At the beginning of this movie we meet Charlie, a hot headed teen who is constantly fighting at school. His home life is miserable. His father is an equal hot head who argues constantly with his mother driving her to drink. To make matters worse he's just fallen in with a group of troublemakers. He gets blamed when one of his friends steals a purse. The principal, played by James Caan, agrees not to suspend him if he works off his debt to the purse's owner, Mrs. Ritchie (Gina Rowlands).
Mrs. Ritchie proceeds to teach Charlie about living and caring for each other.
The movie start out poorly. The setup of Charlie's character is painful and the scenes with his friends cliché and over dramatized.
However, when Gina Rowlands appears on the screen as Mrs. Ritchie the movie takes a wonderful turn. Mrs. Ritchie is offbeat and colorful; her zeal for life intoxicating.
Don't let the start of the movie keep you from enjoying a delightful and uplifting film.
