This movie had all the elements it would take to become one of the defining movies of a generation. It had the right characters, the right setting, and the right themes. Classism, racism, religion, coming of age (on multiple fronts), deep family dynamics, urban violence, and adultery were all touched on and even a minor plot turn could have explored any number of them. However . . .

it seems that the film makers deliberately missed out on this opportunity. The viewer can almost feel the hand wringing and pearl clutching amongst the powers that were as even the mildest of controversial themes was approached. The "bad girl" wasn't all that bad, and the "good girl" was naive almost to the point of imbecility. This is no fault of the performers - the acting was very good (with the possible exception of the brother (played by Neill Barry), who was a little wooden - hey, ya can't win 'em all). Even for the '80s it was just too mild.

I can see how the milquetoast WASP crowd might find this movie enjoyable, but for anyone with pulse it's a pretty dull exploration of a potentially deep movie. I think it could be remade today with a little more depth and a little more internal exploration of a great bunch of characters and people would rave.