Based on the true story of Russell Middle School student Marcy Renee Conrad’s murder in 1981, “River’s Edge” follows the effects the murder has on a group of high schoolers and also features now famed actor Keanu Reeve’s debut in film.
Directed by Tim Hunter, the movie revolves around teenager Samson “John” Tollet (Daniel Roebuck) who murders his girlfriend Jamie (Danyi Deats) and brags to his friends about killing her. Shocked at the scene, one of John’s friends, Layne (Crispin Glover), tries to help John by getting him out of trouble, while a more troubled Matt (Keanu Reeves) grapples with what he should do.
The movie follows them and how they handle the death of Jamie and whether or not to turn in John to the
police, but it also diverges into smaller plotlines with each of the characters. This leads to some confusion,
however, as the movie does not elaborate on many of these minor plotlines, like Feck (Dennis Hopper) and how he also killed his lover in the past.
Filmed in Los Angeles, the movie draws inspiration from what really happened in Milpitas. The movie fictionalized many events and changed details of the murder to make the film more suitable for the big screen. Additionally, the details of the murder are also changed, with the original one happening at the
suspects house while the movie version showed the murder occuring by the edge of the river, giving the movie the name “River’s Edge”.
The film follows the themes of peer pressure, morality, and loyalty, as each of the members of the group has to figure out which path they will take. The movie contrasts the psychology of a teenager facing an unimaginable situation to the seemingly mundane town the movie is set in.
The portrayal of the characters is one of the movie’s strongest suits. Reeves does a phenomenal job portraying Matt and the internal conflict he faces, questioning whether he should stick to his morals or his loyalty to his friends. Glover shows the mental battle that Layne goes through as a result of trying to protect John at the expense of his own sanity. This can be seen when Layne passes John’s house, only to realize that cops have swarmed the place.
In this scene, Layne becomes almost psychotic, yelling and cursing out who he believes told the cops.
While the movie does have its fair share of positives, the seemingly glaring critique is the dragged-out plot.
The movie shows the body of Jamie on multiple occasions, with each member of the friend group having similar reactons. This left one of the most haunting scenes of the movie to feel redundant, almost desensitized me to the image. While the movie is now outdated compared to today’s standards of film, considering the connection this movie has to the history of Milpitas, I would recommend watching it as it shows a horrific crime that happened to a student of Milpitas long ago.