Tuff Turf
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DVD details
Actor: Claudette Nevins, James Spader, Kim Richards, Matt Clark, Paul MonesDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-03-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
DVD Reviews of Tuff Turf
DVD Review: "Don't let them fool you...of course size matters, this is the 80s!"
Summary: 3 Stars
Everybody has to start somewhere, and while Tuff Turf (1985) wasn't James Spader's first film, I do believe it was the first film he actually had the lead role in as Morgan Hiller, possibly the world's oldest high school student (Spader was about 25 years of age when he appeared in this film). Directed by Fritz Kiersch (Children of the Corn, Gor), the film features, along with Spader, popular child actress Kim Richards (Escape to Witch Mountain, Meatballs Part II), Paul Mones (Streets of Fire), Matt Clark (White Lightning, Brubaker), Claudette Nevins (Sleeping with the Enemy), and the miracle of modern science Robert Downey Jr. (Weird Science, Back to School)...seriously, I'm surprised this guy is still around, given his love for both legal (alcohol) and illegal substances.
As the movie begins we see Morgan Hiller (Spader) riding his ten-speed bicycle through the dark, busy L.A. city streets sans any reflective clothing (kids, don't try this at home...it may seem cool, but how cool is it to be laid up in a hospital for six months when you get creamed by a car?)...anyway, we see some gang members (I use the term `gang' loosely here, as they're the typically 80s gang types, sporting bandanas and rough trade clothing, the kind that wouldn't last five minutes in the real world) rousting a businessman. Morgan rides through and breaks up the action, raising the ire of the faux punks, who vow vengeance. Turns out Morgan and his family were once well-to-do Connecticut types, until his father, played by Clark, lost his business, and they since had to relocate to the comparatively modest setting of L.A.'s inner city (Morgan's mother, played by Nevins, is as WASPy as they come, and seems to be taking the adjustment harder than the rest). As Morgan attends his first day at the local high school, the gang from the night before, lead by Nick (Mones), take notice, and begin giving him a hard time, especially after Morgan takes a shine to Nick's girlfriend Frankie, played by Richards. After this a number of things happen like a choreographed number during a rock concert at an abandoned warehouse, a dead rat in a locker, Morgan and Frankie crashing a posh country club affair (complete with Morgan serenading Frankie on the piano...oh geez), someone gets shot, Morgan puts the moves on Frankie, and so on, leading up to the final showdown between Nick and Morgan, and, as per the tagline for the film, we learn `tuff turf' is `where enemies are made, reputations are earned and love is the most risky affair of all'...or something like that...
Well, I'll say this for Tuff Turf, it's certainly steeped in the 80s... bandanas, fried hair, too much make-up, fingerless gloves, studded belts, rayon shirts, hi-top sneakers, painters caps, hand cuffs used as accessories, an over abundance of synthesized music (there's a `synthesizer realization' credit at the end, which, to me was a fancy way of saying `keyboardist'), and so on...the movie was okay, but there seemed to be just a bit too much crammed into the story, causing the film to run a lot longer than it needed to...there's the main plot device in the love triangle between Morgan, Frankie, and Nick, and then there's various subplots that don't really go anywhere like Morgan being compared to his more successful older brother, friction between Morgan and his mother, Morgan and Frankie coming from different sides of the tracks, the angle of Morgan's family once being wealthy and now having to `slum' it, Frankie still dealing with the passing of her mother, etc. Seemed like all of these secondary elements were touched upon as to try and force some sort of character development, but none of them were ever really explored to properly do so...in my opinion, much of this could have been left out, and the film would have worked much better. Also, that lengthy, choreographed dance number at the warehouse, along with Spader's character impromptu piano serenade towards Frankie at the country club (by the way, I highly doubt that was Spader actually singing), were two things I could have done without, but then I'm not really big on ill-fitting musical numbers. One aspect that really annoyed the hell out of me was the crummy, zen-like, new age bunk passed off by a couple of the characters in the film. In one scene, Morgan's father, the once wealthy businessman, now cabbie, passes along this little nugget..."Life isn't a problem to be solved, it's a mystery to be lived, so live it!" Uh, yeah, okay...seeing as how he was once a rich and powerful leader of industry, now reduced to (gasp!) driving a cab (night shift, no less), I'd be pretty reluctant to take any advice from him. Another scene has Morgan spewing out the following line..."I don't think you can hold on to anything until you let it go." Just what the hell does that mean? It sounds pretty...overall, the performances aren't that bad (Kim Richards is awful easy on the eyes), if you can buy off on that Spader's supposed to be a high school student. Paul Mones, who played the main antagonist Nick, was a bit over the top for my tastes, but then there's always one in a movie like this. The funniest aspect for me was Morgan's mother, played by Claudette Nevins...she had obviously yet to fully come to terms with her new, modest surroundings, maintaining her country clubbish attitudes that were way beyond her and her families' current means. Robert Downey Jr.'s part was meager, and was more or less the same character he played in the film Back to School (1986), only in that latter film it was more realized. Overall Tuff Turf is decent, but it could have been a lot better had they lost a few of the clunkier elements of the story and tightened up the running time (the film runs nearly an hour and forty-five minutes). If you want to see a better film from the 80s with Spader (as the baddie), I'd suggest checking out The New Kids (1985), recently released onto DVD.
The picture quality, presented in widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic, on this Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release looks sharp and clean, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through well, with no complaints. The only extras included are a theatrical trailer and an insert booklet featuring a still photo collage from the movie.
Cookieman108
By the way, here's an interesting nugget...did you know both James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. are high school dropouts? Probably not something either are proud of, but it's true...
Description of Tuff Turf
For morgan hiller its tough enough being the new kid in school. But when he tangles with a local gang he becomes the lone target of some rough revenge. And when he falls for the gang leaders girlfriend the situation turns from dangerous to deadly. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 06/08/2004 Starring: James Spader Paul Mones Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R Director: Fritz KierschBestsellers in DVD
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