Five Corners (1987)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Tony Bill

Writer:

John Patrick Shanley (writer)

Release Date:

11 September 1987 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Friends last forever. Goodness is its own reward. ...And there ain't no Indians in the Bronx.

Plot:

Young psychotic man returns to neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks young lady he previously tried to rape and young man who protected her...

Plot Keywords:

Psychopath | Penguin | Stalking | Pacifist | Independent Film

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jodie Foster	...	Linda
Tim Robbins	...	Harry
Todd Graff	...	Jamie
John Turturro	...	Heinz
Michael R. Howard	...	Murray
Pierre Epstein	...	George
Jery Hewitt	...	Mr. Glascow
Rodney Harvey	...	Castro
Daniel Jenkins	...	Willie
Elizabeth Berridge	...	Melanie
Cathryn de Prume	...	Brita
Carl Capotorto	...	Sal
Jose Soto Jr.	...	Boy in Pet Store
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Mrs. Fitzgerald
John Seitz	...	Sullivan

Also Known As:

5 Corners (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

90 min | Canada:95 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | South Korea:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cineplex-Odeon Films

Trivia:

Producer Tony Bill got involved with this project after some actors he was auditioning for another film began using scenes from the plays of John Patrick Shanley. Bill liked the dialog, so he contacted Shanley and asked him for a film script.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Set in 1964, when Linda talks on her home phone with Heinz, the phone handset is clearly seen to have a modular plug connection to its cord. The now-popular modular plugs were not introduced until much later in the 70's.

Quotes:

Melanie: [after sniffing glue] I'm flyin', man! I'm flyin'!

Soundtrack:

Funky Soul

Satisfying slice-of-life melodrama.

I was persuaded to watch this film on late-night TV by the cast: Tim Robbins, Jodie Foster and John Turturro, and lots of familiar faces who you're glad to see, even if you don't know their names. Turturro is better in this than in most of his later work. Psycho? or just a stupid, unhappy bully, whose violence seems almost normal in the tough, white, working class neighbourhood which gives the film its title. He is genuinely threatening, mean, short fuse, unpredictable, but a believable rounded character who excites our pity as well as our disgust. Foster and Robbins fit their roles like fingers fit gloves, the period setting - 1964 - is nicely realised, and the script sets up and resolves a series of classic conflicts with some originality and some appealing off-the-wall subplots. Of course, the good end happily and the bad unhappily, but that is fiction, my dear, and that is why I call it a melodrama. If it comes up on the late-night schedules, or you see it in your local video-store, watch it.