Fresh Horses (1988)

A Cincinnati college student breaks off his engagement to his wealthy fiancée after he falls in love with a backwoods Kentucky girl he meets at a party. She claims to be 20 years old, but ... See full summary »

Director:

David Anspaugh

Writer:

Larry Ketron (screenplay)

Stars:

Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Patti D'Arbanville

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Molly Ringwald	...	Jewel
Andrew McCarthy	...	Matt Larkin
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Jean
Ben Stiller	...	Tipton
Leon Russom	...	Kyle Larkin
Molly Hagan	...	Ellen
Viggo Mortensen	...	Green
Doug Hutchison	...	Sproles
Chiara Peacock	...	Alice
Marita Geraghty	...	Maureen
Rachel Jones	...	Babe
Welker White	...	Christy
Christy Budig	...	Laurel
Larry Ketron	...	Roy
Ken Strunk	...	Dr. Lippincutt

Storyline

A Cincinnati college student breaks off his engagement to his wealthy fiancée after he falls in love with a backwoods Kentucky girl he meets at a party. She claims to be 20 years old, but he learns that she's actually just 16 and already married.

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Plot Keywords:

engagement | class differences | molestation | animal in title | title based on shakespeare | 

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Taglines:

Love doesn't have to last a lifetime.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Zärtliche Liebe

Filming Locations:

Alexandria, Kentucky, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$6,640,346 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Weintraub Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Larry Ketron's screenplay is an adaptation of his own play.

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Quotes

Jewel: I went through it and it's over, it's done with and I wanna forget about it. I passed out, I musta passed out 'cause I woke up this morning with my clothes every which way and I just straightened myself up and I come right here.

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Connections

Referenced in Psych: Murder?... Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller? (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Blue Jean Blues"
Written by Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard and Dusty Hill
Performed by ZZ TOP

User Reviews

Shoot the Horse, It's Lame, Lame, Lame

"When you become our age, it's harder and harder to make friends" says Tipton as he loyally stands by Matt. Jeez, with friends like that, it's no wonder this lame movie got made - no one was brave enough to tell any of the cast how bad it was. Didn't any of them watch the dailies?

So, maybe at some point in his career Andrew managed to rustle up major chemistry, but in this movie, he manages to deliver the eternal best friend chemistry instead of the lost in lust type. He's very likable, but I don't think that's what we were going for, and he is just miscast. And Molly delivered some of her lines like she was reading them for the first time from the teleprompter ("I'm used" she says in the same tone she would use to announce "pink is my color") instead of part innocent/part femme fatale. I don't think either of them was getting the coaching they needed.

The tension between the college and the surroundings was interesting for a while, but difficult to fathom. There aren't many universities that I can think of (maybe it's a Midwest thing?) that are so close to the swamps of Deliverance.

When this movie came out, I really wanted to see it, because I loved St. Elmo's Fire. I wasn't able to because of school and work. I'm glad I missed it and saw it on cable, although I wasted quite some time waiting for the good part...waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe there was a good story there at some point, but it didn't show up on the screen.