Tilt

Tilt (Shields) is a pinball wizard. She is also a precocious little squirt whose 14-year-old heart is touched by an aspiring singer (Marshall) who can't take the bad breaks, but can and does take her for a ride as they hustle pinball games from Santa Cruz to Texas. She thinks she's using her talent for 'art' (funding a demo record for him), but all he wants is easy money for more Elvis outfits. Don't be fooled, this is not about pinball, though there's much incidental footage of flashing lights, ricocheting balls, scores clicking over, and the gyrations of the players' hips. It is in fact a thoroughly objectionable movie which subscribes to the theory that behind every weak male is a strong woman - be she only fourteen - and then connives at her exploitation. Outrage subsides into apathy, however, with the wearisome smart-ass attitude and lack of appeal of the two leads; you feel they deserve all they get.