Dallas Public Library: Coming Of Age During The Summer Movies

Press release from Dallas Public Library:

July 27, 2021

I’m an unabashed child of the 1980s and 1990s so I shamelessly proclaim that the greatest summer movies ever were filmed and released during these two decades. But while reminiscing about my many favorite summer movies from this time period, I noticed a trend: many of the best coming of age movies were set in the period between 1950 to 1970. So, ironically, these movies defined a generation, were set during the time of our parents and grandparents.

Coming of age films focus on the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, known as adolescence, or as I affectionally know it, “teenage hell”. These movies usually occur over one particular summer where the adolescents are faced with the realities of impending adulthood. This awareness sometimes led some to tragedy, while others found the courage to pursue their dreams or to just be themselves. An essential truism of all these films is that they also had a stellar music soundtrack that deftly transports listeners back in time.

Texas is well represented in these films: one of these movies star homegrown Texas boy, Patrick Swayze (I know someone who knew and pen palled with his mom and taught 2 of his siblings-just want to brag about my 6 degrees of Patrick Swayze!). Another is a movie based and filmed in Texas and stars a plethora of Texas-born and bred actors, most notably our very own golden boy, Matthew McConaughey (I’m pretty sure he counts as Texas’s unofficial mascot at this point). So, in no particular order (except for the last one), here are the Best Coming of Age Summer movies set in the past that were released in the 1980s and 1990s: Sandlot (1993): “You’re killing me, Smalls!” I am not much of a sports fan, yet I never understood how anyone, especially in 1962, could not know who Babe Ruth was! If you have seen the movie, you know the part I am talking about and if you haven’t seen the movie, I won’t spoil it! Regardless of this, I did enjoy the themes of friendship, teamwork, and the joys of being a kid during the summer as Smalls attempts to fit in with the neighborhood boys in his new town. Sandlot features a group of baseball loving tweens who ultimately come together to defeat “the Beast”, a baseball-stealing monster (dog).

Stand by Me (1986): The requisite nominee of a movie based on a book. Well, in this case, a novella written by Stephen King entitled The Body. This movie is among some of the most beloved movies of all time as well as being one of, if not, the best of King adaptations. Stand by Me is about 4 friends in 1959 on a quest to find a missing boy’s dead body so they can be proclaimed local heroes. Along this journey, they confront several uncomfortable real-world struggles like child abuse, bullying, and death, while demonstrating the strength of their boyhood friendship. When I think back to watching this movie as a child, I remember the leeches and the fainting, the pie-eating contest and the vomiting, the rendition of Lollipop by The Chordettes, and the death-defying run from an approaching train. However, I don’t recall any specific dialogue. When I recently rewatched the film in a fit of nostalgia, I was shocked by the boys’ use of strong colorful language (so much in fact, I’m sure my Memaw would have washed their mouths out with soap).

My Girl (1991): This film, set in the summer of 1972, features Anna Chlumsky as Vada, an 11-year-old girl and Macauley Culkin as Thomas J, her nerdy best friend. With her home doubling as the town’s funeral parlor and while still grieving her deceased mother, Vada develops an obsession with death. She also relies on Thomas J as she confronts the increasing likelihood that she’s about to get a new stepmom. This movie is memorable for 2 scenes that continue to stick out in my mind despite not having seen this film in decades. One scene involves a massive swarm of bees; the other is a heart-felt tearjerker that precipitates Vada’s loss of innocence and made me more inclined to want to wear my glasses to my grave. My Girl also contained wonderful performances by Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Ackroyd and produced a mostly forgettable sequel.

Crooklyn (1994): Directed by Spike Lee, this film is a snapshot of a family in Brooklyn, New York in 1973. Lee cowrote the film with his own siblings as a semiautobiographical retelling of their own experiences growing up in Brooklyn. The story revolves around Troy, the only girl among 4 brothers on the cusps of puberty. A strong-willed Troy navigates the streets and its trials and triumphs with resilience and a bold defiance while her parents struggled to make ends meet, something many working class families, including my own, can relate to. Being the oldest in my family, I could also relate to Troy’s sense of responsibility to take care of her family when a tragedy occurs. Ultimately, this film demonstrates that despite whatever hardships families are facing, the bonds of love and solidarity can get them through it.

Now and Then (1995): When Now and Then was released, I was roughly the same age as the young female cast, so it holds endearing memories. It also made me nostalgic for the 70s even though I was born in the 80s. It featured a hot bed of both up and coming actresses and veterans, such as Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Demi Moore, and Melanie Griffith. Though the film starts and ends in the present day, most of it follows the 4 friends during a summer in 1970 when they were 12 years old trying to find answers as to why a boy had died so young. This adventure occurred all while confronting the issues that each faced with their parents: Teeny in dealing with the neglect of her absentee parents; Sam, the turmoil of her parents’ divorce; Roberta is grieving the death of a parent; and Chrissy navigating puberty with her overprotective parents. It often gets billed as a more light-hearted, female version of Stand by Me , but this film is an entity on its own, in my opinion, by adeptly featuring common themes that many young girls face during adolescence while amplifying the power of female friendships. So, grab your paintbrush (aka microphone) as you’ll be singing The Archies’ Sugar, Sugar til the final credits roll!

Dazed and Confused (1994): It is 1976 and the last day of school (cue Alice Cooper’s School’s Out). Dazed and Confused introduced us to the illuminous Matthew McConaughey and cult director, Richard Linklater who now make up Texas’s Hollywood elite. Though the film centers mostly on Randall “Pink” Floyd and his internal conflict with signing a pledge to abstain from drugs and other unbecoming behavior of star football players (there really should be a sarcasm font), the movie is most notable for McConaughey’s portrayal of gloriously cool yet slightly creepy Wooderson and his memorable refrain, “Alright, Alright, Alright!” And let’s not forget that epic kegger at the moon tower and the hot muscle cars cruising down the nameless streets, while Slow Ride by Foghat blares in the background. And just to clarify, while the movie was filmed in Austin, it was based largely on life in Huntsville, Texas, a mid-sized East Texas prison town, where Linklater attended high school and where I invested the prime of my young adult life at Sam Houston State University, the local university and my alma mater. Dazed and Confused transports those of us who grew up in Any Town, USA, back to a place where we spent most of our days messing around, trying to find something to do to kill time.

The Greatest Movie of All-Time: Dirty Dancing (1987): And here’s why: Everyone goes on and on about how this movie is sooo romantic. Blech. Yes, it stars a very sexy Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle who enters into a relationship with Baby Housman, our film’s protagonist, but that is not the reason why I fell in love with this movie at the tender age of 5. (Yes, 5!) I have vivid memories of my mom coming home from the local Wal-Mart telling me that they have Dirty Dancing available for sale and that she bought it. It may not have been meant for kids that young, but I loved the dancing, the music, and how it brought everyone together in the end. Every summer, every sleepover, I forced my friends to watch this movie until it nearly wore out our VHS (I upgraded to DVD, but still have that VHS). As I grew up, I realized something else about the film that made me love it even more-the sheer female empowerment that is so expertly portrayed by the film’s various female actresses, especially Jennifer Grey as Baby. This is especially monumental given that this film is set in the early 1960s before the women’s rights movement gained full steam. As such, I would argue that Baby Housman is one of our greatest cinema female role models of all time.

This press release was produced by Dallas Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.