MISCHIEF

US, 1985, 93 minutes, Colour.
Doug Mc Keon, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelly Preston.
Directed by Mel Damski.

Mischief is a pleasant film, set in the mid-'50s in a small American town. It is once again about youth, a theme so popular in films of the period. However, there is a strength in the characterisations as well as in the writing. The screenplay is by Noel Black, author and director of many films of the '60s and '70s including Pretty Poison, Jennifer On My Mind. Direction is by Mel Damski, a director of a great range of telemovies. The film has Doug Mc Keon (On Golden Pond) as the star and he sustains the film. Chris Nash is good as his rebellious friend. The other stars emerged into careers in the mid and late '80s, including Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelly Preston, Jamie Gertz (in a brief role) and Terry O'Quinn as Gene's father, who emerged as a star in The Stepfather.

1.The picture of youth, the past, comparisons with the '80s? The ironic touch with the opening in and the reference to the galaxy of the past?

2.The picture of Nelsonville, its environs, the school, cinema, the streets? Bike and car action? The musical score, songs of the period? The echoes of the films of the period - Rebel Without A Cause, Love Me Tender?

3.The title and its tone? References?

4.Jonathan as a young man of the mid-'50s, nice, clean-cut, his home, father as a dentist? His crush on Marilyn - and the crashing of the car? His friends, at school, ambitions for college? His friendship with Gene, meeting him, talking and sharing, going to his room, understanding him? Discussions, sharing ideas, opening his mind? Strategies for dates with Marilyn? The date, his friendship with Bunny? Awkwardness with Marilyn, the drive-in, in the car, the sex, going to bed in Marilyn's room, escaping and encountering her mother? Gene and his problems? Kenny and the cars? Their roughing him up at school? Gene's going, Bunny and the elopement, his giving the message to her father? Meeting the waitress, being ditched by Marilyn, crashing his car into Kenny's? His future?

5.The contrast with Gene, from Chicago, ousted from school, his strict father, the bike, being grounded, work, the encounters with Kenny and the toughness, the driving of the car? Friendship with Jonathan, talking, his angers, sharing, his attraction towards Bunny, the horses? The strategies? The clash with his father? Going away, returning, eloping with Bunny? Their future?

6.Marilyn as the school beauty, at the school, with the boys, the dates, her date with Jonathan, the car, in her room, her sexual experience, dumping him?

7.The contrast with Bunny, attractive, imposed on by Ken, the dates, attracted towards Gene, their being together, the discussion about horses, the eloping?

8.Kenny and his toughness, the boys around town, pushing everybody around, spurning Jonathan, the clash with Gene, at the garage, the chicken race, the ending, Jonathan crashing his car into Kenny's?

9.The sketch of parents, their ordinariness, concern about their children, Gene's father and his strictness?

10.The flavour of the period, problems, relationships, hopes? The contrast with later decades?