Over the Edge 1979

Over the Edge

Critics Consensus

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82%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 11

85%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 5,597

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Movie Info

With only a recreation center to distract them, most of the teenagers in the drab planned community of New Granada have turned to drugs and delinquency. Carl (Michael Kramer), the son of a town councilman, is an exception, but he can't seem to help falling in with a charismatic and troubled classmate, Richie (Matt Dillon). Soon after, a trigger-happy sheriff (Harry Northrup) shoots Richie, and sole witness Carl has to go on the run, eventually inciting a dramatic teenage riot.
  • Rating:
    PG
  • Genre:
    drama
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Jonathan Kaplan
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Runtime:

Cast & Crew

Michael Eric Kramer
Carl
Pamela Ludwig
Cory
Matt Dillon
Richie
Vincent Spano
Mark
Tom Fergus
Claude
Andy Romano
Fred Willat
Ellen Geer
Sandra Willat
Lane Smith
Sloan
Harry E. Northup
Doberman
Jonathan Kaplan
Director
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Critic Reviews for Over the Edge

All Critics (11) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (2)

  • Jonathan Kaplan's Over the Edge is a sensitive and deceptively shocking portrait of middle-class decadence and alienation set against an impersonal, dehumanized, futuristic Sunbelt society.

    April 28, 2018 | Full Review…

    Bruce McCabe

    Boston Globe
    Top Critic

  • Script, photography and performances (including Dillon before he decided to become a teenage Stallone) are all top notch, while Kaplan directs with pace, imagination, and a fine ear for dialogue and music.

    January 26, 2006 | Full Review…

    Geoff Andrew

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • It tells a ragged story that ends with an improbable climax, but it's acted so well and truly by its mostly teen-age cast that we somehow feel we're eavesdropping.

    September 1, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Roger Ebert

    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic

  • It's to Mr. Kaplan's credit that he makes New Granada look just as boring and alienating to us as it does to the unfortunate children who live there.

    January 15, 2005 | Full Review…

    Vincent Canby

    New York Times
    Top Critic

  • Kaplan has a fine feel for the crushing blandness of "planned communities"-the anger that possesses his underage heroes proceeds from a physically oppressive emptiness, represented by rows of hollow town houses and vast, blasted fields.

    January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

    Dave Kehr

    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic

  • This genre has spawned more unmemorable films than quality ones; sadly, Over the Edge falls into the former category.

    May 27, 2020 | Full Review…

    Larry Vitacco

    Philadelphia Gay News
View All Critic Reviews (11)

Audience Reviews for Over the Edge

  • Jan 31, 2009
    <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/over-the-edge-12040385"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/12/04/03/12040385_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/over-the-edge-12040388"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/12/04/03/12040388_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/over-the-edge-12040546"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/12/04/05/12040546_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/over-the-edge-12040389"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/12/04/03/12040389_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a><B><I>Over the Edge</I></B></div></div> Over the Edge, 1979, Written by Charles S. Haas and Tim Hunter. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan. With Matt Dillon, Pamela Ludwig, Michael Eric Kramer, Vincent Spano, and Tom Fergus. Yuppie parents move their families away from the inner city to a Utopian planned community, and turn it into what they tried to escape from by neglecting their teenage children. Over the Edge fills the gap between American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused. However, it is a much darker satire, and should resonate with many viewers who were in junior high school in the late 1970's. In a planned, upper middle class subdivision, parents transport their impressionable teenagers to an all-white suburban school to shield them from crumbling urban social infrastructures. Assuming that their parental obligations have been thusly fulfilled, they subsequently abandon their parenting duties to the local school and community center -with disastrous consequences. The kids engage in teenage shenanigans which quickly escalate to illicit drug use, dope dealing, sex, vandalism and finally all out riotous street violence. Rather than being a moralistic cautionary tale, it is a matter-of-fact indictment of of the hippie generation's permissive parenting styles and serves as a portrait of many similar communities at the time. The theme is black comedy with a strong grain of truth. I know people from the generation in which the delinquents are portrayed, who claim emphatically that the school and neighborhood depicted in the film mirror their own experiences with frightening accuracy. The ending is literally explosive. While the picture is a bit dated and tame by today's standards, it provides a realistic glimpse into one segment of the teenage delinquent world as it existed at the time. The themes remain valid. Over the Edge features Matt Dillon's commercial film debut. BACKSTORY: Screenwriter Charlie Haas,( Tex, Gremlins 2, and Matinee) wrote a journalistic piece for The San Francisco Examiner entitled "Mouse Packs: Kids On A Crime Spree." The feature was about a planned community in northern California called Foster City, which was experiencing an alarmingly escalating juvenile crime rate. His article caught co-writer TIm Hunter's attention and the two carefully researched the premise before writing the script. (1.) (1. "Motion/Captured Must-See: 'Over The Edge' " by Drew McWeeny, www.hitflix.com) On Warner Home Video DVD.
    Pamela D Super Reviewer
  • Jul 20, 2008
    damn fine rebellious teenager/parents don't understand movie.
    chase _ Super Reviewer
  • Jun 01, 2007
    greatest, realest teen movie ever
    Adam M Super Reviewer
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