Valley Girl | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Martha Coolidge |
Produced by |
Wayne Crawford Andrew Lane |
Written by | Wayne Crawford Andrew Lane |
Starring | |
Music by |
Richard Butler The Plimsouls The Payolas Peter Case Josie Cotton Scott Wilk |
Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
Edited by | Éva Gárdos |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing |
Release date
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April 29, 1983 |
Running time
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99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget |
$350,000 $600,000 (With music rights) |
Box office | $17,343,596 |
Valley Girl is a 1983 American romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, and stars Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen.
The American release of Valley Girl was April 29, 1983. The plot is loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Julie Richman (Foreman) is a Valley girl who seems to have it all: good looks, popularity, and a handsome Valley dude boyfriend, Tommy (Bowen), but she is having second thoughts about her relationship with the arrogant and selfish Tommy. At the end of a shopping trip with her friends, Loryn (Daily), Stacey (Heidi Holicker), and Suzi (Meyrink), Julie runs into Tommy and breaks up with him. Later that day at the beach, Julie trades shy glances with a young man in the distance.
That night, at a party at Suzi's house, Julie locks eyes with Randy (Cage), a Hollywood punk who has crashed the party with his friend, Fred (Dye). They hit it off well, especially after Julie learns that Randy was the young man at the beach earlier. Tommy is jealous, and tries to bed Loryn. He fails and gets his cronies to eject Randy and Fred from the party. Undaunted, Randy sneaks back into the house, and hides in an upstairs bathroom shower. Randy waits in the shower for Julie to enter the bathroom as various partygoers come and go, talking about and trying to have sex, and doing drugs. When Julie eventually does enter, Randy convinces her to leave the party with him. Julie brings a very reluctant Stacey along for the ride with Randy and Fred. While at Randy's favorite Hollywood nightclub, Julie and Randy rapidly grow closer as Stacey continually rebuffs Fred's advances.
Julie's friends, dismayed by her relationship with Randy, pressure her to drop him and get back together with Tommy. Julie asks her father (Frederic Forrest) for advice, and he kindly tells her that she should follow her heart. Despite this, Julie reconciles with Tommy and later dumps Randy. A heartbroken Randy gets severely drunk, makes out with his ex-girlfriend (Tina Theberge), and nearly gets into a fight with a gang of low riders before Fred saves him. Fred chides Randy for moping over Julie, but tells him that he needs to fight if he truly wants her back. After Randy flits about the Valley for the next few days just so he can get a glimpse at Julie, Fred says that he has a plan that will both reunite Randy with Julie and get revenge against Tommy.