An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.
Loretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.
A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
Rusty Dennis is the mother of Rocky, a seriously deformed, but extremely intelligent and emotionally warm teenager. Rusty is a no-nonsense mother whose wild lifestyle is often at odds with her tenderness and protectiveness towards Rocky. She is determined that Rocky be given the same chances and happiness that everyone else takes for granted.Written by
Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
According to Peter Bogdanovich, on Sunday, March 14, 2004, in a talk at the Cleveland, Ohio Public Library, he had secured the rights for the Bruce Springsteen songs and this movie was re-released with the music that had been chosen the first time around. There was a possible snag when the studio told Bogdanovich that the negative of the film had been lost, they only had positive prints, but the negative hadn't really been lost; Bogdanovich had removed it from the studio several years before. This has been released on DVD as the Director's Cut version. See more »
Goofs
When Laura Dern is leaving the camp (right before her parents arrive) you can clearly hear one of the children that she hugs refer to her as Laura instead of Diana, her character name. See more »
Quotes
[to a student staring at her son's face]
Rusty Dennis:
What's the matter, never seen anyone from the planet Vulcan before?
See more »
Alternate Versions
The Director's Cut print runs around 7 minutes longer and includes a scene where Rocky & Rusty sing around a bonfire, and the funeral of cyclist Red (his motorbike is buried beside him). It also replaces the songs with those of . See more »
This is one of those movies that makes you feel good. Despite the knowledge of Rocky's inevitable fate, you will like this film. Watching him deal with other kids' initial fear and hatred towards him because of his appearance, he eventually gets them to like and respect him. The best part is that this is based on a true story. You will love it, guaranteed.
*** 1/2 out of ****
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This is one of those movies that makes you feel good. Despite the knowledge of Rocky's inevitable fate, you will like this film. Watching him deal with other kids' initial fear and hatred towards him because of his appearance, he eventually gets them to like and respect him. The best part is that this is based on a true story. You will love it, guaranteed.
*** 1/2 out of ****