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Racing With the Moon Reviews

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In a small coastal California town, Henry and Nicky are pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. Mischievous and irresponsible, Nicky gets into trouble which forces the other two to become involved, testing their relationship, as well as the friendship between the boys.

In this slight film about two boys about to be drafted into WWII, everyone tries hard, but the movie is essentially superficial and has difficulty sustaining audience interest. Hopper (Sean Penn) and Nicky (Nicolas Cage) have six weeks before they are due to be marines. Nicky is a street youth who gets his girlfriend (Suzanne Adkinson) pregnant and has to raise the money for her abortion. Hopper, in the meantime, has fallen for a new girl in town, Caddie Winger (Elizabeth McGovern). She lives in a mansion, so Hopper assumes she is wealthy. But when Nicky asks Hopper to ask Caddie for money for the abortion, Hopper learns that her parents are the servants in the mansion, not the owners. RACING WITH THE MOON offers good period evocation, excellent costumes, and a few funny scenes. A nice little movie--perhaps too nice--with none of the edge that was apparently needed to sell tickets in the 1980s.