Lori Loughlin

Jean De Baer

James Spader

Paige Price

John Philbin

Vince Grant

Margaret Welsh

Brian Wimmer

Eddie Jones

Eric Stoltz

Shannon Presby

Theron Montgomery

David H. MacDonald

Lucy Martin

Court Miller

Tom Atkins

Brad Sullivan

Chad Wiggins-Grady

Toni Crabtree

Robertson Carricart

John D. LeMay

Fred Buch

Ilse Earl

Alex Panas

John Archie

Donnie Kehr

Barbara De Fina

Brian E. Frankish

Harry V. Bring

Howard Warren

James Troutman

Franklin Jones Jr.

Walter Goss

Rick Alexander

Scott Blynder

Michael C. Gutierrez

Clancy T. Troutman

Roger Ragland

Sean S. Cunningham

Tom Coll

Stephen Gyllenhaal

Brian Taggert

Steven Poster

Lalo Schifrin

Nikki Fritz

Andrew Fogelson

Rita Roland

Pennie DuPont

Julie Hughes

Barry Moss

Peter Landsdown Smith

Molly Maginnis

Elizabeth Lambert

Donisia McGowan

Jack Cowden

Jay Amor

Courtney Brown

Mike Kirton

Artie Malesci

Marc Mercury

Jeff Moldovan

Betty Raymond

Dennis Feldman

George Kohut

Peter Kuttner

Robert Heine

John Winner

William D. Barber

William Tobin

David M. Lang

Greg Kasper

Bill Seckel

Charles Guanci

J.B. Jones

William S. Johnson

Harvey Shapiro

Deborah Lee

Robert Destolfe

Diana Bernay

Lynette Bernay

David Gelfand

Guy Barresi

Dee Miller

Peter Golden

Chris Ksanznak

Drama

Crime

Horror

The New Kids

Fogbound Inc.

Columbia Pictures

United States of America

**_A brother & sister face the challenges of a new life and school south of Miami_**

After a tragedy, military siblings (Shannon Presby and Lori Loughlin) are forced to stay with their eccentric uncle & aunt in southern Florida, where they offend the local toughs at their school. Eric Stoltz plays a guy who’s interested in the sister while James Spader is on hand as the lead antagonist.

"The New Kids" (1985) is cut from the same cloth as “The Karate Kid” from the year prior, just without the sports angle. It has similarities to “Tuff Turf,” which was released one week earlier and also features Spader, albeit as the protagonist. This one lacks the musical and comedic elements of “Turf” and is comparable to “Dangerously Close,” which came out the next year. Stoltz would go on to star in “Some Kind of Wonderful” a couple of years later. 

Loughlin is smart and winsome, but it’s blonde Paige Price who stands out on the feminine front as Karen.

If you like any of the 80's teen movies mentioned and their contemporaries, “The New Kids” is worth checking out, although it’s not great like "The Karate Kid,” not to mention "Dangerously Close" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" are superior. One issue is that it’s overlong by about 15-20 minutes. Speaking of which…

The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in Miami-Dade County, Florida, including Homestead and Perrine, which are in extreme southeastern Florida.

GRADE: B-

English

Striking Back aka The New Kids  -  1985  -  [Trailer]