Not really enthusiastic about this independent drama that pairs the young and naive Celia Kaye with the older (and of age) Michael Parks, and while four years may be okay for more mature young adults, it's a bit creepy for a 17 year old girl and a 21 year old drifter. Kaye runs away from her adopted father (the only father she's ever really known) to find her biological father, and encounters the hungry Parks, searching for food. He decides to help her in her quest to get from New York City to Los Angeles on his way to San Diego, and they hop freight trains (over and over it seems), and deal with detectives searching for her and various vagrants they encounter, eventually falling in love. Teen girl angst and twenty something male anger lead to the confrontation with both fathers (natural daddy sadly wants nothing to do with her, having his own family to deal with), and Parks' temper flares.
It's obvious that these two really don't have a chance together, no matter what the ending, and it wasn't until close to the end that I began to begrudgingly take an interest in Parks and Kaye, simply because it finally began to create some real drama and make some sense. Kaye, who seemed to be a bit older than 17 (yet still acting desperate and emotionally immature), was rather bland, but Parks at least showed some fire as your typical 50's and 60's anti-hero, one who does some growing up along the way and really coming full circle. The rather cheaply filmed drama is not well lit so it comes off as rather dark and a bit difficult to watch. Interesting for darker themes than mainstream movies of the time, and definitely experimental, but not really memorable from my point of view.
It's obvious that these two really don't have a chance together, no matter what the ending, and it wasn't until close to the end that I began to begrudgingly take an interest in Parks and Kaye, simply because it finally began to create some real drama and make some sense. Kaye, who seemed to be a bit older than 17 (yet still acting desperate and emotionally immature), was rather bland, but Parks at least showed some fire as your typical 50's and 60's anti-hero, one who does some growing up along the way and really coming full circle. The rather cheaply filmed drama is not well lit so it comes off as rather dark and a bit difficult to watch. Interesting for darker themes than mainstream movies of the time, and definitely experimental, but not really memorable from my point of view.