The Wanderers

The Wanderers (1979) starring Ken Wahl, John Friedrich, Karen Allen. Impressionistic drama of high school gangs, set in 1963 in inner city New York, seems to pursue theme of lost innocence. Hero Richie (the very handsome Ken Wahl) is a straight-arrow character surrounded by a swirling miasma of a changing world. Kennedy's assassination takes place within the context of the movie, and in one haunting scene late in the film Richie stands outside a club's windows while Bob Dylan sings "The Times They are a Changin' " inside. A gang known as the Baldies all get drunk one night and sign up for the Marines, and we know where they're headed -- Vietnam.  There's a large gang, hovering in the background, called the Duckies, and they're the really vicious gang, willing to kill. The movie makes very good use of music, and to my ears every song chosen for the soundtrack was a winner. (English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A-