Kim Valentine Movies

Lou Diamond Phillips stars as the title character, a Los Angeles motorcycle gang member sent to a Texas ranch for rehabilitation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

The students of Ridgemont High have got nothing on these hard partying high schoolers, but when September rolls around and a new batch of seniors prepare for graduation, a class tragedy brings everyone together in this effort from director Jose Altonaga. Sean Willis is the jock who has it all, but a beautiful girlfriend and an athletic scholarship isn't enough to make up for a failed science test that suddenly brings his bright future into question. Class clown Jason Miller is the polar opposite of his athletic counterpart. Sarcastic and defiant, Miller frequently finds himself in detention hall with Sean and sexually obsessed computer wiz Zigmond "Ziggy" Karpinski -- whose unwholesome obsession with science teacher Miss Hershey is seriously impeding on his education. When Sean learns that his cheerleader girlfriend, Jenny, has gone to a party with big shot musician Dirk Allen, his jealousy gives way to anger upon discovering that Dirk has drugged and sexually assaulted the unsuspecting Jenny. Soon conspiring with Jason and Ziggy to get revenge on the sleazy rocker, Sean plots an elaborate revenge against Dirk that is certain to make Monclair High history. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

With their father dead and their mother busy trying to land a steady beau, pretty teen Billy Jean Davy (Helen Slater) and her younger brother, Binx (Christian Slater), spend their time riding Binx's moped and dreaming of life in Vermont -- several climate zones away from the humid, omnipresent heat of their Texas town. One day, on their way from their trailer park home to a swimming hole, the Davy kids run afoul of rich boy Hubie Pyatt (Barry Tubb) and his cronies, who steal -- and later trash -- the scooter Binx bought with his father's paltry life insurance benefits. Demanding payment from Hubie and his merchant dad (Richard Bradford) for the damage that's been inflicted on both the bike and her brother's face, Billie Jean narrowly escapes being raped by the elder Pyatt. In the ensuing scuffle, Binx accidentally shoots Mr. Pyatt, sending himself, Billie Jean, and their friends, Ophelia (Martha Gehman) and Putter (Yeardley Smith), on the lam. When the "Billie Jean Gang" becomes a media sensation, Pyatt capitalizes on their notoriety by selling T-shirts and bric-a-brac, while policeman Ringwald (Peter Coyote), who feels guilty for having refused to help Billie Jean, tries to bring the kids in without anyone getting hurt. However, when the gang mock-kidnaps rich amateur filmmaker Lloyd (Keith Gordon), unaware that he's the district attorney's son, the situation spins out of control. Soon, Lloyd's videotape of the suddenly crop-topped, Joan of Arc-emulating, eminently telegenic Billie Jean elevates a local headline into a national sensation, and even Lloyd's attraction to Billie Jean can't protect her from the media lightning rod she's become. The Legend of Billie Jean marks the screen debut of Christian Slater, who is no relation to co-star Helen Slater. Actor Gordon, who made his debut as a screenwriter with Mark Romanek's Static the year Billie Jean came out, would go on to direct a number of critically acclaimed films. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide