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Smooth Talk (1985)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
28 February 1986 (USA)
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Plot:
Based on the short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been", by Joyce Carol Oates, this film chronicles a 15-year-old girl...
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Awards:
1 win
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5 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Signatures: Laura Dern
(From FilmExperience. 21 June 2009, 4:37 PM, PDT)
Screenwriter Cole Dies
(From WENN. 5 March 2009, 8:15 AM, PST)
(From FilmExperience. 21 June 2009, 4:37 PM, PDT)
Screenwriter Cole Dies
(From WENN. 5 March 2009, 8:15 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Strange mix of growing-pains drama and psychological study
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Treat Williams | ... | Arnold Friend | |
| Laura Dern | ... | Connie | |
| Mary Kay Place | ... | Katherine | |
| Margaret Welsh | ... | Laura | |
| Sara Inglis | ... | Jill (as Sarah Inglis) | |
| Levon Helm | ... | Harry | |
| Elizabeth Berridge | ... | June | |
| Geoff Hoyle | ... | Ellie | |
| William Ragsdale | ... | Jeff | |
| David Berridge | ... | Eddie | |
| Cab Covay | ... | Pick-up Driver | |
| Michael French | ... | Stan | |
| Joy Carlin | ... | Laura's Mother | |
| Mark McKay | ... | Bobby King | |
| Carl Mueller | ... | Mall Boy |
Additional Details
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Runtime:
92 min
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Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Movie Connections:
Featured in Indie Sex: Teens (2007) (TV)
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Soundtrack:
Silent Submission
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Laura Dern is perfect as lanky lass in a small town sparring with her parents, estranged from her older sister, desperate to be liked and to be with boys. Opening moments of this adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"--with Dern and friends doing the mall--are realistic but nothing too original; second portion of the film, with Laura meeting smooth talking Treat Williams (who comes dressed like the James Dean poster on Dern's wall) is elongated and dry (you can almost feel the director's confidence slipping away). It's an encounter I didn't particularly care for, nor did I buy the rosy ending either. However, there are fine moments in "Smooth Talk", the most devastating of which lies in a conversation between Dern and indifferent sis Elizabeth Berridge (in a terrific performance): Dern recalls a vivid, lovely childhood memory between the two, but after listening and thinking it over, Berridge tells her, "I don't remember..." **1/2 from ****