"Foxes" (1980)

How in God's name did Adrian Lyne get this movie made without people in this country running him out?

Movie is about four teenage girls trying to survive 1980 San Fernando Valley living. Cool to see the locations from where I live now. Horrid to see the culture that existed back in the 80's.

Filmed through gauzy smoke, this movie centers around a very rambunctious group of girls who sleep over at each others' houses, complain about parents, get abused by parents, and...well are neglected. They are raised by the streets. And find odd comfort in men much older than them. Some are drug pushing pedophiles. Others seem to be dopes who were never in that scene. For those who grew up in the late 70's, the fashion will make sense. As well as the mentality of absentee parents. During this time, most parents were coming off the drug binges of the 60's. The children are byproducts of this. Jodie Foster plays Jeanie, a mother hen of these girls, in particular Cherie Currie's character Annie, who is recklessly running down the path of tragedy. We've seen it now a lot, but this was the first ever to portray this out of control world (LONG before that shit-show "Kids").

The movie is beautiful though. It's lensed like the early days of Penthouse. VERY soft lighting. Rembrandt like. Though I don't think you feel that sexuality with these girls. In fact, you feel more mother Hen to these knuckleheads doing stupid things. They desperately want to grow up, but see grown ups are fuck ups. 36 years later we're still dealing with the awful job of parents versus teenage girls. Social media be damned. Look for a young Laura Dern.