User Reviews

This Quinn Martin made-for-TV movie recently popped up on Encore Love Stories, and my, but it's entertaining--in a painful, squirm-inducing, did that really happen? sort of way. It's the episodic tale of a group of high school seniors from Youngstown, Ohio, who travel to Noo Yawk City for the titular vacation. Why isn't made clear--perhaps this is a routine occurrence for high schoolers east of the Mississippi--but as aspiring songwriter David (Randy Brooks, who had started his career TEN YEARS EARLIER playing another high school student in Paul Bogart's Halls of Anger) belts out his self-penned Big Apple song ("gonna bite into that apple!" and other assorted bad puns) as the big yellow school bus traverses the big super-highway heading east, we get the immediate impression that these kids aren't going just to see the sights. Along for the ride are hemophiliac Wall Street Journal subscriber Roger (Scott Baio), who dreams of meeting his big business idol and selling him some semi-conductors; 'bad girl' Denise (Faye Grant), who wants to move to Manhattan and work in 'public relations'; aspiring Broadway star Judy (Liz Callaway), who's determined to hook up with Mickey Rooney for some advice about The Great White Way; and sensitive artist and policeman's son Jon (Jeff Lipton), who simply wants to learn about The Human Condition. Once in the city, the students are let loose by their erstwhile chaperone Mrs. Pritchardson (Jane Hoffman), who spends the entire film patrolling the hotel hallways in search of illicit substances whilst not appearing to give a damn about what the students get up to OUTSIDE the hotel. I guess there was no such thing as 'liability' back in 1981. At any rate, Bill Withers Jr.--er, David--finds himself disgusted by the record business, Roger gets a nasty cut in between business meetings, Denise decides that sleeping her way to the top may not be the best life plan, Judy belts one out for the Mickster (this is the film's one and only genuine highlight, the kid can sing), and Jon struggles with his sexuality. As the camera scans their fresh, not-so-young faces on the trip back to Youngstown (with the film's execrable theme song pounding nails into our brains one last time), we can rest assured that these bright young things have Learned Important Lessons and have Grown As Human Beings. Fans of Robert Townsend and Jason Alexander: your guys get nary a word of dialogue between them, but at least Jason has a full head of hair.

Just caught this film again yesterday, without commercial breaks, and I was reminder of how all over the map it is. SPOILER ALERT: If you're willing to suffer through occasional inane "comedic" bits, there are a few treasures here and there. Scott Baio actually isn't bad as the wannabe businessman who suffers from hemophilia (he's not shooting heroin, as another commentator suggested), and Faye Grant as the "good girl with a reputation" (who saves herself from a near-rape; Baio is nowhere in the vicinity, as the same commentator writes) tries to rise above her material. The big surprise for me was the character Judy, who wants to be a Broadway performer. When she finally belts out her song, I thought, "wow, what a great voice!" Turns out it's cabaret diva Liz Callaway. And lots of familiar faces in the supporting cast: Vincent Spano, Jason Alexander, Robert Townsend. On the downside, Mickey Rooney's cameo is jarring--why him and not Ann Miller, Luci Arnez, or any of the other female stars then on Broadway (you can see their marquees in a number of scenes)? The quicktime scenes of the two sightseers are just misplaced here, also. And by today's standards (or even the standards of twenty years ago), the "save me from being gay" stereotype is hard to watch (although, ironically, the marquee for DEATHTRAP is often in the background). All in all, could be better, but could also be a whole lot worse.

I disagree with the other review. This was a fun movie. You have kids running around the city looking at the sights. I love the part where this girl keeps going to Radio City trying to see Mickey Rooney and he keeps getting pushed around by his team. She finally gets to sing for him. Best part of the movie! Also, where the 2 friends try to see as many sights as possible especially when they speed the film up. Hilarious!

I haven't seen this film since it first aired on TV back in the early 1980's so maybe it would view different today. However, there are several things that stuck out about the film after watching it. This film originally aired on CBS as a made for TV movie and was heavily touted as an "Animal House" type comedy with Scott Baio and company. The commercial focused heavily on the "senior class run amok in New York City" angle where various hijinks would ensue. Being the pre-pubescent boy that I was, I knew that television could only push the envelope so far but I watched with heavy anticipation for anything that was wild and crazy, like I had heard about in movies like "Animal House" and "Porky's." Sorely disappointed! Not only were there not very many parts that were funny, the whole movie was almost a Drama with heavy-handed issues that completely caught me off guard. If the movie had been advertised as a drama, I might have stayed away. **Spoilers Ahead.**

I was disturbed and confused at Scott Baio's character having an addiction to Heroin. At the time, I barely knew what heroin was much less why Scott Baio's character was constantly sneaking off into a men's room stall to shoot-up. The years have been kind to me for the most part so I don't think that I am remembering this part of the film wrong. Maybe he was diabetic, but I clearly remember him sneaking around to do his business and if he were diabetic, why all of the secrecy? Another scene that caught me off guard was the near-rape sequence of the main female character by the class-clown, goof-off character. If I remember the scene correctly, it started off much like a panty-raid scene would, innocently enough. The scene quickly changed when the class-clown guy gets his hi jinx plans foiled by the main female character. When his cover is blown, he gets angry and begins to unbuckle his pants to have his way with her. She is rescued, if I remember, by the Scott Baio character. Both this scene and the scenes of Scott Baio shooting up were pretty gutsy for TV at the time and I remember thinking that if the movie could get away with some of these things, why not make a better film with some of the same elements as "Animal House?" Finally, the last thing I remember is one of the lead male characters wanting to find himself to get in touch with his emotions and feelings or something. His character is very brooding and spends the majority of the film walking around New York in slow motion, while some stupid song about "The Eye of the Beholder" plays over the action. I could have accepted this if it weren't for the fact that the song was so horrible and really added to the whole downer feeling of the movie, and the fact that whenever the action called for this character to change locations by walking somewhere in New York, the same slow motion was used in tandem with this wretched piece of music and lyrics. I didn't know what "eye of the beholder" meant at the time but to this day, I cannot hear that phrase without thinking of this movie and that song.

All in all, a very disappointing movie mainly because the marketing team behind the film and at CBS sucker-punched me and probably many other viewers into thinking that this was going to be a wheels-off comedy in the mold of "Animal House."