Elderfraus, how important was Little Darlings?

I remember kids talking about it at school but I didn't get to see it until years later. That's how I like to remember Matt Dillon, so cute.

How did it "shape" me? Oh, brother! Are you for real?

Seems thoughtful and well-acted, but kinda flew under the radar; most people have never heard of it.

I think LGBTQ people treasure these teen movies because we missed out on so much by being different and ostracized. It replaces an adolescence we never had.

Funny to see tomboy Tatum turning into a prim, breathy young lady in her teen roles. People thought she and Kristy would be the stars of tomorrow, but it wasn't meant to be.

It wasn't "important" at all. Just a teen comedy, and kind of a gross one. Two 15 years holding a contest to see who can get her cherry popped first...ugh.

Important enough for somebody at NBC to tell the producers of [italic]the Facts of Life[/italic] to go see it and take notes.

I saw it like 10 years ago. Tatum is really bad in it. So affected.

Kristy on the other hand is quite good and very moving in her regret over the events towards the end of the film.

Kristy had genuine talent. Tatum was pretty much a one trick pony and after Paper Moon and maybe Bad News Bears she had nothing left to give.

I had a friend who loved it, and related to the Kristy character. Now she's a Trumper and thinks Melania is exquisite, so we don't talk anymore.

Kristy gives a spectacular performance. The reason it's not seen these days is because they used so much music and the rights expired and it was too expensive and difficult to renew them.

Does she know Kristy is a lesbian?

I think they wanted Brooke shields for Tatum’s role, I’m amazed Terri ixnayed that, given Pretty Baby & Blue Lagoon! I had crushes on Cynthia Nixon & Armand Assante (shirtless OmG). Not to mention Matt Dillon in his tighty whities. The soundtrack is good too, when ONe Way or Another came on, it really made my day.

I think people would be surprised at how complex and layered Kristy's performance is. Whatever was written, Kristy takes it so much further and the result is really unsettling. She goes down and digs up a lot of ugliness. I think this is one of the few performances that get what it's like to be that age correct. Another one is Laura Dern in Smooth Talk.

I think the initial casting was Brooke Shields for the Tatum role and Diane Lane for the Kristy role. Diane was coming off A Little Romance and was pretty hot. Actually, Mariel Hemingway might have been really good for either role. People forget how really good she was in Lipstick.

"I think they wanted Brooke shields for Tatum’s role, I’m amazed Terri ixnayed that, given Pretty Baby & Blue Lagoon! "

I don't think Teri Shields would have wanted her little Brookie to share center stage with another young female actress, which she would have had to have done in "Little Darlings."

I think Diane Lane might have made a good Angel, but not Mariel Hemingway. Hemingway, with her little girl voice had a vulnerability that would not suited the role. I can't see her kicking a guy. in the crotch.

Matt Dillon was Kristy McNichol's love interest in the film, which I found implausible. She was plain, had no breasts or hips, and was totally unfeminine. So why would have have wanted to fuck her? She seems so much like a butch baby lesbian. Actually, Kristy McNichol, like Sara Gilbert and Jodie Foster, never had ANY chemistry with a male co-star playing her love interest. From the time she was a child she had "lesbian" written all over her.

Kristy McNichol was a terrific actor. It wasn’t a fluke that she won two Emmys as a teen.

An unusually good teen movie in an age of really stupid ones.

I was 9 when I saw it and didn't know exactly what was going on. I didn't know what Matt Dillon had done to Kristy but she came back a wreck.

Kristy was phenomenal, Tatum...not so much.

Ironic how both leads ended up being lesbians IRL

R18, it’s like rain on your wedding day.

There was another thread about Little Darlings a few weeks ago that people were responding too. Some QUEEN said - Why would Matt Dillon be interested in Kristy McNichol she was as plain as an OLD SHOE. I laughed OUT LOUD when I read that.

Matt Dillon certainly passed for straight FAR BETTER than Kristy McNichol.

[quote]I think the initial casting was Brooke Shields for the Tatum role and Diane Lane for the Kristy role.

I’m having a difficult time picturing that.

Matt Dillon hasn't aged very well

I was a year younger than the girls in the film when it came out. Already active. I remember thinking the drama about sex was so fake. KM was good tho. TO’N Meh. I felt like her choices were to show range. Contrast to what she’d done before, not for the best of the story.

It was important in that a young Matt Dillion was in it.

Kristy, Tatum, Cynthia...What a dykalicious movie set that must have been.

I remember it being more more enjoyable and less preachy than the insufferable and ultimately laughable Foxes (1980)

Armand Assante's hairy chest was a work of art.

R27-, He was HOT in Private Benjamin.

Important? Not at all. I remember being ten years old, and seeing the ads on TV, wishing I could see it. And I remember when it showed on a network as their Sunday night movie a few years later.

But it was on no level important.

Boy George once said ( this was ca. 1984) that he wanted to be Matt Dillon's underwear.

It’s really kind of a dumb movie for the most part, but KM was legitimately good in it. Someone above mentioned FoL and it was always so obvious how Nancy McKeon was modeling her acting after Kristy in her more “vulnerable moments,” which the FoL writers were apparently blown away by but I always thought were so forced and bordered on cheesy. KM did that kind of stuff much better.

I don’t think her appearance necessarily meant “dykey” - I honestly think a good number of girls go through a phase like that around that age. What it really was a sign of though, was that Kristy was anorexic, and when child actors get to that age and start to show hips and breast, their agents and casting directors pressure them to diet (or drug) those curves off. Or at least they used to.

Also, Cynthia Nixon had the most yellow teeth I’ve ever seen.

I remember in some gossip rag there was an article about "Little Darlings." The tutor for the cast (they had to spend a few hours taking classes each day) said they all were lazy, spoiled brats except for Cynthia Nixon. She said she was the only one who was well behaved and did the school work required of her.

I remember the time period and plenty of straight girls dressed and acted like Kristy. It was the age of the tomboy and unisex denim.

Pretty forgettable movie in my opinion that was about some stupid contest to lose their virginity. Kristy was always odd looking (her face wasn't symmetrical) and i can't recall any of the acting of anyone on the cast. Pretty much a non-blip on my radar.