Smooth Talk 1986

      This film is based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates titled Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.  Free-spirited fifteen-year-old Connie Wyatt may be too young to drive?  But, she's already driving the boys crazy.  Now she is anxious to escape the boredom of family farm life.  Her suspicious mother wants to keep her safely at home.  But Connie would rather while away the languid summer days hanging out with her friends and flirting with boys at the local burger stand.  She flirts with a handsome and mysterious stranger named Arnold Friend.  She finds herself in dangerous waters and she must prepare herself for some frightening and traumatic consequences.  

     Although filmed in Northern California the look of this movie was also meant to be infused with East Coast imagery.  It is based on Director Joyce Chopra and writer Tom Cole’s home of Kent Connecticut.  Additional inspiration came from photographer Joel Meyerowitz's book "Cape Light" (1979).  This book is a collection of images from Cape Cod Massachusetts.  A scene in the movie where Connie hides from Friend in her home's hallway was specifically modeled after one of Meyerowitz's photos.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

92 min, Drama directed by Joyce Chopra and written by Joyce Carol Oates and Tom Cole with Treat Williams, Laura Dern, Mary Kay Place, Margaret Welsh, Sara Inglis, Levon Helm, Elizabeth Berridge, Geoff Hoyle, William Ragsdale, David Berridge, Cab Covay, Michael French, Joy Carlin, Mark McKay, Carl Mueller.

Note:  Imdb 6.8* out of 10* with 1852 reviews, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 90% with 20 critic reviews 42% with 1000+ audience scores, Slant Magazine 3 1/2* out of 4* Jake Cole, thefilmfile.com 4*, Dustin Putman, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 77 reviews, Metacritic 74 out of 100 with 13 critic reviews.

Special Note:  This novel is often hailed as a literary masterpiece  because of the many motifs and insightful views on modern culture.  This movie was also based on Director Joyce Chopra’s previous documentary 1975.  The documentary follows the everyday lives of three girls for about six months.  Several moments were replicated to establish Connie's character as a typical teenage girl during the first half of the movie.  Director Joyce Chopra knew Laura Dern was right for the role of Connie when she heard "Is That the Way You Look?" from James Taylor playing on Dern's answering machine!!  Ironically and unknown to Dern, Taylor was the movie's music director.  She had suggested using that song in particular as one of the soundtrack's featured songs.