On B List of Movie Reviews
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Bad Boys (1983)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
4/25
4/25:
Bad Boys is the beginning of Sean Penn's overrated career as a leading man.
He tries to be tough but cries 2.5 separate times: the 75th minute mark and at the end. The half is
for attempting to at one point but deciding to forego it; in other words, it's been a lot of bullshit
acting to reach for depth. Regardless, Sean Penn was 22 at the time and had the tattoo on his arm done for real.
I'm sure many were impressed by being immersed in the juvenile detention center, but this ain't tough. It's
rather almost a remake of Scum with a couple of backstories appended, and I
mean the 1977 BBC production, not the 1979 theatrical version, that was banned in the UK. Richard Di Lello
claimed he came up with everything on his own; I call foul on that, and I'm quite sure he saw
Scum first and was inspired to write an American version of it.
Check out his résumé to see if I'm right or wrong.
Sean Penn is Ray Winstone, and Eric Gurry is Phil Daniels while John Blundell is a combination of Clancy
Brown, Robert Lee Rush, and Esai Morales. The prison plot is somewhat the same, but in
Scum, the guards were more closely involved and thus brutal. If there's
a battle between Sean Penn and Ray Winstone for the top dog position, the latter will win.
The acting is fine from start to finish, but the director lost control of some secondary characters only
because he added too much stuff to make the movie longer than necessary. At first, it's mother who disappeared.
Then, the girlfriend is no longer shown after Mick escaped to see her. The radio exploded on Viking's
face, and what happened to him afterwards? How about Horowitz? At least, the second half is better by getting
to the point.
All in all, no matter how hard everybody tries in Bad Boys, they can't beat the gritty realism of
Scum.