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Description: At 14 years old, Lukas is a bit too small for his age, and far too smart for his high school classmates. He's more interested in symphonies and science fairs than food fights and football. But when Lucas finds himself falling in love with a cheerleader, who only has eyes for the school's top jock, he grows desperate for her attention, Even if it means risking his pride and his neck at the big game.Amazon.com: A surprisingly engaging story of puppy love and friendship in a teen setting, this film focuses on the title character (Corey Haim), who is nerdy but winningly outgoing. He falls madly for a new girl in town (Kerri Green); since school is out for the summer, he becomes her only friend--until she meets his hunky pal (Charlie Sheen). Meanwhile, Lucas ignores the romantic yearnings of another female pal (Winona Ryder, in her screen debut). Written and directed by David Seltzer, this one is a charmer with substance, featuring strong, open performances by its young cast. It's also fascinating to watch today, more than a decade later, and consider what became of these performers: while Ryder grew to be one of Hollywood's brightest lights, Haim descended into substance abuse, as did Sheen, whose predilection for call girls also made him a talk-show punch line. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
- Great movie and sad at the end I always cry: I just want to say that I love this movie. Cory Haim plays this hs student Lucas who is so interested in this girl that he joins the football team just to impress her so she would consider him. He's so tiny and gets hurt pretty bad and winds up in the hospital, but in the end he goes back to school and they all clap for him and it has a very happy ending. Great movie and sad at the end I always cry because I'm so happy for Lucas.
- PUPPY LOVE... TE LLEGA AL CORAZON: Una de esas magnificas peliculas que se salen del esquema tradicional (y atorrante) de "la chica bonita y el chico guapo"; Lucas es sencillamente lo que llamariamos un INADAPTADO SOCIAL, el tipo con sus propias ideas raras que no encaja con el circulo social tipico de la gente joven (fiestas, deportes, rock, bailes y noviazgos); el es simplemente diferente, fanatico de la naturaleza, intelectual (nerd),amante de la musica clasica, timido... y muy solitario e incomprendido, a causa de lo cual es objeto de constantes burlas y desprecio por los demas; la pelicula cumple la maravillosa funcion de mostrarnos el corazon de un ser humano que necesita sentirse amado, comprendido y aceptado (como muchos de nosotros alguna vez); el drama comienza cuando Lucas se enamora de una Chief-Leader y esto le lleva a hacer cosas tontas y hasta riesgosas para demostrale su amor... ¡¡INCLUSO HUMILLARSE!! es obvio que todos llevamos a un Lucas por dentro ¿no creen?; MARAVILLOSA PARA VERLA CON TODA LA FAMILIA.
- "LUCAS" IS CLASSIC, CHARMING, POIGNANT TRIP BACK TO MID-1980'S TEEN CINEMA: Long before he was forced by obscurity and/or poverty to try selling his teeth on the Internet for cash, Corey Haim had a brief heydey in mid-1980's films.
(SEE HAIM ALSO IN "SILVER BULLET" AND "THE LOST BOYS.")
This charming film from writer/director David Seltzer is the best. I was delighted to find this on DVD at Amazon,com, and equally delighted to find, after all these years, that the movie retains all of its charm.
Haim plays Lucas, a scrawny geek who doesn't fit in anywhere. He covers his pain by being goofy and outspoken. We know little of his home life. We hear his dad is "alcoholic" and nobody knows where his mother is.
Lucas is smart and sensitive. Lucas loves insects and classical music. He soon falls in love with Maggie (Kerri Green) the new girl in town. The two begin a touching friendship, but things change a bit once school starts. Maggie cares for Lucas, but falls for sensitive/sexy football player Cap (Charlie Sheen). Meanwhile, Lucas never notices that Rena (Winona Ryder in her film debut) has a crush on him. Instead, he joins the football team in order to prove his "prowess" and attractiveness to females. Lucas nearly gets himself killed, but he gains the respect of the entire school.
There is one unfortunate moment in a football team locker room/shower scene where a negative term for "gay" (The Other "F" word) is used. That is unnecessary, but brief. This is almost compensated for by the fact that, even here at age 22. Charlie Sheen is smolderingly sexy. Sheen appears in a lengthy scene without a shirt on, and I say "Thank You, God!" for that. Gratuitous, yes, but I'm extremely grateful.
You could watch this movie and play a game of "Whatever Became Of..." ? as several members of the young cast, including Jeremy Piven, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Ryder, and Charlie Sheen went on to notable careers. I think Sheen and Green appeared together in another film at the same time period titled "THREE FOR THE ROAD". If anybody knows where I can pick that one up, please let me know; and, does anybody know whatever happened to Kerri Green? I'd like to know. And, say what you will about his messy private life or controversial political views, Sheen is a survivor who has worked for a stable, solid career. Whatever individual fates may have befallen the cast, and the sad fact that Haim has virtually vanished off the world radar, "LUCAS" holds up remarkably well; well enough, in fact, to achieve a poignant timelessness and be acknowledged as one of the "CLASSIC" teen films of the 1980's era.
The double sided DVD includes both Full Screen and Wide-Screen presentations of the film - The Painful First Love: A beautiful history of a first love between two teenagers. This history is not far from actual love stories, a handsome men, whit an actual girlfriend, but he is falling in love from other girl, and thes girl has a fan too, who is falling in love... Corey Haim, Charlie Sheen and Winona Ryder looks very young in this excellent film.
- My Favorite Silly 80s Movie: The eighties were Hollywood's "Golden Age" when it comes to teen movies. For a few years you had a string of movies featuring realistic dialog and an accurate depiction of teenage angst caused by the belief that everything matters just a bit too much. Sure, the plots could be clichéd, but the characters and dialog were believable and nothing was too far-fetched or predictable. Of course, all good things come to an end and now the term "teen movie" refers to a comedy filled with one-dimensional characters, nudity, and shock humor. There's nothing wrong with an over-the-top comedy, but it's a shame that they've more or less wiped out the old teen dramas and coming-of-age stories.
When it comes to the eighties movies it seems like the Brat Pack/John Hughes films get the most attention, but the best movie of them all was David Seltzer's "Lucas."
Here's the basic plot: Maggie moves to town during the summer and gets noticed by a local nerd, Lucas. A friendship forms between them, even though he's younger, and he develops a crush on her, but things change when school starts. It's not that she doesn't want to be his friend--but she also meets new people, and Lucas is so busy trying to be a part of Maggie's world that he doesn't even notice the advances of another girl (a young Winona Ryder).
"Lucas" is melodramatic at times, but that just makes it more realistic. Teenagers DO tend to make everything into a life-or-death situation and they make crazy choices to get what they want. All of the characters in this movie defy stereotypes. Lucas isn't just nerd who can be written off--he's a sympathetic character. But so is Maggie...and the jock football player played by Charlie Sheen. Everyone makes tough choices due to their hormones. It's easy to think the movie is silly at time--it's been spoofed a hundred times I think--but it's also a movie worth seeing. It was pretty much the best thing Cory Haim or Kerri Green ever starred in.
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