Firstborn (1984)

Director:

Michael Apted

Writer:

Ron Koslow (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Fifteen. At a time when most kids need to dream, Jake Livingston had to wake up.

Plot:

Because he's the oldest, Jake has been the man of the house, since his parents divorce. When Mom starts seeing Sam...

Plot Keywords:

Brother | High School | Drugs | Railroad Yard | Backtalking To Schoolteacher

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Teri Garr	...	Wendy
Peter Weller	...	Sam
Christopher Collet	...	Jake Livingston
Corey Haim	...	Brian Livingston
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Lisa
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Lee
Christopher Gartin	...	Adam
James Harper	...	Mr. Roder
Richard Brandon	...	Alan Livingston (Dad)
Gayle Harbor	...	Joanne
Ellen Barber	...	Wendy's Girlfriend Pat
Richard E. Szlasa	...	Coach Gant
Beverly May	...	Mrs. Mercer
Brian Lima	...	Robby
J.D. Roth	...	Ken

Also Known As:

First Born
Moving In (Europe: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Bronxville High School - 177 Pondfield Road, Bronxville, New York, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Quotes:

Sam: It takes a lot to open your own restaurant, you gotta have capitol, money/
Brian Livingston: Not if you open a sushi bar. All you need is some raw fish and a knife.

Soundtrack:

No Guarantees

Paints a good picture of how stress can affect young lives

Wendy(Garr) is a single mom raising two boys, Jake(Collett) and Brian(Haim). After seeing that her ex-husband has moved on in his life she gets in a relationship with Sam(Weller).

At first Sam seems to be a nice guy, but that soon changes. He keeps coming up with different ways to make money but never follows through. He moves in with the family way too soon and even starts helping himself to the boys belongings. He invites shady looking friends to the house late at night to have Coke parties and starts to become verbally abusive to all and physically abusive to Wendy. She keeps telling the boys that Sam is trying and to be patient but the stress of this affects the boys as well.

Jake is a great student, athletic and fun-loving. As the stress keeps welling up in him it causes problems in his relationship with his girlfriend Lisa(Jessica-Parker). He becomes verbally abusive to his friends and more aggressive on the Lacrosse field. Up to this point he has been tolerant of his self absorbed, egomaniac teacher but even starts to become defiant with him as well.

Brian avoids home as much as he can and keeps getting into bad fights in school.

When Jake discovers that Sam is trafficking drugs through the house he has finally had enough and takes it upon himself to make a stand.

This movie is a great example of how a bad relationship can cause stress on more than two lives. Stress becomes a trickle down effect and can be very damaging especially to young lives.