Endless Love (1981 film)

Last updated

Endless Love
Endless love.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Screenplay by Judith Rascoe
Based onEndless Love
by Scott Spencer
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography David Watkin
Edited byMichael J. Sheridan
Music by Jonathan Tunick
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • July 17, 1981 (1981-07-17)(United States)
Running time
116 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9.7 million [1]
Box office$32.4 million

Endless Love is a 1981 American romantic drama film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and starring Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Penelope Milford and Beatrice Straight. It also marked Tom Cruise's film debut.

Contents

Based on the 1979 Scott Spencer novel of the same name, the screenplay was written by Judith Rascoe. The original music score was composed by Jonathan Tunick. Although the novel is set in the summer of 1969, the movie transports the action to the early 1980s. The film also discards the non-chronological structure of the novel and tells all the events in chronological sequence.

Critics compared the film unfavorably to the novel, which showcased the dangers of obsessive love. Despite the poor reviews, its eponymous theme song, performed by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. [2] The song spent nine weeks at #1 and received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for "Best Original Song", along with five Grammy Award nominations.

Plot

In suburban Chicago, Jade Butterfield and David Axelrod fall in love after being introduced by Jade's older brother Keith. The Butterfields' bohemian lifestyle, for which they're well known in their community, allows Jade and David to develop an all-consuming and passionate relationship, including allowing them to have sex in Jade's room. Where her family is open, David's home life is dull; his parents are wealthy conservative political activists who have little interest in his life.

One night, Jade's mother Ann sneaks downstairs, catching Jade and David making love by the fireplace. She starts living vicariously through them but her husband, Hugh, watches them with increasing unease. Jade's nightly trysts begin to negatively impact her grades and her ability to sleep. One night, she tries to steal a prescription sleeping pill from her father but he catches her. As a last straw, Hugh demands that David stop seeing Jade until the end of the school term. Although initially causing a scene, Ann gently coaxes David to agree, telling him not to let Hugh "do something he'll regret".

Back at school, one of David's friends, Billy, tells him that when he was eight, he tried to burn a pile of newspapers, got scared and put the fire out, and his parents thought he was a hero for saving the house from burning. Inspired by this grim story, David starts a fire on the Butterfields' front porch after their late-night party and walks away. Unfortunately, by the time he returns, the flame has spread too far under the high wind. David immediately evacuates the Butterfields from the burning house before he is subsequently apprehended.

Following the trial, David is convicted of second-degree arson, sentenced to five years' probation, committed into a mental hospital for evaluation and forbidden to go anywhere near Jade or her family again. He continues to write her daily, but the letters are not sent because of the no-contact order. His parents pull strings to have him released early from the mental hospital, much to Hugh's chagrin. Meanwhile, David receives his many letters upon his exit, and after realizing why Jade never wrote back, he decides to pursue her although he knows it is a violation of his parole.

After the loss of their home, the Butterfields have moved from Chicago to Manhattan where Ann and Hugh file for divorce. In Manhattan, Ann tries to seduce David but he refuses, leaving her confused. When she is not looking, he thumbs through her address book, finding out where Jade is and discovers that she now attends the University of Vermont. Intent on catching a bus to Vermont, David sees Hugh on the street. He starts chasing him, and Hugh is hit by a car and killed. Hugh's fiancée Ingrid arrives to the scene just in time to see David leaving. He comes close to boarding the bus to Vermont, but is overcome with grief and returns to Ann's apartment and consoles her.

Later, Jade goes to David's room to say goodbye but he pulls her back as she tries to leave, throwing her on the bed and holding her down until she admits she loves him. Keith goes to David's to find them together again and tells Jade that David is at fault for their father's death. She refuses to believe it at first but when he confirms that David was actually at the scene, she becomes horrified and hides behind Keith. Trying to explain, David shoves Keith out of the way in a desperate bid to get to her. Keith holds him off until the police arrive and arrest David for brawling, disturbing the peace and violating his parole.

David is sentenced to five years in a state prison and despairs that he may never see Jade again. At a lakeside, Jade informs her mother that nobody will ever love her like David does, and Ann speaks her understanding and approval. From behind bars, David sees Jade approach him through his barred cell window to comfort him.

Cast

Production

Endless Love is based on Scott Spencer's 1979 novel of the same name. The film is directed by Franco Zeffirelli and written by Judith Rascoe. The film stars Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt in the two leading roles. It is also the film debut of Hewitt, Tom Cruise, Jami Gertz, Jeff Marcus and Ian Ziering. Principal photography of this film began on September 22, 1980 and shot on location in Chicago, New York City, and Long Island as well on set at Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. Production of this film was finished on December 19, 1980. [3]

The MPAA awarded the initial cut of Endless Love an X rating. Director Franco Zeffirelli subsequently made several cuts in the love scenes between Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt to achieve a lower rating. The film was re-submitted to the MPAA five times before they awarded it an R rating. [4]

Release

Box office

The film premiere for Endless Love took place on July 16, 1981, at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. The film was released the next day. Despite the poor critical reception, the film was a box office success. It made $4,163,623 on its opening weekend and went on to gross $31,184,024 in total, becoming the twenty-second highest earning film domestically in 1981. [5] Internationally, the film took in a further $1,308,650 bringing its total worldwide gross to $32,492,674. [6]

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews upon its release. Roger Ebert compared the film unfavorably with the novel, describing Martin Hewitt as miscast and criticizing the narrative, although he did praise Brooke Shields' performance:

Is there anything good in the movie? Yes. Brooke Shields is good. She is a great natural beauty, and she demonstrates, in a scene of tenderness and concern for Hewitt and in a scene of rage with her father, that she has a strong, unaffected screen acting manner. But the movie as a whole does not understand the particular strengths of the novel that inspired it, does not convince us it understands adolescent love, does not seem to know its characters very well, and is a narrative and logical mess. [7]

Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote:

There are two sorts of people who'll be going to see Endless Love — those who have read the richly imaginative novel on which the movie is based and those who have not. There will be dismay in the first camp, but it may be nothing beside the bewilderment in the second." [8]

Film historian Leonard Maltin seemed to agree, calling the film a "textbook example of how to do everything wrong in a literary adaptation." [9]

In 2014, Scott Spencer, the author of the novel on which the film was based, wrote, "I was frankly surprised that something so tepid and conventional could have been fashioned from my slightly unhinged novel about the glorious destructive violence of erotic obsession". [10] Spencer described the film as a "botched" job and wrote that Franco Zeffirelli "egregiously and ridiculously misunderstood" the novel. [11]

As of November 2021, Endless Love holds a rating of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews. [12]

Awards and nominations

AwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
Academy Awards Best Original Song "Endless Love"
Music and Lyrics by Lionel Richie 		Nominated [13]
American Movie AwardsBest Original SongWon
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Most Performed Feature Film StandardsWon
Golden Globe Awards Best Original Song Nominated [14]
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Picture Dyson Lovell Nominated [15]
Worst Director Franco Zeffirelli Nominated
Worst Actress Brooke Shields Nominated
Worst Supporting Actress Shirley Knight Nominated
Worst Screenplay Screenplay by Judith Rascoe;
Based on the novel by Scott Spencer 		Nominated
Worst New Star Martin Hewitt Nominated
Grammy Awards Record of the Year "Endless Love" – Lionel RichieNominated [16]
Song of the Year Nominated
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal "Endless Love" – Lionel Richie and Diana Ross Nominated
Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special Endless Love: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Lionel Richie, Jonathan Tunick, and Thomas McClary 		Nominated
Jupiter Awards Best International ActressBrooke ShieldsNominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards Worst Picture Keith Barish and Dyson LovellNominated
Worst DirectorFranco ZeffirelliNominated
Worst ActressBrooke ShieldsNominated
Worst ScreenplayScreenplay by Judith Rascoe;
Based on the novel by Scott Spencer		Nominated
Worst On-Screen CoupleMartin Hewitt and Brooke Shields or Shirley KnightNominated
Young Artist Awards Best Young Motion Picture Actor Martin HewittNominated [17]
Best Young Motion Picture Actress Brooke ShieldsNominated

Soundtrack

The film's theme song, written by Lionel Richie and performed by Richie and Diana Ross and also called "Endless Love", became a number 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the biggest-selling single in Ross' career. Billboard magazine chose it as "The Best Duet of All Time" in 2011, 30 years after its debut. It spent nine weeks at #1 and received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for "Best Original Song", along with five Grammy Award nominations. The soundtrack peaked at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 and was certified platinum. It also featured a second duet between Ross and Richie, "Dreaming of You", that received considerable airplay but was never released as a single.

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray on Shout! Factory in mid-August 2019, with enhanced 5.1 surround sound. It is also available in the streaming format via various providers.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Zeffirelli</span> Italian filmmaker (1923–2019)

Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II era, gaining both acclaim and notoriety for his lavish stagings of classical works, as well as his film adaptations of the same. A member of the Forza Italia party, he served as the Senator for Catania between 1994 and 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Hussey</span> British actress (born 1951)

Olivia Hussey is a British-Argentine actress. Her awards include a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires but spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama for five years at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Jade</span> French actress (1948–2006)

Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade, was a French actress. She starred as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979). Jade acted in theatre, film and television. Her film work outside France included the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Japan.

<i>Pretty Baby</i> (1978 film) 1977 American historical drama film by Louis Malle

Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, written by Polly Platt, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. Set in 1917, it focuses on a 12-year-old girl being raised in a brothel in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, by her prostitute mother. Barbara Steele, Diana Scarwid, and Antonio Fargas appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the true account of a young girl who was sexually exploited by being forced into prostitution by her mother, a theme which was recounted in historian Al Rose's 1974 book Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District. It is also based on the life of photographer Ernest Bellocq, who photographed various New Orleans prostitutes in the early twentieth century. The title, Pretty Baby, is derived from the Tony Jackson song of the same name, which is featured on the film's soundtrack.

<i>The Blue Lagoon</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Randal Kleiser

The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American dramatic coming-of-age romantic survival film directed by Randal Kleiser from a screenplay written by Douglas Day Stewart based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. The music score was composed by Basil Poledouris, and the cinematography was by Néstor Almendros.

Martin Hewitt is an American businessman and former actor. He is best known for his film debut as David Axelrod in Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981). His last role was a 2003 episode of ER.

Endless Love may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endless Love (song)</span> 1981 single by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

"Endless Love" is a song written by Lionel Richie and originally recorded as a duet between Richie and singer/actress Diana Ross. In this ballad, the singers declare their "endless love" for one another. It was covered by Luther Vandross with R&B-pop singer Mariah Carey, and also by country music singer Shania Twain. Richie's friend Kenny Rogers also recorded the song. Billboard has named the original version as the greatest song duet of all time.

<i>The Hours</i> (film) 2002 film by Stephen Daldry

The Hours is a 2002 psychological drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman. Supporting roles are played by Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, Jeff Daniels, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Eileen Atkins. The screenplay by David Hare is based on Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teri Shields</span> American actress, film producer, socialite, and former model

Theresia Anna Lilian Maria Shields was an American actress known primarily for being the parent and manager of actress Brooke Shields.

<i>The Sandpiper</i> 1965 film

The Sandpiper is a 1965 American drama film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the third of eleven films starring the power couple.

Scott Spencer is an American author who has written fourteen novels. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1993 movie Father Hood. Two of Spencer's novels, Endless Love and Waking the Dead, have been adapted into films. Endless Love was first adapted into a motion picture by Franco Zeffirelli in 1981, and a second adaptation by Shana Feste was released in 2014. Waking the Dead was produced by Jodie Foster and directed by Keith Gordon in 2000. The novels Endless Love and A Ship Made of Paper have both been nominated for the National Book Award, with Endless Love selling over 2 million copies. Spencer has heavily panned both film adaptations of Endless Love.

<i>La Traviata</i> (1983 film) 1983 Italian film

La Traviata is a 1983 Italian film written, designed, and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. It is based on the 1853 opera La traviata with music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Soprano Teresa Stratas, tenor Plácido Domingo, and baritone Cornell MacNeil starred in the movie, in addition to singing their roles. The film premiered in Italy in 1982 and went into general release there the following year. It opened in theatres in the U.S. on April 22, 1983. The movie's soundtrack with James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooke Shields</span> American actress (born 1965)

Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).

<i>Endless Love</i> (soundtrack) 1981 soundtrack album by various artists

Endless Love: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name. The album was released worldwide by Mercury Records and PolyGram in 1981.

<i>Waking the Dead</i> (novel) Novel by Scott Spencer

Waking the Dead is a 1986 novel by Scott Spencer. The book, Spencer's fourth, was adapted in 2000 into a film of the same name, starring Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly.

<i>Split Image</i> (film) 1982 American film

Split Image is a 1982 American drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Michael O'Keefe, Karen Allen, Peter Fonda, James Woods, Elizabeth Ashley, Brian Dennehy and Ronnie Scribner. It tells the story of an all-American college athlete who becomes involved in a youth-oriented cult, and his family's struggle to bring him home.

The 3rd Youth in Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers in the fields of film, television and music for the 1980-1981 season, and took place in December 1981 in Hollywood, California.

<i>Endless Love</i> (2014 American film) 2014 American film

Endless Love is a 2014 American romantic drama film directed by Shana Feste and co-written by Feste with Joshua Safran. A second adaptation of Scott Spencer's novel, the film stars Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Joely Richardson and Robert Patrick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooke Shields filmography</span>

American actress Brooke Christa Shields started her career as a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978). She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).

References

  1. ↑ "AFI|Catalog".
  2. ↑ Novak, Lexi (February 13, 2014). "Then and Now: Romance, Endless Love Style". Allure. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "DV and HR report on production updates of Endless Love (1981), 1980".
  4. ↑ Thomas, Bob (August 10, 1981). "Director Fears 'Endless Love' Viewed As Exploitative, Not Love". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ "1981 DOMESTIC GROSSES". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Endless Love". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1981). "Endless Love". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  8. ↑ Maslin, Janet (July 17, 1981). "Endless Love (1981)". The New York Times . Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  9. ↑ Maltin's TV, Movie, & Video Guide
  10. ↑ Spencer, Scott (September 10, 2013). "Spoiler Alert". The Paris Review. Paris. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  11. ↑ Appelo, Tim (February 14, 2014). "'Endless Love' Author Trashes Remake: 'Stick With the Paperback'". The Hollywood Reporter . Hollywood. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Endless Love". Rotten Tomatoes .
  13. ↑ "The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Endless Love". Golden Globe Awards . Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ "1981 Golden Raspberry Awards". Golden Raspberry Awards. August 23, 2000. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  16. ↑ "24th Annual GRAMMY Awards". Grammy Awards . Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  17. ↑ "3rd Youth in Film Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on April 2, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.