BABY, IT'S YOU

US, 1982, 100 minutes, Colour.
Vincent Spano, Rosanna Arquette, Joanna Merlin, Robert Downey Jr.
Directed by John Sayles.

Baby, It's You was written and directed by John Sayles. Sayles, a novelist-turned-screenwriter, wrote such screenplays as Pirhana, The Howling, Alligator. However, his personal films are much less conventional Hollywood material. His nostalgic memoir of the '60s with a group turning 30 was hailed as one of the ten best of the year. The Return of the Secaucus Seven. He also made the study of relationship between two women, Lianna. Made under the auspices of a major Hollywood studio, this film is still a small budget and independent work. It draws on the teenage experiences of producer Amy Robinson as well as Sayles, own memories.

It focuses on Trenton, New Jersey in the mid?'60s. Two youngsters in high school in an atmosphere that was redolent of the '50s. After school they emerge suddenly into a world of the late '60s and find they are disenchanted and alienated. The film is a bittersweet love story, Jill is an intelligent Jewish girl, Sheik is a self opinionated Italian. There is a great deal of comedy, a strong amount of feeling and warmth and a satisfying critical look at personalities, society and the times. Contemporary music by Bruce Springsteen combines with a selection of music from the time. However, the major theme eventually emerges as 'Strangers in the Night'. Some have suggested that this would have been a suitable title for the film. Performances by the leads are excellent.

1. An enjoyable and humane story? Commonplace plot line but fresh treatment? Fresh images, sympathetic treatment, insight?

2. New Jersey in the mid?'60s: Trenton, the city: school, homes, bars? The old-fashioned atmosphere? The drab city atmosphere? The contrast with Sarah Lawrence and the late '60s university students? Florida with its beach holidays and elderly holiday-makers frequenting nightclubs? The change in sophistication, affluence? The film's realistic portrayal of the second half of the '60s?

3. The contribution of the score: Bruce Springsteen's music and lyrics? A contemporary tone? The range of 60s songs, the selection, the insertion in the plot, background? Popular music like that of Frank Sinatra? Its use for mood and insight?

4. The title and the song reference? Tone? The use of 'Strangers in the Night'? The music giving the film a popular and American tone?

5. The conventional love story - a variation on Romeo and Juliet? Trenton background, differences in class background, ethnic background? Two innocents - yet knowing, loving, hurting each other?

6. The portrait of Jill: a strong personality? The relationship with her parents, sequences at home, her room, music, study, her acting before the mirror? Her real self, her imagined self? Ambitions as an actress? Angers and frustration with her parents and their kindly interventions? Her place at school, intelligence, her contribution to classes? Teacher expectations of her contributions? Auditions for the play? Lack of self confidence but gaining the main role? Rehearsals, performance? Her friends and high school girls' talk, chatter? Typical high schoolers? The first encounter with sheikh? His impact, her being followed, her resistance? His insistence on going for the drive and her coping with it? Her saying yes to outings - without quite knowing why? The visit to the bar and his virtually ignoring her? Phone calls? Fascination, awkward relationship, kissing? Her being kidnapped? And her giving in? The drama teacher's warning? The cafeteria and the violent teacher with Sheik's being expelled? The dance in the bar? 'Strangers in the Night'? The clash?

7. Sarah Lawrence, college, her arrival with her parents? The important step from school to college? Yet her being on the outer, gauche, the outings, her drinking and being sick, ranting about Trenton, telling stories? Drug experimentation? Set-ups with the Yale men? The sexual encounter with the Yale man? Her life getting in a mess? Her gaining only small parts? The satire on the Method training for acting? Capitalising on experiences for acting? The range of auditions? Her being of small significance? The lack of contact with Sheik? Her going to her friend in Florida? Meeting Sheik again, seeing him perform, the lavish meal, the visit to his room, the photos? Hearing his ambitions? The sexual encounter? Her disappointment and leaving? Her return, the messy life continuing? Sheik's arrival, the challenge, the storm? The final dance and the request for 'Strangers in the night'? The possibilities for their future?

8. Sheik and his initial impact, smartly dressed, choice of clothes? The name from the contraceptive rather than from Valentino? His wanting to be the new Frank Sinatra ? and his knowing all about Sinatra? Admiration for him? The home sequences with his mother pampering him and getting him clothes, his father's attack on him and his surly responses to his father? His friends, Rat and his car? Taking Jill for a drive and showing off? His walk, look? Following Jill, attracted to her, imposing himself, insisting? Going into the classroom, to the cafeteria? The importance of the cafeteria clash and his humiliation? Expulsion? The play and his sexual encounter with Jodie? The robbery and the chase? His decision to leave Trenton? Florida and his miming the records, the elderly citizens enjoying his performance? His self deception about his success? Jill's visit, enjoyment, the meal, his loneliness? The groping sexual relation? Jill's leaving and her promise to write? His anguished phone call in the middle of the night? The clash with the 'real singer' and his stealing the car, driving through the night, his determination? Discovering Jill, the contraceptives, her way of life? Clash, fight? Reconciliation and dancing? Interesting character portrait? Audience understanding? Sympathy?

9. Two isolated people, awkward, with dreams? The realities of life? 'Star crossed lovers'?

10. How well did the film portray school: the opening, the corridors, the atmosphere, classrooms, class discussions, drama auditions, teachers and their interest, concerns, clashes?

11. The contrast with Sarah Lawrence and the open style of college, trendiness, men and women together, '60s rebellion and drinking, drugs? The Yale boys? Sexual relationships, sexual gaucheness?

12. The contrast with the family backgrounds, the Trenton Jewish family and its style, Italian family and its style?

13. The sketch of Jill's girlfriends, classes, giggly, talk, fears?

14. How nostalgic was the film? How much a reassessment of the '60s? Innocence, innocence destroyed? The late 1960s and its posers, pseudo-sophistication? The need for authenticity?

15. The ambiguity of the ending?

16. The film as a piece of Americana? Important for American audiences? For nonAmericans?