Five Corners

The teenage Bronx in '64 was divided into the concerned and the heads. Harry (Robbins) is on the brink of joining civil rights Down South. Melanie (Berridge) and Brita (de Prume) sniff from bags and play yo-yo on top of elevators. Linda (Foster) works in a pet store and is preoccupied with stopping psychotic Heinz (Turturro) from attempting rape again now that he's out of the slammer. The latter's courtship is unconventional. Unbidden, he steals a pair of penguins for her from the zoo, and when she demurs, clubs one to death. Like American Graffiti, all these teenie tales take place against a specific historical time, with TV and electioneering vans everywhere on the go to remind us. Some tales work better than others, with the mysterious killings by bow-and-arrow convenient but low on credibility. The investigating cop duo (Rozakis and Seitz) could have strayed in from Chabrol at his daftest; Linda's crippled boyfriend (Graff) is a curdler; Turturro's Heinz, however, is rivetingly over the top. Lots of good ideas and memorable scenes, but it's a bit of a mess.