A remake of the eponymous old black-and-white film Runaway Daughters (Runaway Daughters, or Daughters on the Run) in 1994, directed by Joe Dante for the TV series Rebel Highway. Again, a small town in the southern United States, the 50s. There is absolutely nothing for young people to do: hang out in an outdoor cinema with B-movies and do petting in a car; those who are bolder try sex. And so six teenagers are sitting in the same car at night: our heroines Angie, Mary and Laura and their boyfriends.
The wildest couple is Angie and Jimmy. It’s not clear what’s going on between them, just hints, but it doesn’t seem to be a binding relationship. Jimmy’s a handsome guy, and he’s been known to commit minor crimes. Angie is bored, she has everything, her father is doing well, and Jimmy has only a motorcycle and nothing to lose. So Angie suggests Jimmy steal a case of beer from the store, just to have fun and generally shake up this town. But the boyfriend turns this idea around: why do it when there is a choice? He’s smart, this bad guy.
Jimmy Rusoff and Angie Gordon
All parents are far from their children, formally occupy the highest position, and do not particularly try to understand them. All objections are usually suppressed. If it’s easier for guys to resist fathers “don’t get in my way!”, then girls, as a rule, are powerless before pressure.
Conversations with our ancestors usually end with phrases like “Do you know how much canned ham I have to sell to provide for us?” (in Laura’s case) or “Honey, do you want a shrimp roll?” (Mary).
Angie has more meaningful dialogues with her parents.:
– Sometimes in the evenings I look out the window and see that there is a whole world outside.
– That’s for sure, but he’s overrated.
"You don't like it here because there's no one to kiss you?"
Jimmy’s dad, Mr. Rusoff, is bragging, pretending to be a tough dad, saying he doesn’t care what his son does there. The detective supports him: “Yes, this is a lost generation.” Although in fact, the father wants to get closer to his son, wants him to perceive him as a friend. However, the guy doesn’t put him in anything anymore. Apparently, the maximalism of the young man and the wrong behavior of the parent in the past also have an effect.
And the adults are just talking about the fact that the Russians launched a satellite. And the whole satellite thing was used by a smart guy named Bob to seduce Mary. However, no one seriously talked to him about sex and how to prevent it, and it just so happened that Mary became pregnant. The prospect of becoming a father in the near future, and even in a town where everyone is concerned about what others will think of them, seemed terrifying to the guy, so he quickly enlisted in the navy. Much to the delight of his parents. And they are just so proud of their son (of course, not knowing anything about his amorous affairs and the fact that they will soon become grandparents) and are incredibly happy that the state will now take care of him in the next 3 years. Bob, by the way, played the same kind of love-seeking teenager in the movie Book Of Love, also about the 50s.
And so the coolest and wildest of the three friends suggests that the girls roll down to the recruiting station in another city and return their unlucky friend to her friend to fulfill the duty of a young father. That’s said and done, the beauties go on the run, dropping off a letter to their parents “Your daughters are with us!”, allegedly from the kidnappers. A small road movie with adventures awaits us.
A good shooter hits the first time. Boy, how are you? I didn't expect that, did I?
Angie’s father, like the most sensible man, calls in a private investigator to find the girls. The detective is a colorful type, thinks broadly, talks interestingly. Asking his parents leading questions, he suddenly starts talking about sexual deviations and the night world of maniacs.
“Daughters on the Run” is shot lightly, with humor – in some places it’s even a comedy and not a drama at all. At first, I watched the film translated by Dionik: he sometimes goes too far in his free interpretations, but it’s interesting to listen to him. There is a variant of Kartsev’s translation: it is more correct, a little less funny, a little more serious.
On the walls of the cinema where Mary’s parents work, there are “Easter eggs” – under the inscription Coming Soon there are posters of the original films of the 50s, from the remakes of which the TV series Rebel Highway was compiled: Runaway Daughters, Shake, Rattle & Rock, Dragstrip Girl, Rock All Night (in which Dick Miller starred in his youth, our detective), Motorcycle Gang.
Runaway Daughters (1956)
Three pairs of parents; crazy militarists who see the ghost of communism everywhere; police officers – stupid and narrow-minded or dirty and obscene; deer hunters – not bad-looking peasants… There are many episodic characters in the film, all of them make the picture more vivid and memorable. And it’s nice to look at the girls themselves. The film turned out to be solid, simple and unpretentious.
The People's Militia sees everyone as a communist
I rate the movie 4+. Of course, there’s nothing iconic about it, but it’s a very decent TV series shot in just 2 weeks. Rockabilly music plays in the background: songs by Ricky Nelson (Stand Up, Waitin’ In School, Be Bop Baby) and Eddie Cochran (C’mon Everybody).
OST Runaway Daughters (1994)
02 Eddie Cochran – C’mon Everybody
03 Ricky Nelson – Stood Up
04 Fats Domino – Little Mary
05 Ricky Nelson – Be Bop Baby
06 Ricky Nelson – Waitin’ In School
07 The Robins – Since I First Met You
08 Rudy West & The Keys – Express Yourself Back Home
09 The Scarlets – Stampede
Download the soundtrack to the movie Daughters on the Run (1994) (mp3, 33 MB)
Guess what the detective did first when leaving the cinema? Right! I threw the shrimp roll into the trash.
