NEWSLETTER

BY MIKE SACKS

“They were old enough to know better, but too young to care. And now this town is... Over the Edge.”—From the theatrical trailer

Richie (Matt Dillon) and Carl (Michael Kramer) being arrested by Sergeant Doberman (Harry Northup).

In the spring of 1979, a small-budget movie with a somewhat corny-sounding name was released in just a handful of theaters in New York and Los Angeles, only to be pulled a few days later due to concerns that audiences would riot. Based (loosely) on a true story about suburban youth gone wild in the suburbs of San Francisco in the early 70s, Over the Edge would never receive wide distribution. In fact, over the next 25 years, the film would be shown in only a few art houses and on cable TV, until its eventual DVD release in September 2005.

The film, as certain critics like to label it, is a “lost classic,” and yet—unlike the majority of lost or “cult” classics—Over the Edge is actually worth seeking out. Filled with scenes that are difficult to shake, with teen characters played by real-life teenagers (how often does that happen anymore?), and with an authenticity so intense that it appears at times as if the film could very well be a documentary, Over the Edge remains as thrilling today as it must have appeared three decades ago. While somewhat raw and certainly not without imperfections, it’s easy to understand why Kurt Cobain claimed that the movie “pretty much defined my whole personality,” and why it so heavily influenced Richard Linklater in making his own ode to restless youth, Dazed and Confused.

Starring a 14-year-old Matt Dillon in his first screen role, as well as a cast of mostly young unknowns (discovered, for the most part, while they were ditching school), Over the Edge manages to highlight a problem that has only grown and become more problematic since the 70s: kids, stuck in the suburbs, far from any city center, with nothing much to do beyond the usual Teen Axis of Evil: drugging, drinking, and petty-criminal acts. (That the film was shot in Greeley, Colorado, less than an hour from where the Columbine High School massacre would take place 20 years later, is, at the very least, a sad, if bizarre, coincidence.)

The plot is simple: Carl (played by Michael Kramer), a decent teen who feels estranged from his distracted parents, befriends a miscreant from the poorer section of the community (Richie, played by Matt Dillon). The two, along with friends, including a druggie and a mute, attend parties, fire stolen guns, drink in abandoned, half-built houses, and get arrested (in a scene that birthed the classic line, sneered by Matt Dillon, “A kid who tells on another kid is a dead kid.”). Continually harassed by the local policeman Sergeant Doberman (Harry Northup) and looking for adventure, Carl and Richie attempt to run away in a stolen Jeep. They are caught, and Richie is killed when he aims an unloaded gun at Doberman. Carl escapes back to the development, where, later that night, a group of angry teens attack the junior high school while a parents’ meeting on youth violence is taking place. The teens lock the adults inside as they burn cars, shoot guns, and cause mayhem in the parking lot. They are subsequently arrested and sent off to “the Hill.”

On this, the movie’s 30th anniversary, Vice spoke with nearly 20 of the film’s cast and crew to try to piece together the often arduous making of Over the Edge, the frustrations felt upon its initial release, and how the film, all these years later, still manages to influence generation after generation of filmmakers.

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Comments

Anonymous, on Feb 6, 2010 wrote: I’m glad that "Over the Edge" is the opening night film for Film Comment Selects 2010. One of my favorite films!
Anonymous, on Jan 10, 2010 wrote: "blowing joints down AT Cherry Creek"!! Sorry, but with the content of the movie, that needed a correction!
Anonymous, on Jan 10, 2010 wrote: Chatfield was not built a the time this movie was made. That’s Cherry Creek dam that the cop chases them across, and note that the dam is in several other scenes. The place where he shoots the guy riding his motorcycle is also Cherry Creek res. I grew up blowing joints down and Cherry Creek, siphoning gas from my parents car to put in my girlfriend’s car, and sleeping in unfinished houses less than a mile from there, so I know the place, and the movie. Was Kim Kliner from Denver? I could swear she looks just like someone I knew when I was going through this exact phase of my life, and living out near there. I could swear she lived in Aurora. It probably all just seems so real, I think I knew some of them.
Anonymous, on Nov 29, 2009 wrote: "Los Olvidados," "Rebel Without a Cause," "Over the Edge."
Anonymous, on Nov 18, 2009 wrote: Excellent movie. Watched it on HBO when it first came out in 1980-81, bought the VHS version around 91-92, and ordered the DVD a few years ago when it came out. A true classic. Enjoy.
Anonymous, on Nov 18, 2009 wrote: the vehicle was a Ford Bronco, not a Jeep
Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote: ’Foxes’ is amazing! And it has Cherie from The Runaways as Jodie Foster’s best friend!
Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote: OVER THE EDGE is the best teen rebellion flick ever. NO CONTEST.
Anonymous, on Nov 6, 2009 wrote: - Has anyone ever seen "Foxes" with Jodie Foster? It’s the teen-girl version of "Over the Edge" if Matt Dillon was an androgynous 17 year old and the first half of "Now and Then" took place in 1981 L.A.
Anonymous, on Oct 27, 2009 wrote: It was filmed primarily in Aurora CO, not Greely. The HS scenes were in Greely.
	willy, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote: As just a movie I don’t think it beats IF or even Rumblefish - but it’s more real and straightforward look at why kids treated like shit will explode like-- um methane.
Anonymous, on Oct 18, 2009 wrote: The Connections between Columbine (Littleton, Colorado) and this film are no coincidence.
Anonymous, on Oct 16, 2009 wrote: Idiot who call someone who like the movie a poser film buff are themselves posers and idiots to boot.
Anonymous, on Oct 16, 2009 wrote: this movie is good not great- poser film buffs seem to like it alot. ha
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: Okay i really need to hunt down a copy of this movie, i feel like i have missed out. i’m surprised it isn’t more well know, it doesn’t sound that "inappropriate".
Anonymous, on Oct 10, 2009 wrote: "Over the Edge" is way better than "The Warriors," "Boulevard Nights" & "Walk Proud." It’s emotional, real & explosive.
Anonymous, on Oct 5, 2009 wrote: Andy Romano as Carl’s dad kicks ass!!
Anonymous, on Oct 2, 2009 wrote: oh man, look at that kid and his crop top. boys cant pull that off
Anonymous, on Oct 1, 2009 wrote: Actor Harry E. Northup gave a tremendous performance portraying Sgt. Doberman in this influential movie.
Anonymous, on Oct 1, 2009 wrote: Actor Harry E. Northup gave a tremendous performance portraying Sgt. Doberman in this influential movie.
Anonymous, on Oct 1, 2009 wrote: Richie White lives!
Anonymous, on Sep 28, 2009 wrote: hi old men!!!
Anonymous, on Sep 28, 2009 wrote: over the edge is a classic that kicks breakfast club’s ass.
Anonymous, on Sep 28, 2009 wrote: hello brooklyn indie kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous, on Sep 27, 2009 wrote: GREAT article about the best teen rebel flick ever. My band DRATS!!! has a rock operetta CD entitled ’WELCOME TO NEW GRANADA’ based on Over the Edge. I was really glad to see that Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick was interviewed for this article. Their music was such a perfect fit for this movie. Listening to ’Surrender’ on headphones to get away from it all? Nothing beats that. -Chairman DRATS!!! (Portland, OR)
Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote: lo. this guy has talent. unfortunately...i knew a guy like him in reform school, that ended up blowing his head off. it was a rip off to the rest of us. very talented creative writer. "because fagg0ts like you don’t know fuck all about colorado - and would suck the c0ck of "OMG COLUMBINE" like a good little hooker. Keep sucking that p3nis fagg0t. Let’s see some yummy yummy cvm dripping from those fagg0t lips " tell you what i know about colorado: it’s the capital of 12-year-old quake-obssessed nerds who spend way too much time on 4chan and obsess about fucking their mom (it’s true--I knew this neo-evangelical kid who was from colorado and he would always touch his mom like he wanted to tongue her asshole). in other words, you are a shit stain on the underpants of a retard who is also a suppressed child molester. people like you need to be tagged as "oxygen wasters" and thrown in a garbage truck where you’ll be smashed like the useless piece of shit you are."
Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote: there is a whole point of view in this story that you bozos missed.
Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote: "Anonymous, on Sep 24, 2009 wrote: re:Jesus... What is this, algebra class? If shithead commenter one leaves his house heading east at 60 mph and shithead commenter two leaves his house heading west at 40 mph, when will they meet at I-don’t-give-a-shit? -- because fagg0ts like you don’t know fuck all about colorado - and would suck the c0ck of "OMG COLUMBINE" like a good little hooker. Keep sucking that p3nis fagg0t. Let’s see some yummy yummy cvm dripping from those fagg0t lips " tell you what i know about colorado: it’s the capital of 12-year-old quake-obssessed nerds who spend way too much time on 4chan and obsess about fucking their mom (it’s true--I knew this neo-evangelical kid who was from colorado and he would always touch his mom like he wanted to tongue her asshole). in other words, you are a shit stain on the underpants of a retard who is also a suppressed child molester. people like you need to be tagged as "oxygen wasters" and thrown in a garbage truck where you’ll be smashed like the useless piece of shit you are.
Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote: One of the most underrated films of the 1970s. Teenage angst gone awry.
Anonymous, on Sep 24, 2009 wrote: re:Jesus... What is this, algebra class? If shithead commenter one leaves his house heading east at 60 mph and shithead commenter two leaves his house heading west at 40 mph, when will they meet at I-don’t-give-a-shit? -- because fagg0ts like you don’t know fuck all about colorado - and would suck the c0ck of "OMG COLUMBINE" like a good little hooker. Keep sucking that p3nis fagg0t. Let’s see some yummy yummy cvm dripping from those fagg0t lips .
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