Alan (Sean Astin) thinks he has his summer all planned out until nature freak Vic (Kevin Bacon) shows up at his door. His parents talk him into going to camp and it's all over for poor Alan. Along with Vic he'll be saddled with three other teen boys that make up the group. Chris and George are the older ones who tend to look down on the other two, the youngest one Mitch is the quiet type. Alan may be second youngest but is not really part of the group at all as he is very smart and does things his own inventive way.
Right from the get-go Alan's unique nature proves to be a problem. He carves initials in a tree and Vic takes his knife away. He leaves tent poles behind on the other side of a huge rope bridge and catches fish with a contraption he invents instead of using a pole. With each thing Vic starts to punish him more and eventually leaves him hanging (literally) at Devil's Tooth. At this point the other boys finally start to take Alan's side in things and without spoiling things let's just say the power changes hands.
The film has a weird pedigree as it was shot in '85 but released in '87 with new Sean Astin scenes filmed to narrate the story. It failed to take off on a limited run at the theaters and that was it, game over. Despite this the movie sports a killer arena rock soundtrack with Journey, Bruce Hornsby and others. But the real star of this overlooked gem is the cinematography, absolutely gorgeous by John Alcott in what would be his last film. Available on all the major VOD outlets. 3.0 stars/5
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