Cool article I found about the movie:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/w...edge-134-v16n9
I didn't realize Matt Dillon was discovered for this movie.
I think this movie resonated so much with me as a kid is because we were doing all the same shit in Independence, and then Blue Springs. My friend was smoking weed in like 3rd grade. I remember kids selling joints on the bus in elementary school. We’d play with guns, break into houses, watch reel to reel porn movies. Latchkey kids in suburban wastelands with no neighborhood to look out for them = disaster.
I always said if I had a kid I'd tell them no way you're coming home in the afternoon to get high and play video games (or worse). You need to find something you like to do after school.