Baby It's You (1983)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

John Sayles

Writers:

Amy Robinson (story)
John Sayles (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 March 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

In 1966 New Jersey, Jill Rosen, a frustrated high schooler, is intrigued by an enigmatic new student known only as the Sheik...

Plot Keywords:

Title Based On Song | Intelligence | Adolescent | Nostalgic | Forbidden Love

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rosanna Arquette	...	Jill Rosen
Vincent Spano	...	Albert 'Sheik' Capadilupo
Joanna Merlin	...	Mrs. Rosen
Jack Davidson	...	Dr. Rosen
Nick Ferrari	...	Mr. Capadilupo
Dolores Messina	...	Mrs. Capadilupo
Leora Dana	...	Miss Vernon, Teacher
Bill Raymond	...	Mr. Ripeppi, Teacher (as William Joseph Raymond)
Sam McMurray	...	Mr. McManus, Teacher
Liane Alexandra Curtis	...	Jody, High School Girl (as Liane Curtis)
Claudia Sherman	...	Beth, High School Girl
Marta Kober	...	Debra, High School Girl
Tracy Pollan	...	Leslie, College Girl
Rachel Dretzin	...	Shelly, College Girl
Susan Derendorf	...	Chris, College Girl

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Double Play

Trivia:

This was the first theatrical film ever to feature the music of Bruce Springsteen.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Sheik and Jill leave on their trip to the New Jersey shore, they cross a large bridge that has the slogan "Trenton Makes - The World Takes" on it. This bridge actually takes you from Trenton into Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

Quotes:

Albert 'Sheik' Capadilupo: When we were in high school...
Jill Rosen: [shouts] We're not in high school any more.

Movie Connections:

References "Peyton Place" (1964)

Soundtrack:

Jungleland

Pleasant diversion, nothing more

Unlike other viewers, I didn't really connect with this on any major level. And I don't think their longing for each other was anything more than adolescent infatuation (hey, we've all been there!), made all the more desperate by separation anxiety. A couple of 18-year-olds struggling to find themselves in the world. OK as a romantic comedy drama, but no great shakes.

Performances were all solid. Interesting to see Matthew Modine pop up briefly as the college boyfriend. And it looked great -- nice and moody -- seemed like something out of the 1960s.

One thing bothered me: The use of Bruce Springsteen songs from the 1970s in a movie that was to have taken place in 1967 (not 1965, as another reviewer said -- the signs at Rosanna Arquette's prom clearly said, "Class of 1967"). Anyway, those Springsteen songs from the soundtrack wouldn't have been out yet. But I guess it was done to add a "Jersey feel" to the movie.