Timeless Angst and the Struggle of Desire: 1984’s Reckless

A bolt of lightning recently took out my wifi, and because I don’t subscribe to cable, that act of nature also took out all my streaming television choices as well. So I was inspired to connect my barely functioning VCR to my big beautiful flat screen and watch a few of my personal favorites on tape.

Whenever I am relegated to VHS for any reason, as much as I would like to say I take a long time making my selection from my odd collection of classics (Apocalypse Now, Hardware, The Hunger, Breaking the Waves, Animal House, etc.), a difficult choice is actually never the case. That’s because I have a copy of the amazing yet obscure teenage love story released in 1984 called simply: Reckless.

To anyone reading this, I would be surprised if even five percent of you are aware of this film. It didn’t win any awards, it has never been remade, and it took an incredibly long time to be released on DVD. One of the more notable facts about this movie is that it starred the then unknown Aidan Quinn and not very well known at the time Daryl Hannah in the starring roles.

And they are both very, very hot.

But I digress. Also worth a mention is the soundtrack of that time period’s most perfect songs, which now would be considered “alternative” but back then were the videos being played on another new star rising on the horizon, MTV. Think “The One Thing” by INXS and “Kids in America” by Kim Wilde, not to mention the new wave hook up anthem, “Never Say…