CHECK THIS OUT: 'Bad Boys' (1983)

There are plenty of prison movies ranging from 'The Shawshank Redemption' to the Sylvester Stallone vehicle, 'Escape Plan'. Whether they're good or bad, they all seem to follow a very similar template, and this is where Rick Rosenthal's criminally underrated 'Bad Boys' stands out.

'Bad Boys' from 1983, not to be confused with the Michael Bay action flick of the same name, is the story of two teenage street thugs living on the tough streets of Chicago. Our lead Mick O'Brien (played by a young Sean Penn) lives with his mother in a shabby apartment. We get a quick glimpse of Mick's home life as he shuffles up to his room, walking past his mom in the bath with a stranger. Mick just walks into his room, lays on his bed, strums an electric guitar and lights up a cigarette. It's an evocative image, and sets up the character wonderfully. Meanwhile, another hood named Pablo Moreno (played by Puerto Rican actor, Esai Morales) is living with his younger brother and mother. He too seems to long for nothing but crime on the street as we see him conduct a drug deal in the film's early moments. O'Brien and Moreno share a similar passion, but are enemies both on and off the streets. Each character has the one person that means the world to them. For Mick O'Brien it's his girlfriend, J.C. (Ally Sheedy) and for Paco Moreno it's his younger brother.

Destiny collides between the two enemies when a robbery goes horribly wrong and while trying to escape the cops, Mick runs over Moreno's younger brother, killing him instantly. As punishment, O'Brien is sent to the most dangerous Juvenile Delinquent Center in the state. There, O'Brien runs into many new friends, enemies and authority figures featuring the likes of great character actors like Reni Santoni, Clancy Brown and Jim Moody to name a few. Meanwhile, Paco is plotting his revenge towards O'Brien for the murder of his younger brother. After an intense series of events, Paco ends up in the same Juvenile delinquent center as Mick, causing the tension to be stretched to an immense level. Sparks will fly between the two blood-sworn enemies, it's just a matter of time.

Director Rick Rosenthal only directed one big screen outing before 'Bad Boys', 1981's 'Halloween II'. While I have some personal love for that film, it's very hard to believe that the man behind a sequel to a famous slasher flick would make such a powerful, raw and unique drama. Rosenthal films this early 80s movie as if he's already nostalgic towards the filmmaking of the seventies. 'Bad Boys' could absolutely fit somewhere between the likes of Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets' and John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' if it had been released a mere decade prior. Perhaps if 'Bad Boys' had been released in the mid-70s it would've gotten the recognition it deserved. Sadly, people were looking for more exciting and uplifting stories by 1983 and 'Bad Boys' probably slipped through the cracks.

One of the saddest things about the lack of notoriety for 'Bad Boys' is that so many people are missing out on what may be one of Sean Penn's finest performances. Right off the heels of his immortal role as Spicolli in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', Penn started his dramatic film persona with taking up the role of Mick O'Brien. I'd argue that it might be Penn's best work. I really think a great actor is one who shows emotion without warning the audience that he or she will do something inspired. In one sequence, when Mick is reunited with his girlfriend, Mick goes from confused to sorrowful all in the period of about two seconds. It's tremendous work. The supporting cast is also terrific, but it's Esai Morales as Paco who really seems up to the challenge when put into scenes with Penn.

'Bad Boys' is a near flawless film, but one many don't know about. It's raw without being heartless and it's uplifting without being sappy. It encapsulates many tropes of the prison film sub-genre, but it doesn't follow the same route as many of them. The final showdown between our two leads is intense, violent and in the end, strangely beautiful. The final shot of the film doesn't show Mick or Paco breaking out of the facility with their hands up in the air Andy Duphrane-style. Rather, it's more somber and bittersweet, yet just as satisfying. 'Bad Boys' is definitely one to that needs to be discovered by more people.

I leave you now with a piece from Bill Conti's beautiful score for 'Bad Boys':

Article By: Josh McCormack