The title "Bad Boys" has come to be associated with the awful Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy-cop franchise, but it has always made me think of this gritty 1983 prison drama starring Sean Penn, which stuck with me from my youth. It was Penn's first lead role, and after the tremendous success of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" the previous year, he could easily have been typecast in Spicoli-type jobs for the rest of his life. Yet Penn took a hard left turn by portraying Mick O'Brien, a truly depraved teen who, in the opening minutes of the film, busts in a car window to steal an old lady's purse and then smashes in the face of the good Samaritan who pursues him.
Bad Boys (1983)
Bad Boys (1983)
Bad Boys (1983)
The title "Bad Boys" has come to be associated with the awful Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy-cop franchise, but it has always made me think of this gritty 1983 prison drama starring Sean Penn, which stuck with me from my youth. It was Penn's first lead role, and after the tremendous success of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" the previous year, he could easily have been typecast in Spicoli-type jobs for the rest of his life. Yet Penn took a hard left turn by portraying Mick O'Brien, a truly depraved teen who, in the opening minutes of the film, busts in a car window to steal an old lady's purse and then smashes in the face of the good Samaritan who pursues him.