I was looking for something to distract me from the tedium of copying a mountain of CDs onto my computer so I decided to watch “Over The Edge", the 1979 film that stars a 14-year-old Matt Dillon in his first feature film. “Over The Edge” documents the adolescent boredom in a Southwestern desert town that's trying to jump-start its big-time suburban sprawl. Dillon's Richie White is the bad-kid ringleader who fills the archetype of the kid your parents always warned you to stay away from. His bravado is captivating and he owns every scene he's in.
With little to do in town besides hanging out at the rec center, the kids pass the time with lots of drinking, drugging, and debauchery. My favorite symbolic imagery in the movie is the dull triangle pattern that appears on every working TV set, subtly underscoring how painfully bored these kids are. It's reminiscent of the branding of the plain-looking cans that line the supermarket shelves in “Repo Man” (“FOOD”, “BEER”, “DRINK”, etc.). Throughout the film, the tension between the kids and the cops continues to build as kids are harassed and busted for possession, dealing and theft. The powder-keg-in-waiting erupts during the explosive finale.
Even today, these kids comes off edgy as hell as they get wasted, shoot guns, and taunt the local cops. When I was in junior high, the most daring thing I ever did was to ride my bike across the two-lane highway of Route 9. I remember the “burnout” kids back then whose lives seemed much fuller than mine as they smoked cigarettes and had alleged sexual relations with each other. They seemed almost like adults to me with their swagger, cursing, and bad attitudes.
I'd go as far as to say that “Over The Edge” is way punk but without the standard accoutrements that come with that label. The movie is propelled along with a killer soundtrack of Cheap Trick, Van Halen, and The Ramones. I've seen “Over The Edge” countless times and I haven't bored of it yet.
Today's tip: DON'T be a dead kid.....
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