In 2014 the newest version of this story came out in movie form. Both are based on the same book, and the core story is the same, but overall the two are developed quite differently and end quite differently. I just watched the 2014 version, so I re-watched this one so that I could have a same-time comparison of the two.
This one has a lower IMDb rating but in many respects it is a better movie. It was quite daring for the time, with a fairly graphic love affair between a high school senior boy and a 15-yr-old girl in Chicago. In fairness, the young actress used a body double for the most revealing scenes, but it was till pretty daring. As was the scene where the girl's mother discovers the two of them naked, making love in her home, and only watching. And even more daring, a few years later tries to seduce the young man, now in his early 20s, character-wise.
Not at all new to controversial roles, playing a 12-yr-old prostitute in "Pretty Baby" and playing a stranded girl getting pregnant in "Blue Lagoon", Brooke Shields is the 15-yr-old love interest Jade Butterfield. Her family seems pretty normal, until she and the boy, Martin Hewitt as David Axelrod, begin getting very close. So close in fact that he begins to sleep in Jade's bedroom. Mom doesn't seem to mind, she is happy that Jade is finding love, but dad gets to the point where he will do almost anything to break them apart for good.
This version, probably closer to the source book, is quite dark and the ending is more ambiguous. It also has a very young Tom Cruise in a very small, but very important role.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: As David and Jade get too close for comfort, and David is asked to stay away, one night he applied an idea he got from the Cruise character, he lit some newspapers on Jade's family's porch, started a fire that burned down their house. He received a suspended sentence if he would go into a mental hospital for therapy. He got out after two years and Jade's family had moved out east, and her parents had split up. When David went to NYC and the dad saw him, was hit and killed by a car while chasing David. Then he and a brother got into a fight, David ended up back in the prison hospital because he broke parole. The movie ends with him looking out a window with bars, as Jade walks in the direction of his building. As the title says, "endless love."
This one has a lower IMDb rating but in many respects it is a better movie. It was quite daring for the time, with a fairly graphic love affair between a high school senior boy and a 15-yr-old girl in Chicago. In fairness, the young actress used a body double for the most revealing scenes, but it was till pretty daring. As was the scene where the girl's mother discovers the two of them naked, making love in her home, and only watching. And even more daring, a few years later tries to seduce the young man, now in his early 20s, character-wise.
Not at all new to controversial roles, playing a 12-yr-old prostitute in "Pretty Baby" and playing a stranded girl getting pregnant in "Blue Lagoon", Brooke Shields is the 15-yr-old love interest Jade Butterfield. Her family seems pretty normal, until she and the boy, Martin Hewitt as David Axelrod, begin getting very close. So close in fact that he begins to sleep in Jade's bedroom. Mom doesn't seem to mind, she is happy that Jade is finding love, but dad gets to the point where he will do almost anything to break them apart for good.
This version, probably closer to the source book, is quite dark and the ending is more ambiguous. It also has a very young Tom Cruise in a very small, but very important role.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: As David and Jade get too close for comfort, and David is asked to stay away, one night he applied an idea he got from the Cruise character, he lit some newspapers on Jade's family's porch, started a fire that burned down their house. He received a suspended sentence if he would go into a mental hospital for therapy. He got out after two years and Jade's family had moved out east, and her parents had split up. When David went to NYC and the dad saw him, was hit and killed by a car while chasing David. Then he and a brother got into a fight, David ended up back in the prison hospital because he broke parole. The movie ends with him looking out a window with bars, as Jade walks in the direction of his building. As the title says, "endless love."