Too Young to Die? (1990)

• Year: 1990
• Released: 26 Feb 1990
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100797/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/too_young_to_die
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Crime, Drama
• Runtime: 92 min
• Writer: David Hill, George Rubino
• Director: Robert Markowitz
• Cast: Michael Tucker, Juliette Lewis, Brad Pitt
• Keywords: child abuse, death penalty, flashback, on the run, teenage prostitute,

5.9/10

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Too Young to Die? Movie Reviews

Dead Girl Walking

This is a TV movie of the type which focuses on a current controversial topic- what I have come to think of as the “Issue of the Month” school of film-making. Films of this sort, often based or partly based upon a true story, frequently end up as rather worthy but dull, but “Too Young to Die?” is rather better than most.

In this case the Issue of the Month is the death penalty, especially the use of the death penalty in cases where the murder was committed by a minor. The central character, Amanda Sue Bradley, is a fifteen-year-old Oklahoma schoolgirl who finds herself on trial for her life after killing her lover Mike Medwicki. We learn of Amanda’s troubled past in a series of flashbacks. She is the product of a poor, dysfunctional family from a trailer-park. At the age of thirteen she was sexually molested by her stepfather and entered into a very brief marriage with a boyfriend. (Did Oklahoma really still permit thirteen-year-olds to marry in the early nineties?) She ran away to the nearest big town where she became the lover of a petty crook named Billy Canton, who abused her, introduced her to drugs and forced her to work as a stripper.

Amanda appears to have been rescued from this predicament by the entry into her life of Mike, a divorced sergeant from a nearby army base. He takes Amanda back to live with him; at first he is more like a father-figure than a boyfriend and their relationship is platonic, but eventually she seduces him and ends up in his bed. Mike abandons her when the Army threaten him with a court-martial after discovering that he is in a sexual relationship with an underage girl. Amanda is forced to return to Billy, and together they plot revenge on Mike.

Juliette Lewis, only 17 when she made this film, was regarded as one of the rising young stars of the early nineties. She was to give good performances in later films such as “Cape Fear” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, but “Too Young to Die?” must be one of her best. She was also to play a teenage murderer in another film made four years later, Oliver Stone’s notorious “Natural Born Killers”, but “Too Young to Die?” is a far better film than that nasty, meretricious piece of sledgehammer satire.

The purpose of the film is to force viewers to think about the ethics of the death penalty. The murder of Sergeant Medwicki was certainly both brutal and premeditated, but a system which allows a fifteen-year-old girl to be sentenced to death is itself equally brutal. Amanda is a confused, vulnerable girl, someone who has herself been a victim all her life. She is also lacking in intelligence and seems unable to comprehend what is happening to her; there is a telling scene where her lawyer comes to visit her in jail and all she is interested in is whether he has brought her any chocolates. Lewis is able to bring out all the conflicting elements of Amanda’s personality, including a disturbing mixture of innocence and teenage sensuality.

The film also features a young actor who would later go on to become an even bigger star than Lewis. Although Brad Pitt is reasonably good here as the thuggish Canton, he is not in the same league as she is. The actor who shares the acting honours with Lewis is Michael Tucker as her lawyer Buddy. Although Buddy lacks experience in capital cases, he puts up a strong defence, including a moving closing speech, which inexplicably fails to convince the jury, who prefer the bloodthirsty rhetoric of the counsel for the prosecution.

The film ends with Amanda convicted of murder and awaiting execution. We never learn her ultimate fate, although Attina Cannady, the defendant in the trial on which this film was partially based, eventually had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The film has received some criticism on this board for allegedly distorting the facts of the Cannady case, although it never claims to be a factual retelling of that case (which took place in Mississippi rather than Oklahoma). The film is rather a work of fiction, which draws upon the Cannady trial and other real-life cases. Although it was made as a TV movie, I found it a more effective and powerful contribution to the debate on capital punishment than several high-profile feature films on the same topic such as “Dead Man Walking”. 7/10

It ain’t what you do, it’s the age that you do it !

Due to the seriousness of her crime, Amanda is being tried as an adult, for murder, and faces execution if guilty.

Amanda is 15 years old.

This film is based on a true story. Unfortunately, this means absolutely nothing in the film represents what actually happened to Amanda… except perhaps that she murdered someone and was found guilty.

So, viewing the film in it’s own right, I think it does an excellent job of presenting us with information, with a scenario, and asking us many questions about the legal system, and the strange institution that is the death penalty. The subject is a minor, only 15yrs old. Alcohol and drugs are involved, and she is only 15yrs old. Sex, prostitution, and rape by a family member, and she is 15yrs old. Married, legally, at 15yrs old. Up in front of the beak, death penalty, possibly facing the end of her life, at 15yrs old.

In fact, having read my own paragraph above, I find it incredible that this is a true story… I mean, how could all this happen, and then a jury of adults be asked to decide on a death penalty for a child who has been through all this? Madness, to be sure. Perhaps a jury of 15yr olds would be better? After all, are we not supposed to be judged by our peers?

The situations in the film are well presented. The confusion and the strangeness not blindfolding us, and not brainwashing either.

We are allowed to think all the way through this movie… and I guess careful thought about this subject is what was needed. All actors do well, especially Lewis, who develops a very whole, very believable character throughout.

One criticism might be that while the film carries an 18 rating, what we actually see is , well, Disney-fied. The subject is wholly unpleasant, true or not, but the edges are certainly smoothed. It is presented in a Saturday matinée format, when it could quite easily, and maybe more truthfully, be presented in Natural Born Killers reality styley, and thus deserve it’s rating.

Well worth watching… thought provoking, well acted, and deserves a “7” from me!

Such A Pathetic Life

Too Young To Die is an above average television movie starring Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis as a pair of young killers and Michael Tucker as the lawyer for Lewis. Tucker is desperately trying to keep her out of the gas chamber and the film is mostly in flashback as she tells her story.

The film really does belong to Juliette Lewis in a stunning portrayal of a pathetic life. She’s 14, repeatedly raped by her stepfather, abandoned by her mother and living on the streets until she meets street hustler Brad Pitt.

Later on she develops a relationship with an army sergeant, Michael O’Keefe who has two small children. When their relationship is discovered by the army, Lewis is forced to go back to Pitt. She’s full of hate for the world now and acts accordingly.

Michael Tucker who was playing lawyer Stuart Markowitz on L.A. Law at the time gets to play another attorney. He wants to help her, but Lewis is too dumb to get out of her own way.

Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis got good notices for Too Young To Die and later played the same kind of parts in the theatrical film, Kalifornia.

I’m not a reflexive opponent of the death penalty, but applying to a minor and one like this seemed unjust. I think even some of the most hard hearted proponents of capital punishment would think twice about the state executing Lewis.

Too Young To Die is a fine film showcasing the talents of up and coming stars Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis. See them in their salad days.