Crossing the Bridge

Stars: Josh Charles (Dead Poet's Society), Stephen Baldwin (Born on the Fourth of July), Jason Gedrick (Backdraft). Writer-director Mike Binder's debut film is a powerful story of a trio of post-high school Detroit youths circa 1975 who hang together, often taking trips across the Canadian border in their beat-up gas guzzler to visit strip joints. Danny (Stephen Baldwin, younger brother of Alec) is an ex-football jock who drives and leads the group, Tim (Jason Gedrick) is a hothead who comes from a rough home, and Mort (Josh Charles), the film's narrator, aspires to be a writer. Not ready for college, not ready to get a job, they're drifting ...until a lucrative offer to transport drugs across the bridge comes along. At this point, Crossing the Bridge could have gone in any number of predictable directions: but it didn't. As complications arise around and among the boys, the journey across the bridge comes to represent something much larger than smuggling drugs. The issues at stake force the boys to leave adolescence behind and test the sometimes harsh waters of adult life. The acting is excellent, all around, and Binder's easygoing script keeps the audience interested and amused. Too, the 70s soundtrack with Jethro Tull, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bad Company, Deep Purple, and others is superb. (R. Pitman) [DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review—Feb. 6, 2018—Kino Lorber, 103 min./97 min., R/PG-13, DVD: $14.95, Blu-ray: $24.95—Making their latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, writer-director Mike Binder's Crossing the Bridge (1992) and Indian Summer (1993) feature solid transfers. Extras include an interview with Binder. Bottom line: a bargain two-fer that is worth the price for Crossing the Bridge alone.]