Little Darlings (1980)

Synopsis:

Two very different teenagers, a prissy socialite (Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon) and a blue-collar troublemaker (Kristy McNichol, TV’s Family), are pressured into a contest while attending summer camp: the first one who loses her virginity wins!

Reaction & Thoughts:

“Two little virgins. How quaint!”

The great film critic Roger Ebert once said that “movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” He added, “(movies) let you understand a bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears.” I completely agree with Ebert. I found Little Darlings endlessly fascinating precisely because it offered me a peek into the female adolescent experience, something that I know next to nothing about.

The film was written by two women, Kimi Peck and Dalene Young, and that’s probably why I sensed a genuine desire on the part of the writers to take a serious look at teen angst from a female perspective. Although I don’t really know how authentic the movie is, I often felt like I was eavesdropping on teen girls’ conversations.

And for being a summer camp movie about a pair of teens trying to lose their virginity, it has depth and it’s quite endearing. It’s also tonally messy, but that’s okay because that’s exactly how I remember my teen years. One moment you have the giggles, and a few minutes later you feel like cutting your wrists over some nonsense.

The first half is cute, like The Parent Trap (1961). As the girls’ quest for sex intensifies, things get a bit more serious. Stars Tatum O’Neal and Kristy McNichol handle the shifts of tone like pros. O’Neal is pretty good, but McNichol is something else. As expected, McNichol, one of the best actors of her generation in my opinion, brings intelligence and richness to the stock role of the girl-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks.

This is the right time to confess that I adore McNichol. She’s always interesting and relatable. I don’t think you’ll disagree with me after watching the film. McNichol is paired with Matt Dillon (The Outsiders), and that makes perfect sense because he is the male McNichol. Like McNichol, Dillon is the kind of actor who always seems authentic. The McNichol-Dillon scenes take the quality of the film to another level.

The other kids are played by Alexa Kenin (Pretty in Pink), Krista Errickson (The Paperboy), Abby Bluestone (Night of the Juggler), and Cynthia Nixon (HBO’s Sex and the City), who plays a zen-ish hipster in her screen debut. The adults are played by Armand Assante (Paradise Alley), Nicolas Coster (Stir Crazy), and Maggie Blye (original The Italian Job) (excellent as McNichol’s oversexed mom).

Conclusions & Final Thoughts:

Nicely directed by Ronald F. Maxwell (Gettysburg), Little Darlings does a fine job balancing the silliness one expect to see in a summer camp movie with elements found in a John Hughes teen drama. And the cast is outstanding. By the way, I have no idea why this movie is rated R! It has no nudity, no violence, no foul language, no nothing. It’s another example of the MPAA’s inept rating system. Color, 95 minutes, Rated R.

Theatrical Trailer: