Synopsis (spoilers): Several young guys and girls in Baltimore, 1959, and their little stories or simply their character traits, are depicted. Eddie is about to get married but he says he will only do it if his fiancée passes a test about football trivia. Boogie is a compulsive gambler who makes a bet he can't cover for; he also bets on his sex achievements towards his dates. Fenwick is immature and impredictable: he breaks window panes with his bare hand, plays pranks on his friends, lies down on Christ's manger in a stable, etc. Plus other minor characters and incidents.
Appraisal (spoilers): Most characters seem obsessed with popular culture -- one is a football fanatic; the other is a popular music collector and connoisseur who scolds his wife for disarraying his records; a very minor one has memorized all lines in a movie; and so on. It's probably good that the movie shows this phenomenon -- which today is possibly even more prevalent -- in what appears to be its beginnings; this, coupled with male bonding, forms a type of urban culture which the film evokes with affection not devoid of sharper comments about the low status imposed on women. Conflicts get resolved quite easily, but otherwise this film is competently crafted; to be sure, these are not characters I am crazy about, but it wasn't so bad spending some time with them.
Rating: 54
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