Endless Love
Endless Love
R | 17 July 1981 (USA)
Endless Love Trailers

Parental disapproval of two teenagers wrapped up in a passionate love affair causes a confusion of arson, death and insanity.

Reviews
Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Saiyan_Prince_Vegeta This movie did give me some interesting thoughts, which I never had before. First of all, this movie gives you a good view on father-daughter relationship and it is hard for a loving father to see when his loving daughter grows up and starts giving her attention to another man. There is an interesting scene when Jade is sitting on her father's lap and a minute later she goes to her boyfriend. **A father always hopes that his girl's boyfriend will love her as much as he loves her.** It's hard to believe that Jade still loves David after knowing all the truth (about the house and the father), but I guess love stories like this one do happen in real life. I watched this movie while on Tom Cruise marathon and Tom Cruise in this movie is only around 20 seconds, but it was still an interesting movie overall.
Sherazade The purpose of this film, I felt was to exploit Brooke Shields' beauty and youth. I was sifting through the trivia and goofs sections for this film when I came across a few things that pretty much summed up how I felt after watching this crappy adaptation of a decent novel:Brooke Shields' mother and manager Teri Shields nearly turned down the film after first reading the script, as she felt the role of Jade Butterfield had no substance. She said "It was just going to be Brooke standing around looking beautiful." Well, Brooke Shields' mother (God rest your soul) you we right because that is all your D-grade actress daughter did in this film. If beauty has ever served a moderately talented actress well in Hollywood, it's Brooke Shields."Shirley Knight begged director Franco Zeffirelli to cast Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristy McNichol, Michelle Pfeiffer or Debra Winger for the role of Jade Butterfield, as she felt that 14-year- old Brooke Shields did not have the right talent for the role." Ding, ding, ding! Another one who was right but unfortunately ignored and the rest as they say is history. Thankfully, young Tom Cruise in his two-minute-role was brilliant as was young James Spader who was a force to be reckoned with as Jade's older brother, Keith.
Michael_Elliott Endless Love (1981) ** (out of 4)Insane love story about teenage lovers, the 15-year-old Jade (Brooke Shields) and the 17-year-old David (Martin Hewitt), who are forced apart by her father and soon the boys obsession turns to tragedy. I really, really, really wanted to like ENDLESS LOVE. In fact, this was at least my third viewing of wanting to love this movie but it's hopeless because sadly the movie is just a complete mess from start to finish. I've heard that the novel is something truly terrific but all of that has been lost in this feature that is so heavy-handed and at times so crazy that you can't help but wonder if director Franco Zeffirelli was wanting to create something bad. I'm really not sure where to start but I guess we can begin with the story, which just never makes any sense. The movie has one dumb sequence after another and it contains some of the dumbest and most unexplained characters that you're ever going to meet. So, daddy gives pot, alcohol and throws wild parties on school nights yet he flips out when he discovers that his daughter is in love? Her mother catches them having sex in front of the fireplace and decides to just sit there and watch? David decides to have a complete mental breakdown after accidentally burning his loved ones house down yet he doesn't seem to know what the big deal is. Then there's the ending, which I won't ruin or should I say the at least three endings that really don't close anything up. Oh yeah, and lets not forget the sex scenes, which are so incredibly laughable that you wonder what the director was thinking.ENDLESS LOVE should have been a good movie as the story of pain, losing the one you love and redemption are things that make for an interesting story. Everything here is just handled so poorly that you can't help but laugh at just about every scene. The movie never makes any real sense. It never explains why these two are so strongly connected. It never explains anything. As a fan of bad movies I can't help but have a certain fondness for this movie because it reaches of level of insanity to where it becomes so bad that it's good. The film contains weirdness unlike any other movie and the entire thing is just so heavy in regards to the "love" of these two people that it really kills the movie even more. Both Shields and Hewitt have a lot of problems with their performance as they never really pull them off or make them believable. Shirley Knight is good as the mother, Don Murray is over-the-top as the father and we even get James Spader and Tom Cruise in brief parts.The one scene that works is when the title song is first played and we see the two fall in love. This sequence is about the only thing that comes off as good and of course you've got the Lionel Richie and Diana Ross song to close things out. ENDLESS LOVE is a film that desperately needs to be remade.
Enforcer686 There was so much potential squandered by this film, it's a crime. Although I haven't read the book, I understand that considerable liberties were taken with the film; regardless, it is an illogical mess. How many mothers would admiringly watch their own high school aged daughters having sex in the living room, then pursue the teenage boyfriend?! How many idiots would think destroying their girlfriend's house via arson would be the way to win them over?!!!I am a HUGE fan of '80s movies and enjoy the distinctive look of films from this time. And I defy anyone to find a more beautiful creature than Brooke Shields in the '80s. But these are the only real bright spots, and can only overcome so much. The big appeal of this film to me is the idea of what it would have been like to have Brooke as your girlfriend back in high school (I'm not the only one!!), but unfortunately, you've got to endure her imbecile boyfriend who not only sets fire to her family home, but indirectly causes her father's death. By the midpoint of the movie, I was hoping SOMEONE would knock his lights out and that Brooke would leave him far, far behind. I'm sure any real family would feel the same way.Although I was a Brooke fan in the '80s and had seen Blue Lagoon, I never got around to seeing Endless Love for some reason. Nostalgia inspired me just last year to watch it for the first time. The only thing about this that has aged well is Brooke's timeless beauty and the beautiful theme song. The strength of these two things makes it worth watching, at least once....