River's Edge
Encyclopedia
River's Edge is a 1986 American drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written by Neal Jimenez
Neal Jimenez
Neal Jimenez is a screenwriter and film director. He is best known for the writing of his macabre 1980's film River's Edge. He was a member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994...

 and starring Crispin Glover
Crispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...

, Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...

, Ione Skye
Ione Skye
Ione Skye Lee is an English-born American actress, who became a teen idol after the 1989 movie Say Anything.... In 2006 VH1 placed her at number 84 in the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" list.-Early life:...

, Daniel Roebuck
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...

, and Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

.

It was awarded Best Picture from the Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...

 in 1986.

Plot

A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, Samson, has murdered his girlfriend, Jamie. He brags to his friends about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary. Layne, the self-proclaimed leader of the group, is intent on keeping the murder a secret and protecting Samson, while the rest of the group (Matt, Clarissa, Maggie, and Tony) want to go to the police.

Basis

While the Jimenez screenplay is fiction, it draws from the November 3, 1981 murder of 14-year-old Marcy Renee Conrad
Murder of Marcy Renee Conrad
The murder of Marcy Renee Conrad was perpetrated by Anthony Jacques Broussard, a 16-year-old American high school student. Conrad's death gained national attention due to the age of her killer, forcing a re-evaluation of California statutes regarding juvenile sentencing for violent crimes...

, who was raped and strangled to death by 16-year-old Anthony Jacques Broussard in Milpitas, California
Milpitas, California
Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...

.

Broussard bragged of raping and murdering Conrad, later showing the body to at least thirteen different people; despite this, the crime went unreported for two days.

The 6-foot, 4-inch, 280-pound, 16 year old Broussard had been mentally disturbed since finding his mother dead in the shower at the age of seven.

Broussard pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

 with parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

 possible after 16 years and 8 months.. He was denied a new trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...

 in 1985, and has repeatedly been denied parole. As of December 2010 (29 years) Broussard is still incarcerated at California's Folsom State Prison
Folsom State Prison
Folsom State Prison is a California State Prison located in the city of Folsom, California, northeast from the state capital of Sacramento. Opened in 1880, Folsom is the second-oldest prison in the state of California after San Quentin and was the first in the country to have electricity...

. Kirk Rasmussen, 16, was sentenced to three years in a juvenile center for kicking dirt and leaves to help hide the girl's partially clad body.

Neal Jimenez read about the story in the newspaper while visiting friends, wrote a script and turned it in to his instructor while he was an English major at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...

. He got a "C+" so he rewrote it and received an "A". Jimenez said, "that the incident is merely the inspiration for the screenplay".

Cast

  • Crispin Glover
    Crispin Glover
    Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...

     as Layne
  • Keanu Reeves
    Keanu Reeves
    Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...

     as Matt
  • Ione Skye
    Ione Skye
    Ione Skye Lee is an English-born American actress, who became a teen idol after the 1989 movie Say Anything.... In 2006 VH1 placed her at number 84 in the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" list.-Early life:...

     as Clarissa
  • Daniel Roebuck
    Daniel Roebuck
    Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...

     as Samson 'John' Tollet
  • Dennis Hopper
    Dennis Hopper
    Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

     as Feck
  • Roxana Zal
    Roxana Zal
    Roxana Zal is an American actress.Zal was born and raised in Malibu, California, the daughter of Maureen and Hossein Zal, a Los Angeles investor. She was on her High School tennis team. Her first acting role was a guest spot on Hart to Hart at age 12. She has had several other guest roles since...

     as Maggie
  • Joshua John Miller
    Joshua John Miller
    Joshua John Miller is an American actor, writer, screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker.As a child actor, Miller was best known for his role as Homer, the pre-teen vampire in the film Near Dark, Richtie Miller, the annoying brother in Teen Witch, and his gripping role as Tim in River's Edge...

     as Tim
  • Josh Richman
    Josh Richman
    Josh Richman is an American actor, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work with Guns N' Roses.- Career :His first acting job was a minor role in the science fiction television show V: The Series....

     as Tony
  • Phillip Brock as Mike
  • Tom Bower
    Tom Bower (actor)
    Tom Bower is an American actor who has appeared in a wide variety of television and film roles from 1973 to present. He played physician-husband Curt on The Waltons. He has held a number of prominent supporting roles including Dan Miller in the 2000 film Pollock and the gas station attendant in...

     as Det. Bennett
  • Constance Forslund
    Constance Forslund
    Constance Forslund is an American actress whose performances included a revival of Clare Booth Luce's The Women on Broadway and the films The Way We Were and The Great Bank Hoax. In television movies she has portrayed Ginger Grant in The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island and Marilyn...

     as Madeleine
  • Leo Rossi
    Leo Rossi
    Leo Rossi is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Budd in the 1981 horror film Halloween II and as Turkell from the 1990 horror sequel Maniac Cop 2. His other films include Heart Like a Wheel , River's Edge , The Accused , Relentless and Analyze This...

     as Jim
  • Jim Metzler
    Jim Metzler
    Jim Metzler is an American television and film actor, best known for guest-appearances on popular TV series. In 1983, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in the 1982 film Tex....

     as Mr. Burkewaite
  • Taylor Negron
    Taylor Negron
    Brad Taylor Negron is an American writer, actor, and stand-up comedian.-Personal life:Negron was born in Glendale, California to Conrad Negron, Sr., former mayor of Indian Wells, California. He grew up in Pasadena, California. His cousin is singer Chuck Negron...

     as Checker
  • Danyi Deats
    Danyi Deats
    Danyi Deats is a producer and writer for television, commercials and music videos.-Early career:Danyi is most widely known for her portrayal of Jamie in the cult classic, River's Edge, with Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper.-Career:...

     as Jamie
  • Tammy Smith as Kim

Music

  • Then-independent California
    California
    California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

     record label Metal Blade Records
    Metal Blade Records
    Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...

     provided the metal soundtrack, featuring artists from their roster like Slayer
    Slayer
    Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...

    , Hallow's Eve and Fates Warning
    Fates Warning
    Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...

    .
  • U.S. underground punk band Wipers
    Wipers
    The Wipers were a punk rock group formed in Portland, Oregon in 1977 by guitarist Greg Sage, drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. Wipers were one of the earliest American purveyors of the genre, and the group's tight song structure and use of heavy distortion has been hailed as extremely...

     are featured on the soundtrack.
  • Crust Punk band Dystopia
    Dystopia (band)
    Formed in Orange County, California in 1991, Dystopia was a sludge metal band, popular in both the heavy metal and crust punk scenes, due in large part to their bleak, misanthropic imagery...

     sampled dialogue from the film on their album Human = Garbage
    Human = Garbage
    Human = Garbage is the debut album by Dystopia. It was released as a 5 track LP on Life is Abuse Records, and later released as a 12 track CD on Life is Abuse Records, Misanthropic Records and Common Cause Records, featuring additional songs from their splits with Embittered and Grief, and one...

    .
  • U.S. band The Goo Goo Dolls
    Goo Goo Dolls
    The Goo Goo Dolls are a Grammy-nominated American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik and vocalist and bass guitarist Robby Takac. Since the end of 1994, Mike Malinin has been the band's drummer, a position previously held by George Tutuska...

     song "You Know What I Mean" from their 1990 release Hold Me Up
    Hold Me Up
    Hold Me Up is the third professional album release of the Buffalo-born Goo Goo Dolls, released under Metal Blade Records in 1990. This is considered to be their true major label debut, as previous albums had been organized by the band themselves. It features their first single, "There You Are",...

    was based upon the film.

External links

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