for boys and sexual experience? Travel, the boys -in the car, going to the job?

4. The owner and his strict rules, Betilah and her domination, the severity of the work, the payment and the money being taken back for expenses? Going for rides on horses, Lindsay meeting Cliff? The meeting with Talia?

5. Talia taking them to Roscoe's, the motel, the transvestite and his friendship? His comic style? Their work at the casinos? Robyn and her punk look, the invitation to the party? Sex and drugs and wealth? The police raid, the arrest? Roscoe bailing them out, their fears in their prison experience? Angers?

6. Jo and her meeting Corey, friendship, talking, sexual liaison? Robyn and her disillusionment? Talia and her being beaten by Roscoe, Roscoe's message about getting her back?

7. Lindsay, the taking of the car, clash with Roscoe? The disguise, their friend making the phone call to get her into the poker game, her acting, her winning, paying off the debt, getting the car back? Cliff saving her from the pursuers, the sexual liaison?

8. The girls at the end of the holiday, older, more experience, wiser, their future?

9. A youth film of the '80s?