Heaven Help Us seemed to slip by relatively unnoticed amongst the other hit movies of 1985 (Goonies, Back To the Future, Breakfast Club), but is a quality film nonetheless. The movie has a great combination of serious drama and rated R humor with a brief and semi-tragic love story, set in Brooklyn, 1965, at an all-boys Catholic school that uses corporal punishment to help enforce their strict religious teaching. A core group of five misfits find trouble often while trying to fit in, which brings hilarity and can show the harsh punishment that follows. It is directed by Michael Dinner, who is mostly known for TV work like The Wonder Years and Chicago Hope.
The cast: a young Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson (very cute and likable), Donald Sutherland, a great early role for Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Dana Barron (Audrey in the original National Lampoon's Vacation), Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa Simpson), a pre-McDreamy Patrick Dempsey and even Wallace Shawn (Princess Bride) who has a great pre-dance speech about LUST! Inconceivable.
The music: some classic '60s soul from Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and the great Otis Redding doing “I've Been Loving You Too Long.” The slow dance scene goes perfectly with this song and made me really 'hear' it and give proper attention to Otis' music. A great movie overall that I find myself watching every few months.
Joel
Joel
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