There Goes My Baby (1994)

This is a soporific display of the early anti-war (Vietnam) protest movement and roots of the middle-class youth hippie culture. There's some minimal trumpeting of the civil rights movement, but not much.As such, it's almost sleep-inducing and lacking in character. There's nice scenery and some decent performances, good music and idealistic sentiment, but unfortunately all caught up in truly stereotypical characters, especially the high school staff, and plenty of maudlin, routine behavior. And done in a manner that lacks the same intensity of the period, a period on the verge of the breakdown of family due to social and political upheaval, large-scale demonstrations, violence-imbued war coverage on the TV news that spilled over into society in general.It would have been more appropriate had Sunshine left in a VW van of Manson cult members rather than ordinary hippies, albeit more cynical.

I saw this back in '94 when it was finally released. Apparently because Orion pictures was in bankruptcy, I think, the movie had not been released a couple of years earlier.I have problem remembering details partly because I haven't seen it in a long time, but I do remember it as a very dull movie. I kept debating whether to walk out of it. The store was not at all interesting or engaging. Was a 3rd rate America Graffiti imitation. None of the performances make it worth watching either. One of the biggest disappointments since a local newspaper reviewer gave it a high rating.

Floyd Mutrux didn't work too hard when writing this movie; it is "Hollywood Knights" all over again minus the funny parts. I suppose he figured no one would notice since the movies came out fourteen years apart. Both movies even have the same radio DJ and he plays the same songs and even says the same line "From the desert to the sea...soulfully." The closing of Tubby's Drive-In (Knights) was a much better plot element than the end of (Pop's) Paradise in TGMB. I suppose this movie is supposed to focus on the deep, meaningful side of what was happening for those coming of age in 1965, but I don't really see the need for both movies. "There Goes My Baby" really comes off as a big, pointless cliché.

Although it might not seem, it's a picture of what happens, at least once, in our lives... As the countdown begins for the demolition of Pop's Paradise, great friends get closer and closer to separation, as they will start heading for their own lives, following their "objectives", their dreams, after finishing high school. It all happens in the mid 60s, among social and political tension, which characterized the problems in the U.S.A. during those times. Full of spirit, it will show you courage, friend and leadership, and make you feel somehow nostalgic. The soundtrack couldn't be better, as it gathers some of the greatest hits of that decade, like The Drifters or Beach Boys.