Bad Boys

Bad Boys is a 1983 American coming-of-age crime drama film set in a juvenile detention center, starring Sean Penn, Esai Morales, and Clancy Brown, Alan Ruck and Ally Sheedy in their film debuts. The film is directed by Rick Rosenthal. The original music score was composed by Bill Conti. Plot Mick O'Brien is a 16-year-old Irish-American hoodlum from Chicago. Mick's crimes include snatching purses, shoplifting, vandalism, and fighting, but he aspires to bigger things. Mick's attempt to rip off his Puerto Rican rival, Paco Moreno, goes awry, leading to Mick's best friend Carl being fatally shot and Mick accidentally running over and killing Paco's eight-year-old brother. Mick is sent to the Rainford Juvenile Correctional Facility. Most of the supervisors there have lowered themselves to the role of zookeepers. One exception is Ramon Herrera, a former gang member who talks tough to the inmates, but holds out hope for some of them, especially Mick. Mick's cellmate is Barry Horowitz, a small, wiry, brainy Jewish kid who firebombed a bowling alley after some boys there assaulted him for flirting with their girlfriends. Their cell block is dominated by a pair of brawny sadists named "Viking" Lofgren and Warren "Tweety" Jerome, who take an immediate dislike to Mick. Mick puts up with them at first, but after witnessing Tweety kill another inmate (who tried to stab Tweety as revenge for raping him), he refuses to be intimidated.