Lord of the Flies (1990 film)

Lord of the Flies
Directed by	Harry Hook
Written by	Sara Schiff
Produced by	Lewis M. Allen
Starring	Balthazar Getty Chris Furrh Danuel Pipoly
Cinematography	Martin Fuhrer
Edited by	Harry Hook
Music by	Philippe Sarde
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures Castle Rock Entertainment
Release dates	March 16, 1990
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Lord of the Flies is a 1990 film adaptation of the classic novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding. It is the second film adaptation of the book, the first being the 1963 film Lord of the Flies.

Cast

• Balthazar Getty - Ralph
• Chris Furrh - Jack Merridew
• Danuel Pipoly - Piggy
• James Badge Dale - Simon
• Andrew Taft - Sam
• Edward Taft - Eric
• Gary Rule - Roger
• Bob Peck - Marine Officer

Storyline

• Spoilers Warning

A plan crash strands a group of American military school boys on a deserted tropical island. The boys quickly form two competiting factions; a humane democratic group lead by a boy named Ralph and cruel and violent group led by a boy named Jack. As time goes on, more and more of the boys join Jack's wild anarchistic group, until Ralph finds himself all alone and being hunted. Right before Ralph is about to be caputred and pressumable killed by Jack, all the boys are rescued by the American marines [1].

Location

Filmed on location in Port Antonio, Jamaica.

Differences between book and film

• British boys in the novel, as opposed to the American military schools boys in the film.
• Due to the response time of the American Marines, the transport they took to the island and the two helicopters, it seems the island was charted, and there was either an Aircraft Carrier near by, or a city, whereas in the book there wasn't.
• Jack and Ralph are friends and play around in the beginning of the movie.
• When the fire rages out of control, it is not caused by carelessness by the watchmen, but rather by unpreparedness when they first discover that they can use piggy's glasses to make fire.
• In the book one of the boys dies after the fire spreads out of control, in the film this never happens.
• In the film, only one adult survives and he is carried to land, until he dies.
• In the film, Jack isn't jealous or tries to convince the boys that he should be the leader, but rather laughing and telling Ralph, "Guess you just won the election."
• In the book, they crash onto the island, find the conch and gather the kids all over the island. In the movie, they crash into the ocean and all get brought ashore by a life raft, and then they find the conch.
• Maurice isn't in the film
• Instead of a British officer finding the group, a group of American Marines do.
• The children are all ethnically diverse, as one boy wears a cross (indicating that he is a Christian), another wearing the Star of David (indicating a Jewish boy), and one boy is African-American while the other is clearly Hispanic.
• The characters in the film use harsher profanity than the characters in the book, and more frequently.
• Like the 1963 version (which also implied that the events took place over a short period of time), the boys' hair never grew too long.
• Instead of a dead parachutist playing the role of "the beast," Captain Benson plays it, who was the only surviving adult, but was killed when he scared a boy exploring a cave.
• Ralph, not Jack discovers Piggy's spectacles can make fire.
• The Lord of the Flies never talks to Simon in the film, whereas the novel has Simon experiencing a hallucination in which it speaks to him.
• In the book, the Lord of the Flies was safely away from the "beast", but in the film the Lord of the Flies is literally right next to it.
• The killing of the mother sow is not shown, only the boys chasing and decapitating a pig.
• Ralph doesn't take part in the killing of Simon, while in the book he does.
• Simon's death is much less violent in the movie where he is struck with spears, in the book he was bitten and clawed to death by the others.
• Piggy does not make an emotional speech denouncing Jack and imagining a confrontation after the theft of the glasses.
• Jack does not insult Piggy as much as in the novel.
• In the book, Piggy's glasses break after Jack smacks his glasses off his face, whereas in the film, his glasses break after Jack's tribe destroys Ralph's shelters at night to get a knife back, in turn trampling over Piggy's glasses.
• Simon has very few lines throughout the film.
• When Jack leaves the tribe, the whole re-election scene is left out; instead, he just leaves the tribe and asks who wants to come with him
• Piggy is not shown as intelligent, courageous and logical as he is in the book.
• In the film Sam and Eric come up with the name Piggy, whereas in the novel Ralph calls him Piggy after he told him if he were to be called anything, he would not want to be called Piggy.
• In the book the boys call the creature the "beast" but in the film they call it the "monster" instead.
• In the film Piggy dies due to the boulder thrown off of Castle Rock hitting him but in the book he falls off a cliff after being struck by the boulder.
• In the film the Conch is never shown being broken. In the book however, it shatters when Piggy is struck by the boulder.
• In the book, Ralph is described as having blond hair, Simon having black hair, and Jack as having red hair. All three characters have different hair colors in this adaptation.
• In the book the vote of the leader is very important, while in the film it is not. Also, the reason Ralph is voted leader in the film is because 'he's colonel', while in the book it is because he is bigger and found the conch.
• In the book everyone but the boys in ralph's tribe revotes Jack as leader, in the movie everyone but Piggy does.

Reception

Critics' reviews were generally mixed, and the film has "Fresh" 61% rating on the movie review scaling site Rotten Tomatoes.

Some cited that the novel in general is somewhat dated and unsuitable for a remake. Roger Ebert remarked in his review that, "events take place every day on our mean streets that are more horrifying than anything the little monsters do to one another on Golding's island."

Barrie Maxwell of DVD Verdict commented that the color of the island creates a more superficial atmosphere than the stark black and white of the previous version.

The film made only $13,985,225 domestically in 919 theaters.