Rent Over the Edge (1979)

Static Before the Fire - Over the Edge review by griggs

New Granada is less a town than a holding pen with kerbs — cul-de-sacs, a rec centre nobody's actually allowed to enjoy, and a pack of teenagers with nothing to burn off except each other. Ten minutes in, I wanted to start a fire myself.

Matt Dillon shows up all cheekbones and terrible instincts, already a star before anyone's told him so. But it's Michael Eric Kramer's Carl who carries the weight — a kid who isn't after trouble, just an adult who'll actually listen. Meanwhile the grown-ups fret over property values and offer the kids nothing worth respecting. Planners, parents, cops, the whole beige machine — nobody comes out of this looking good.

It's grimy, cheap-looking and genuinely a bit dangerous, which suits it — no shine here, just static building until the cul-de-sac finally goes up. The slow crawl from vandalism to municipal meltdown works because the neglect never once feels exaggerated.

Loose in the middle, rough around some of the young performances, but the fury's earned. Beige America had it coming; the horrible bit is that the kids were the ones left holding the matches.

Dated Disaffected Youth Drama - Over the Edge review by GI

Deeply controversial in the USA to the extent its release was delayed by two years. Viewed today it fits into the cycle of disaffected youth narratives that stretch back in cinema to the days of the Dead End Kids in the 1930s and continue into the 80s. These films are always the ones that seemed to push boundaries and often gave the film censors a headache or two. This one has plenty of drug taking, petty crime especially vandalism and is trying to say something about the construction of 'perfect' townships that take no account of the needs of young people who then become anti-social, violent and utterly animalistic. Sex fails to rear its head here though! To that end it's a film that is a bit weak. This is set in the late 70s in the newly constructed town of New Granada, made up of posh new houses, apartment blocks and business premises but there's nothing for the kids except a half baked youth club which is constantly visited by the cops. The kids smoke dope, drink and generally, out of boredom, get themselves into trouble which culminates in a tragedy. The story is told through the eyes of one young man, Carl (Michael Eric Kramer) who actually never seems to do much wrong except be a bit rude to his parents and the police although by the end he is seen as the ringleader in a youth rebellion and gets sent to reform school. Interesting from the point of view of seeing a film that Kurt Cobain raved about and for Matt Dillon's film debut but it lacks impact today.