Racing with the Moon

It's a coming of age story. It's a rite of passage saga. It's a period piece. Choose your cliché, and Racing with the Moon will fit it--and more than likely transcend it. Directed by Richard Benjamin, written by Steve Kloves (who went on to pen all the Harry Potter screenplays, among others), and starring the youthful Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, and Elizabeth McGovern, this 1984 film features Penn (who had already won notice in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) in a layered performance as Henry “Hopper” Nash, a callow, sensitive northern California teen facing real life as 1942 comes to an end. Henry and his more reckless, haunted pal Nicky (Cage, offering up his usual repertoire of scenery-chewing, hound dog-faced angst) are about to join the Marines and shove off to World War II. Meanwhile, Henry's falling in love with McGovern's Caddie Winger, a fetching, elusive local whom Henry suspects is rich and thus out of his reach, while Nicky's problematic girlfriend becomes a major distraction to all concerned. Offering up plenty of nuance and nostalgia-tinged ‘40s atmosphere, with nice turns by a cast that also includes John Karlen and Rutanya Alda as Henry's parents and Crispin Glover and Michael Madsen in small roles, Racing with the Moon is no life-changer, just a film whose charms are simple but abundant. Presented in a so-so transfer, DVD extras include a commentary track by Benjamin and three "making-of" featurettes. Recommended. (S. Graham)