Good thing his mullet/cap combo didn't come back though.
His acting (which I got kind of a kick out of) is possibly topped only by Sean Penn's dreadful performance in "Casualties Of War" as the biggest overacting youth performance of the decade.
I thought so. I knew a person or three who were a lot like him in the time period portrayed in the film. Yes he was over the top but he was also spot on at playing a product of that era. A rare product perhaps but just the same, a very accurate vision if someone who could have only existed at that time and kind of environment.
And what's with the red handkerchief in the back pocket of his jeans? In the 80s didn't that signal gay taker or giver depending on what pocket it was in?
In the 80s didn't that signal gay taker or giver depending on what pocket it was in?
I have no idea, but I think that his final scenes on the river's edge were designed to strongly suggest to us that his character was some sort of closet gay.🐭
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A lot of people carry handkercheifs, from people just wanting to carry a rag everywhere they go, to those just trying to accessorize to gang members to people trying to mimic gang members or the classic street tough persona.
A lot of people carry handkercheifs, from people just wanting to carry a rag everywhere they go, to those just trying to accessorize to gang members to people trying to mimic gang members or the classic street tough persona.
He wasn't overacting, his character was supposed to be hyper-energized that something "real" was finally happening in their boring and soulless existences. The other teenagers weren't, but for him, this was finally something worth being excited about. If you lived as a teenager in the 80s with Reagan-era morality and the spectre of nuclear war hanging constantly hanging over your head you'd understand this (this same antipathy finally later voiced in the lyrics of bands like The Pixies and Nirvana). His acting in the role was actually brilliant, and teens at the time (including myself) "got it" completely.
Glad to see the ripped jeans and Converse Chuck Taylors never went out. '87 did have a lot of die-dye and peace symbols back in style, which you don't see as much these days. I was telling my son that things like Lane's leather jacket and John's Army coat will always be "in" with some faded flannel.
My brother in law was so much like Lane that it was almost eerie. Constantly trying to think six moves ahead while everything spun out of control. I was more of a Tony, hanging in the background and watching it all from far away.