Little Darlings

In 1980, A group of teenage girls from Atlanta all head to Camp Little Wolf for the summer. Two girls in particular, the rich romantic young Ferris Whitney (Tatum O’Neal) and streetwise wrong side of the tracks tough chick Angel Bright (Kristy McNichol) meet on the bus headed to camp and already don’t like each other, getting into a fight. The two girls are opposites and rivals throughout most of the film. The ruler of the teen girl clique is snotty and mean teen model Cinder (Krista Errickson) and her and most of her cohorts egg on Ferris and Angel’s fighting and tease them, further exacerbating their hatred of each other. When the group of girls get to camp they are assigned the same cabin, and, much to Ferris and Angel’s chagrin they have sleeping cots next to each other. Cinder who has been prying into the girls’ affairs reveals to the group that Ferris and Angel are virgins and makes a bet to see which girl can have her first sexual experience first, so it’s a bet to see which girl loses her virginity first, and Cinder bets on Ferris. Dana (Alexa Kenin) one of the girls in the group takes charge of the “Angel” group while the other girls continue to take sides, putting money on either Ferris or Angel and this bet spreads throughout the camp, remaining unbeknownst to all the adults. In the interim Ferris falls for the older suave camp counselor, Gary Callahan (Armand Assante)whom becomes her target while Angel ends up meeting and targeting hunky young Randy (Matt Dillon) while the girls sneak out of camp to go “find protection” at the local gas station after stealing a camp school bus to drive out there. Randy is from Camp Tomahawk the all boys camp across the lake so he and Angel make plans to sneak out after hours to see each other. Meanwhile, the typical days at Camp Little Wolf are fun, the girls engage in typical teenage camp behavior, like food fights, archery, hiking, lounging by the pool and singing around a campfire. Ferris attempts swimming lessons to try to get closer to seducing Gary while Angel tries to get Randy drunk. Neither girl seems successful in their bet so far and when parents come to visit, Ferris’ dad (Nicholas Coster) reveals family trouble which further sets Ferris back from competing and Angel feels disillusioned when her mother (Maggie Blye) confirms that your first time is “no big deal” when they have a girls’ talk. One night Ferris finally tries to tell Gary how she feels and Angel attempts to sleep with Randy. Both girls discover that sex is not what they thought it would be. Ferris thinks of sex as love and romance and wine and flowers and poetry. She imagines herself swept off her feet by Gary. She attempts to seduce him one night in his cabin to which Gary although flattered calmly shuts her down and tells her he is “not a prince” he’s a “teacher”. She ends up lying to the girls about their imaginary affair. When she lies about "making love" with him, Gary gets in trouble for having sex with a fifteen-year-old. She discovers that physical sex can have ugly consequences. Her attitude is now more grounded in reality; she has become more like street-wise Angel.

Meanwhile, street-wise Angel approaches the same issue from the other side and learns the opposite lesson. She views winning the contest as a purely biological act, "no big deal" and "nothing", as her mother told her. But when she tries to do "it" with Randy in a boathouse for the first time she becomes confused by scary feelings she did not know she had. For her first attempt with Randy she behaves defensively, like she doesn't want it. Randy, who was also confused, and put off by her recalcitrance, leaves.

Angel originally saw sex as a mechanical function she thought she could cynically turn on and off. But realizes it involves feelings and caring and love. Sex becomes important and something she deeply wants. When Randy left the first time, she tearfully protested, "But I like you!"

But the night Ferris tried to seduce Gary she met with Randy again with a much-improved attitude—one closer to Ferris's. This time she pays attention, not to condoms and clothing, but to Randy and her feelings about him. As the novel adapted from the film's screenplay describes it, "All her fear and resistance melted as they kissed. Soon, she didn't know who was touching whom, only that it was wonderful and right and fine."[5]

So Angel has sex (offscreen) with Randy in the boathouse, and after they make love Angel feels different and admits to Randy that he actually was the first guy to take her virginity. He becomes shocked and impassioned telling Angel he thinks he loves her to which she tearfully replies “God I feel so lonesome.” Angel ends up not telling the other girls about her experience while Ferris remains a virgin who lies to the girls about her evening of romantic passion ("We had chilled Chablis; the darkness enveloped us.").

In the end, Ferris discovers that sex is not just a fantasy of poetry and flowers and moonlight or something from a novel. The biological aspect is not necessarily romantic. Angel discovers that biological sex involves powerful emotions that touch her deeply and transform her soul. Neither girl is quite ready for the emotional aspects that sex brings: When Randy seeks Angel out, (after Cinder tries to break them up by telling him about the bet, alluding to it as a “game”), Angel admits that while she likes him, she is not ready for that kind of a relationship (Randy says they can start over, but Angel observes that it's too late and wouldn't be enough), while Ferris apologizes to Gary. The girls then all turn against Cinder who originally started the drama/bet and together, all the girls in the group talk with the camp director and confess the entire situation, saving Gary's job and getting him out of trouble.

Angel and Ferris, the two outsiders, discover they are more alike than different. At the end as they all return home from summer camp to their parents, Sunshine (Cynthia Nixon) the hippie girl in the group tells the girls she will see them “next July” for camp and it’s assumed a lot of them will be reunited. Angel introduces Ferris to her mom and she meets Ferris’ dad and they both become best friends, with the last scene of the film showing Angel and Ferris hugging and Angel calling Ferris “her best friend”.

• Tatum O'Neal as Ferris Whitney
• Kristy McNichol as Angel Bright
• Armand Assante as Gary Callahan
• Matt Dillon as Randy Adams
• Maggie Blye as Ms. Bright
• Nicolas Coster as Mr. Whitney
• Marianne Gordon as Mrs. Whitney
• Krista Errickson as Cinder Carlson
• Alexa Kenin as Dana
• Mary Betten as Miss Nichols
• Abby Bluestone as Chubby
• Troas Hayes as Diane
• Cynthia Nixon as Sunshine Walker
• Simone Schachter as Carrots
• Jenn Thompson as Penelope Schubert

The film was made by Stephen Friedman's Kings Road Productions. Paramount agreed to provide $5.3 million to make it in exchange for $14.3 million to market and develop the film.[1]

Kristy McNichol had the first pick of lead roles over Tatum O’Neal and chose the role of Angel, the more streetwise character.[6][7]

Principal photography on Little Darlings began on March 19, 1979 at Hard Labor Creek State Park, 50 miles east of Atlanta.[8] The gas station men's room (condom) scene was filmed in downtown Rutledge, the town nearest the park. The meeting place for the buses at the beginning and ending were filmed in a parking lot near the offices of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the old Omni Coliseum can be seen in the background including in the last scene of the movie. When Ferris is driven into town, they pass the Swan House, indicating that her family lives in Buckhead, a wealthy part of town to the north of the city.[9]

The film was notable for having a contemporary pop soundtrack, with music by artists like Blondie, Rickie Lee Jones, Supertramp, The Cars, and Iain Matthews. The original video release—on blue box VHS and laserdisc—kept the soundtrack intact; however, many songs in the film such as Supertramp's "School", John Lennon's "Oh My Love" and The Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow" were removed from the second round of home releases—VHS red box—due to licensing issues,[10] and were replaced with sound-alikes.

On January 7, 2012, Lionsgate announced the release of the film on DVD, but it was later canceled.

As of 2019, the film has not been released on DVD or Blu-ray, but has been made available for digital video rental on iTunes and Amazon Prime.[11] Turner Classic Movies also aired the original theatrical version, letterboxed, and with all original music and credits intact. Canada’s Hollywood Suite aired the original theatrical version on June 22, 2021, with a replay scheduled for the following day.

The film made $19.4 million domestically against a budget of $5.3 million.[1][2] NBC later acquired broadcasting rights for $2.7 million and the network first aired the film on May 9, 1983.[12] The film also made $1.2 million in the ancillary markets.[1]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "fresh" approval rating of 67% based on nine reviews.[13] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 45 out of 100 based on nine reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

Frank Rich of Time praised McNichol’s acting, but criticized the script and said the characters were underdeveloped.[15] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, “Miss O'Neal and Miss McNichol, both lovely and accomplished actresses, are much better than their material. And they go a long way toward lending the story a little charm.”[16]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also criticized the tonal inconsistencies of the film, but noted that “the scenes in which [the characters] actually confront the realities of sex are handled so thoughtfully and tastefully that they almost seem to belong to another movie.”[4]

For its broadcast on TV, Little Darlings was shown in a heavily edited version which had all the sex-related scenes and dialogue removed, giving the impression that, instead of trying to lose their virginity, Angel and Ferris were engaged in competition simply to make a guy fall in love with them.[17] The deleted scenes were replaced with alternate footage not seen in the theatrical version, including a scene in which Angel rescues Ferris from drowning in the lake during a thunderstorm. Some additional music was also used in this version. Director Ron Maxwell has stated that he had no participation in this TV version and does not approve of it.[18]

• Young Artist Awards

Nominee: Second Best Young Actress in a Major Motion Picture - Kristy McNichol[19]

• Little Darlings at IMDb
• Little Darlings at the TCM Movie Database
• Little Darlings at AllMovie
• Little Darlings at Box Office Mojo
• Little Darlings at Rotten Tomatoes
• Little Darlings at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Little Darlings at 80s Movie Guide