[.ca] Bad Boys (Widescreen)

From Amazon.com:
Prior to starring in the hard-edged 1983 drama Bad Boys, Sean Penn had proven his early promise in the TV movie The Killing of Randy Webster, played a memorable supporting role in Taps (with fellow newcomer Tom Cruise), and created the definitive California surfer dude as the perpetually stoned Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. But it was Bad Boys that cemented Penn's reputation as a rare talent--an actor whose skill transcended his youth, revealing a depth and maturity that the majority of his acting peers could only aspire to. That gravity and emotional dimension is evident throughout Penn's performance here as Mick O'Brien, a chronic offender whose path to a Chicago juvenile corrections facility seems utterly preordained. The institution is hardly conducive to reformation--it's a jail for problem kids, and a cauldron for all the societal ills that sent kids there in the first place. Mick's there because he was involved in a shootout during a botched robbery of drugs from rival street gangster Paco Moreno (Esai Morales), whose little brother was killed when Mick accidentally ran him over with his getaway car. Overcrowding results in Mick and Paco's being sent to the same facility (one of the film's few stretches of credibility), and this leads to a rather predictable showdown that will take the juvie prison's violence to its inevitable extreme. It's a shame this conclusion ultimately doesn't live up to the film's superior first hour, but Bad Boys remains a remarkably authentic, even touching portrait of troubled youth whose torment is conveyed through thoughtful and richly emotional development of characters. Director Rick Rosenthal (who had previously helmed Halloween II) maintains a vivid sense of setting within the correctional facility's cold walls, and through the performances of Penn and a superb supporting cast (including Ally Sheedy in her film debut as Mick's girlfriend), Bad Boys emerges as one of the best films of its kind, forcing the viewer to ask difficult questions about at-risk youth and the proper way to improve or at least preserve their endangered lives. --Jeff Shannon

1983 BAD BAOYS:
THIS IS SEAN PENN'S GREATEST MOVIE.HIS PRFORMANCE WAS TREMONDOUS SO YOUNG IN HIS CAREER,THIS MOVIE DEFINED WHAT KIND OF ACTOR HE WAS GOING TO BE.THE NEW BAD BOY MOVIES WITH WILL SMITH,MARTIN LAWRENCE IS AN INSULT TO USING THE SAME NAME. SEAN PENN'S BAD BOYS IS DEFFINETALY HIS BEST WOK EVER

bad boys:
bad boys i saw this movie about 3 years ago this was a good movie I'm 15 this was one of my best movies

Finally-the Uncut Bad Boys!!!:
This is fantastic! Now we can finally see the uncut version of Rick Rosenthal's gritty classic(in my opinion). When I think of Bad Boys, I always think of Sean Penn and Esai Morales. It's too bad that you have to clarify which film your speaking about when you mention it and lots of people have only seen Michael Bay's crappy movie of the same title. I have been waiting a long time for a nice special edition of this film. Now we get the film uncut(it was previously only available uncut on laserdisc) and a commentary! And cheap too! I love Anchor Bay!!!!!

The presence of Penn:
It seems like a lot of the other reviewers were nitpicking, so I'm going to throw my two cents in. If you want to gain some insight into Sean Penn as an actor, and see how early his best qualities manifested themselves, then this is a great place to do it. The teenage Penn has amazing confidence and poise. His eruptions of violence are as "attractive" as they get. His adolescent menace is palpable, yet he also displays an amazing emotional range in this movie. Although I never spent any time in the juvenile pokey, the movie's setting is consistent with what I would imagine. The feel of this movie ranks with such gems as "Over the Edge" and "My Bodyguard" (two early Matt Dillon vehicles). It's too bad that Dillon's command failed to mature as much as Penn's.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, what you gonna do!:
Alright, I know that is another movie, but seriously this movie rates as one of my childhood gangster like classics, growing up kids have a couple movies that stand out as being something you want to emulate when older, one being Scarface, two, living the life of the Godfather, and three to name a few would be Bad Boys! This is a classic, and I have no idea what that austrailan guy was watching, but he is not American so he can't be perfect right! Anyways, this movie is straight foward, gritty and rough to say the least, people that have never been to a Boys prision really don't know what goes on inside walls like these, but Bad Boys although some of it was far fetched, stayed true about how boys that grow up rough, might behave in a prision setting. The beatings with pop cans, and the exploding radio are classic scenes, and the acting was pretty good for all of these people being so young! This is a definite buy if you are in to somewhat realistic violent films, this may not be Oz, but this is the little baby OG cousin of the show!