Boys | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stacy Cochran |
Written by | Stacy Cochran |
Based on | "Twenty Minutes" by James Salter |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
Edited by | Camilla Toniolo |
Music by | Stewart Copeland |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $516,350 |
Boys is a 1996 American film starring Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas. It is based very loosely on a short story called "Twenty Minutes" by James Salter.
The film is set in an East Coast boys boarding school, and was shot in Baltimore and on the campus of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.
John Baker Jr. is a boy bored with his life at an upper middle class boarding school, and the prospect of his future running the family grocery store chain. He no longer sees the point in school, stating what's the difference if he gets a zero attendance for being three minutes late or skipping the whole class so he might as well skip the class. Now close to graduating from boarding school, his life is turned upside down when he rescues Patty Vare, a young woman he finds lying unconscious in a field. Patty regains consciousness that evening in John's dormitory. She stays awake long enough to tell him she will not go to a doctor, and then passes out and does not awaken until the next morning. She seems to recover completely and to be grateful for John's assistance; the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery. This is not without its problems, as other boys in the dorm quickly find out she is being hidden in his room, leading up to a dramatic confrontation with Baker's close friends where his 'best friend' becomes enraged and punches a wall, breaking his hand, while the two continue to argue over the reason as to why Baker has hidden her in his room.
Throughout the film, there are continuous flashbacks of Vare's past, showing her with a famous baseball player with whom she steals a car, leading up to a drunken car crash and his death (for which authorities are searching for Vare for questioning). By the end, Vare has admitted all this to Baker and informed the authorities of the location of the body and the car (as they crashed into a river). At the police station, both Baker and Vare begin to say goodbye when they unexpectedly jump into an elevator to escape from Baker's controlling father, and drive off with a car he had earlier stolen from the school.
After "a dispute with her studio led to an extensive involuntary editing process," director Cochran commented that "much of the original intent and beauty of the film had been lost, due to studio interference." [1]
The film received negative reviews from critics. Terrence Rafferty of The New Yorker wrote, "Boys, subjected to self-fulfilling negative buzz, has received lukewarm-to-terrible reviews and has done no business. It deserves better. [...] Cochran is too eccentric to make a conventional comedy, yet unfortunately (in marketing terms), her style is too subtle and uninsistent to place her among the aggressively hip, genre-bending filmmakers of the Tarantino generation. The funny thing is, this young filmmaker may have a more deeply subversive sensibility than any of her celebrated peers." [2] Boys holds a rating of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes from 27 reviews. The site's consensus states "Winona Ryder's femme fatale proves to be a blank cipher in Boys, a mystery with an intriguing hook that quickly fizzles into teenage ennui." [3]
The soundtrack to the film was released on April 9, 1996.
Heathers is a 1988 American teen black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford. Its plot portrays four teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—in a clique at an Ohio high school, one of whose lives is disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides.
Winona Laura Horowitz, known professionally as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Having come to attention with quirkier roles in the initial phase of her career, she achieved fame and critical success with her more diverse performances in various genres throughout the 1990s. Ryder's many accolades include a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, and a Grammy.
A Touch of Class is a 1973 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Melvin Frank and starring George Segal, Glenda Jackson, Hildegard Neil, Paul Sorvino and K Callan. The film tells the story of a couple having an affair, who find themselves falling in love. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with Jackson winning Best Actress.
Mr. Deeds is a 2002 American comedy film directed by Steven Brill, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Sid Ganis and Jack Giarraputo. It stars Adam Sandler in the title role, alongside Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, Allen Covert, Erick Avari, and John Turturro. The film is a remake of the 1936 Frank Capra film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which itself was based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland. It tells the story of a pizzeria owner who learns that he is the heir of a late multi-billionaire as he also meets a television reporter wanting a story on him.
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Jim Abrahams and starring Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels.
Celebrity is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and features an ensemble cast. The screenplay describes the divergent paths a couple takes following their divorce.
Mermaids is a 1990 American family comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin, and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Michael Schoeffling, and Christina Ricci in her film debut. Based on Patty Dann's 1986 novel of the same name, and set in the early 1960s, its plot follows a neurotic teenage girl who moves with her wayward mother and young sister to a small town in Massachusetts.
How to Make an American Quilt is a 1995 American drama film based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Whitney Otto. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the film features Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan and Alfre Woodard. It is notable as being Jared Leto's film debut. Amblin Entertainment optioned Otto's novel in 1991, and were able to persuade Steven Spielberg to finance the screenplay's development. How to Make an American Quilt received mixed reviews from critics. It was a box-office success, grossing $41 million against a $10 million budget. The film was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
The Darwin Awards is a 2006 American adventure comedy film based on the website of the same name written and directed by Finn Taylor, the film premiered January 25, 2006, at the Sundance Film Festival. The film features Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Wilmer Valderrama, Chris Penn, Julianna Margulies, Robin Tunney, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Brad Hunt, Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman and Metallica. This was Chris Penn's last movie before his death on January 24, 2006, the day before the film's premiere. The film includes several full and partial re-enactments of "Darwin Awards", the earliest of which were fictitious, most notably the debunked JATO Rocket Car story.
The Ten is a 2007 anthology comedy film directed by David Wain, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ken Marino. It was released through ThinkFilm. The film was released on August 3, 2007. The DVD was released on January 15, 2008. It is an international co-production between the United States and Mexico. It received mixed reviews.
Lady in White is a 1988 American supernatural horror mystery film directed, produced, written and scored by Frank LaLoggia, and starring Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, and Katherine Helmond. Set in 1962 upstate New York, it follows a schoolboy (Haas) who, after witnessing the ghost of a young girl, becomes embroiled in a mystery surrounding a series of brutal child murders.
Autumn in New York is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen, written by Allison Burnett, and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, and Sherry Stringfield. The film follows a successful middle-aged restaurateur and womanizer who falls in love with a terminally ill young woman. US distributor MGM took over the film from Chen and significantly re-edited the film, which also involved deleting a Ryder nude scene. The film received generally negative reviews and grossed $90 million worldwide against a $65 million budget.
While She Was Out is a 2008 American thriller film starring Kim Basinger and Lukas Haas. Basinger plays a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. It was written and directed by film producer Susan Montford based on a short story by Edward Bryant which was originally an episode of the TV series The Hidden Room in 1993. The film was produced by Mary Aloe and Don Murphy. Its executive producers included Guillermo del Toro and Basinger. The film was shot in 2006 and had a very limited release in 5 theaters in Texas during 2008.
Stay Cool is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Michael Polish, and written by Mark Polish. The film stars Winona Ryder, Mark Polish, Hilary Duff, Sean Astin, Josh Holloway, Jon Cryer, and Chevy Chase. The film premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and released theatrically in 2011.
Her Twelve Men is a 1954 American comedy drama film starring Oscar-winning Greer Garson and Robert Ryan, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and written by William Roberts and Laura Z. Hobson. This MGM production was based on the best-selling pseudo-autobiographical book written by Louise Maxwell Baker, Snips and Snails. Baker herself taught at an all-boys boarding school, as the only female teacher in the school. Subsequently, Louise recounts many of the funny stories from her time as a teacher in Snips and Snails, which then translates into the film, Her Twelve Men.
Homefront is a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also produced the film with Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. The film was released nationwide in theaters on November 27, 2013. The film is based on the 2005 novel Homefront by Chuck Logan. The film stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth. Filming began on October 1, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
My New Gun is a 1992 American black comedy film written and directed by Stacy Cochran in her debut. It stars Diane Lane, James Le Gros, Stephen Collins, and Tess Harper, and also features an early minor role for Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Stacy Cochran is an American film director, screenwriter and producer based in New York City. She is best known for her films My New Gun (1992) and Boys (1996).
The Violent Heart is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Kerem Sanga. It stars Jovan Adepo, Grace Van Patten, Lukas Haas, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Cress Williams, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, and Mary J. Blige. The film premiered at the Deauville Film Festival on September 9, 2020, and was released on February 19, 2021 by Gravitas Ventures.
Gone in the Night is an 2022 American thriller film, directed by Eli Horowitz, in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Horowitz and Matthew Derby. It stars Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, John Gallagher Jr., Owen Teague and Brianne Tju.