River's Edge
| River's Edge | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Tim Hunter |
| Produced by | Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford |
| Written by | Neal Jimenez |
| Starring | Crispin Glover Keanu Reeves Ione Skye Dennis Hopper |
| Music by | Jürgen Knieper |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Editing by | Howard E. Smith Sonya Sones |
| Studio | Hemdale Film Corporation |
| Distributed by | Island Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 10, 1986 (TIFF) |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million |
| Box office | $4.6 million |
River's Edge is a 1986 American drama film written by Neal Jimenez and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, and Dennis Hopper.
It was awarded Best Picture from the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, John, has murdered one of their friends, Jamie. He brags to them all at school about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary. Layne, the self-proclaimed leader of the group, is intent on keeping the murder a secret and protecting John, while the rest of the group (Matt, Clarissa, Maggie, and Tony) debate going to the police.
[edit] Basis
While the Jimenez screenplay is fiction, it draws from the November 3, 1981 murder of 14-year-old Marcy Renee Conrad, who was raped and strangled to death by 16-year-old Anthony Jacques Broussard in Milpitas, California.[1]
Broussard bragged of raping and murdering Conrad, later showing the body to at least thirteen different people; despite this, the crime went unreported for two days.[2]
The 6-foot, 4-inch, 280-pound, 16 year old Broussard had been mentally disturbed since finding his mother dead in the shower at the age of seven.
Broussard pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life with parole possible after 16 years and 8 months.[1]. He was denied a new trial in 1985,[3] and has repeatedly been denied parole.[4][5] As of December 2010 (29 years) Broussard is still incarcerated at California's Folsom State Prison.[6] Kirk Rasmussen, 16, was sentenced to three years in a juvenile center for kicking dirt and leaves to help hide the girl's partially clad body.[7]
Neal Jimenez read about the story in the newspaper while visiting friends, wrote a script and turned it in to his instructor while he was an English major at Santa Clara University. He got a "C+" so he rewrote it and received an "A". Jimenez said, "that the incident is merely the inspiration for the screenplay".[8]
[edit] Cast
- Crispin Glover as Layne
- Keanu Reeves as Matt
- Ione Skye as Clarissa
- Daniel Roebuck as Samson 'John' Tollet
- Dennis Hopper as Feck
- Roxana Zal as Maggie
- Joshua John Miller as Tim
- Josh Richman as Tony
- Phillip Brock as Mike
- Tom Bower as Det. Bennett
- Constance Forslund as Madeleine
- Leo Rossi as Jim
- Jim Metzler as Mr. Burkewaite
- Taylor Negron as Checker
- Danyi Deats as Jamie
- Tammy Smith as Kim
[edit] Music
- Then-independent California record label Metal Blade Records provided the metal soundtrack, featuring artists from their roster like Slayer, Hallow's Eve and Fates Warning.
- U.S. underground punk band Wipers are featured on the soundtrack.
- Crust Punk band Dystopia sampled dialogue from the film on their album Human = Garbage.
- U.S. band The Goo Goo Dolls song "You Know What I Mean" from their 1990 release Hold Me Up was based upon the film.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Klinger, Karen. "A Town Looks at a Murder: Many Could Share the Blame". Detroit Free Press. July 25, 1982.
- ^ "Law: Age of Accountability". Time. 1981-12-14. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925121,00.html. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ "Milpitas Youth Loses Plea in 1981 Strangling of Girl". The San Francisco Chronicle. January 19, 1985.
- ^ Hoover, Ken. "Parole Denied to Killer Of Milpitas Teenager". The San Francisco Chronicle. August 17, 1996.
- ^ Broussard, Anthony Jacques (September 2007) (PDF), Life Prisoner Parole Consideration Hearings, p. 9, http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/BOPH/docs/hearing_sched_0907.pdf, retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ "Broussard, Anthony Jacques Inmate #C56988", Inmate Locator, CA, USA: CDCR, http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/search.aspx, retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ Mathews, Jay. "California Suburb Sorts Out Fear and Confusion in Teen Slaying". The Washington Post. December 6, 1981.
- ^ Villagran, Nora. "'River's' Writer: 'I Made It Up' Filmmakers Say Movie Depicts a Rootless Post-Watergate World". San Jose Mercury News. May 22, 1987.
