Over The Edge (film)

Over The Edge (film)

Over the Edge is a coming-of-age drama film directed by Jonathan Kaplan released in 1979. Due to the negative publicity surrounding a wave of recent youth gang films such as The Warriors, Boulevard Nights, and The Wanderers, Over the Edge had a limited theatrical release in November, 1979. It stars 14-year-old Matt Dillon in his feature film debut.

Depicting suburban life in the late 1970's and including themes of teenage rebellion and drug and alcohol use by junior high school students, and a rock music soundtrack featuring such bands as The Ramones, Cheap Trick, and The Cars, Over the Edge has achieved cult film status, and was an inspiration for the music video for the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

According to the director's and writer's commentary on the DVD, Over the Edge was inspired by actual events that took place in Foster City, California in the early 1970s. Those events were chronicled in a November 11, 1973 article titled "Mousepacks: Kids on a Crime Spree" from the San Francisco Examiner. It is a pervasive internet myth that the writer of the article was Charles S. Haas, who co-wrote the screenplay, but at a 2010 screening Haas confirmed that the original article was written not by him, but by James A. Finefrock and Bruce Koon, two staff reporters for the Examiner.