Bully (2001)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Larry Clark

Writers:

Jim Schutze (book)
David McKenna (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 September 2001 (Finland)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It's 4 a.m... do you know where your kids are?

Plot:

Based on a true story. Naive teenagers plot to murder one of their own, who has been too much of a bully to them.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Bully | Best Friend | Florida | Teenager

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Brad Renfro	...	Marty Puccio
Bijou Phillips	...	Ali Willis
Rachel Miner	...	Lisa Connelly
Nick Stahl	...	Bobby Kent
Michael Pitt	...	Donny Semenec
Leo Fitzpatrick	...	The Hitman
Kelli Garner	...	Heather Swallers
Daniel Franzese	...	Cousin Derek
Nathalie Paulding	...	Claudia
Jessica Sutta	...	Blonde
Ed Amatrudo	...	Mr. Kent (as Edward Amatrudo)
Steve Raulerson	...	Mr. Willis (as Steven Raulerson)
Judy Clayton	...	Mrs. Willis (as Judith Clayton)
Alan Lilly	...	Mr. Puccio
Irene B. Colletti	...	Mrs. Puccio

Also Known As:

Bully (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexual content, drug use and language - all involving teens.

Runtime:

113 min | USA:109 min (R-rated version) | USA:113 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Mexico:C | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Chile:14 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Japan:R-18 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (rated video release) | USA:Unrated (theatrical release/unrated video release)

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Studio Canal

Trivia:

The plainclothes officer who arrests Marty is Frank Ilarraza, a real-life police detective who arrested the real Martin Puccio in 1993. His character is listed in the credits as "Detective Frank Ilarazza", playing "himself".

Goofs:

Continuity: As Lisa and Marty smoke marijuana, the ash in Lisa's hair disappears and reappears between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Marty: [on the phone with a customer] I want you to suck my big dick.
Mrs. Puccio: [from downstairs] Marty honey, dinner!
Marty: [into the phone] I want you to lick my balls.

Movie Connections:

References The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Soundtrack:

Who Ya Callin' Country

Highly Impressive Film

I was wandering through my local library one day when I stumbled across a book in the crime section. The book was called BULLY: A True Story Of High School Revenge. I picked it up and read the back cover where i became interested enough to loan the book out and was highly impressed. It was like a train wreck that you just couldn't look away from

A few weeks pass by when i find out that there was a film version out there by Larry Clark, i immediately became fascinated and decided to buy the DVD. And once again i was highly impressed at the end knowing that this movie would stay with me for a long time.

The story is simple, You Have Marty and Bobby, Bobby is not a nice guy, he is constantly abusing Marty, both in physical abuse and in physiology i.e pimping Marty out at a gay bar is nothing more than a thrilling chance to grab some cash for Bobby despite how uncomfortable Marty feels with this. However when Bobby turns his unwanted attention to Lisa, Marty's New Girlfriend, and her friend Ali, Lisa decides she has had enough of Bobby's wicked ways. So what are Marty and Lisa to do?? Well they plan to kill him.

With the help of a few other brain dead teens and a so called "Hit-man", who can't be much of a Hit-man if he uses Kids no older than 9 and 13 for his crime ring, the group plot out to murder Bobby. The interesting thing about the group and the inner dynamics of the group is that there is no leader, these kids are alienated, high school drop-outs. The plan happens so fast that there is no thought behind the murder, this is where BULLY calls the bluff of all those other films that claim to deal with bored and alienated teenagers. These Kids are literally Brain Dead, they are the dumbest of there generation and in some strange way it makes for an interesting story

Its Bleak, Dark, Depressive, and Strangely Sometimes the Dialogue comes across as unintentionally humorous in a dark way. Soaked in shots of naked teens, violent sex and behavior for the first half which set up our motives , while the second half deals a lot with such as stress, realization of what they have done, and the compulsion to tell everyone about what they did. The film captures everything i loved about the book in a perfected way

Bully is not a film that is for everyone, it made a few of my friends cringe in some scenes. This is defiantly suggestive viewing for anyone with an open mind. Bully will live with me for a long time as a movie that is strangely a masterpiece

**** stars out *****