Lucas (1986)

A socially inept fourteen year old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends -- Cappie, an older-brother figure, and Maggie, the new girl with whom he is in love -- fall for each other.

Director:

David Seltzer

Writer:

David Seltzer

Stars:

Corey Haim, Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Corey Haim	...	Lucas
Kerri Green	...	Maggie
Charlie Sheen	...	Cappie
Courtney Thorne-Smith	...	Alise
Winona Ryder	...	Rina
Tom Hodges	...	Bruno (as Thomas E. Hodges)
Ciro Poppiti	...	Ben
Guy Boyd	...	Coach
Jeremy Piven	...	Spike
Kevin Wixted	...	Tonto (as Kevin Gerard Wixted)
Emily Seltzer	...	Marie
Erika Leigh	...	Mary Ellen
Annie Ryan	...	Angie (as Anne Ryan)
Jason Alderman	...	Tony
Tom Mackie	...	Billy

Storyline

A socially inept fourteen year old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends--one an older-brother figure, the other a girl with whom he is in love-- fall for each other.

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Plot Keywords:

coming of age | high school | cheerleader | high school student | one word title | 

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Taglines:

It's about falling in love...for the first time.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lucas

Filming Locations:

1412 Waverly Rd., Highland Park, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,250,101, 30 March 1986, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$8,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charlie Sheen's tattoo on his upper right arm had to be covered with make up to make him appear to be a legitimate high school student. It can still be seen through the make up in the scene where Cappie and Maggie are in the laundry room where Charlie Sheen is shirtless.

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Goofs

Lucas talks about locusts in the film. The insect featured in the movie is a cicada.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Lucas walks along the train tracks and see's the football players and cheerleaders practicing in the school field]
Cappie: Ready! Hut! Ok! All right.
Cheer Coach: Get up there! 5, 6, 7, 8. Come on! Don't break! 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Come on. Good! Good. Smile! Look up. Come on. Smile!
Cheerleader: There's someone out there!
[a cheerleader see's Lucas out in the bushes and breaks the pyramid as the cheerleaders all fall to the grass]
Cheerleader: There he is! I think he's got a gun or something.
Cheerleader: [...]

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Breakthrough Stars of 1991 (1991)

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Soundtracks

Follow Your Heart
Written and Performed by Peter Rafelson

User Reviews

Extraordinary inspiration...

There's something extraordinary about "Lucas"; something that makes it impossible for us to reject it. We have always watched movies like "Lucas" along the ages, I have watched plenty of movies like it; and have disliked them all. Not that "Lucas" is great, but you know what I say about 'Love Actually"? If you express it with this film, "Lucas" is good as a movie, but almost brilliant as a family inspirational picture.

What happens in the film is like a tale…An old tale of a boy who is not accepted in his everyday environment and tries to live with it. The hero of this tale is the special Lucas, played by Corey Haim as a boy who is definitely stranger and more intelligent than the rest of his companions; it's something you notice immediately.

Or at least Maggie (Kerri Green) notices it. She spends the entire summer with him and when school starts he doesn't know what's going to happen. Logically, he has his two or three nerdy best friends that are there for him, included a girl named Rina (the first role Winona Ryder ever played, with 15 years old or so…Gorgeous), who obviously likes him and follows his look while he is searching for Maggie on the first day of classes.

It's not that Lucas dislikes his friends, but that he had sensed something different when knowing Maggie. But Maggie is older, and interested in older guys like Cappie (a very young Charlie Sheen), for example. In a very good scene where Cappie takes care of Lucas, Maggie thanks him and they both talk about Lucas…My brother thought Maggie was in love with Lucas, but I told him that she had a crush on Cappie…The movie understands the characters so well that it turned out the way I said, of course.

The language these kids deal with, the situations they live are real. David Seltzer, who directed and wrote the film, puts strong and hurtful words in his screenplay so they generate an impact in the picture's most moving moments. "But that doesn't turn you on, does it?", Lucas tells Maggie…That's not the kind of phrase you'd commonly listen a 13-year old say, even less on a film. That's the way Seltzer shapes his characters, in a way that we believe everything they declare and in a way that the only thing that becomes predictable in the movie is the storyline itself.

A known writer, Seltzer has directed few things. As a director, he also preserves his characters. Watch a beautiful scene where the choir is singing and the camera goes from side to side showing each of the main characters looking at the person he likes, but not one of them being corresponded with the look. That's perfect directing, even more in a film of this type…So classic: the simple edition (Priscilla Nedd-Friendly, "Down to Earth"), the touchy score (Dave Grusin, "The Goonies", "Hope Floats", "Selena").

What I'm trying to say is that, to Seltzer, is all about the movie. The actors don't show off, Corey Haim is the hero but not the star. It's about the movie; a piece with an absolutely clichéd resolution that we find inspiring and therefore embrace.