# Bad Boys (1983 film)
**Bad Boys** is a 1983 American prison drama directed by Rick Rosenthal, written by Richard Di Lello, and starring [Sean Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-penn) as a Chicago teenager sent to a juvenile correctional facility after a drug-deal heist ends in a child's death. It was produced by Robert H. Solo for EMI Films and Solofilm, opened in Los Angeles and New York on 25 March 1983, and runs 123 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 25 March 1983 (Los Angeles and New York openings); R rating; 123 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) |
| Director / writer | Rick Rosenthal; screenplay by Richard Di Lello[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) |
| Principal cast | Sean Penn (Mick O'Brien), Esai Morales (Paco Moreno), Ally Sheedy (J.C. Walenski), Reni Santoni (Ramon Herrera), Clancy Brown (Viking Lofgren)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982) |
| Production | EMI Films and Solofilm; shot in Chicago; filmed 30 April to 17 August 1982[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) |
| Critical scores | Metascore 53 (mixed or average, 10 reviews); 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (19 reviews)[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982) |
| Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award, 1983[4](https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3159015) |
| Box office | $9.2 million in revenue[5](https://cinegraph.org/movies/bad-boys-1983) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Mick O'Brien is a teenage thief in Chicago who lives with a neglectful, alcoholic mother. When his friend Carl Brennan learns that a rival, Paco Moreno, is arranging to deliver a briefcase of stolen pharmaceuticals to a street gang, Mick plans to intercept the deal.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) The robbery goes wrong: Paco's associate is shot, Carl is killed, and Mick, fleeing in a car, runs over and kills an eight-year-old boy who turns out to be Paco's younger brother.[6](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/47994/)
Mick is sentenced to Rainford, a juvenile prison whose Dormitory C houses murderers, armed robbers, and rapists.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) Inside, he is targeted by the facility's reigning toughs, Viking Lofgren ([Clancy Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/clancy-brown)) and Tweety (Robert Lee Rush).[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982) On the outside, Paco takes revenge on those close to Mick, raping his girlfriend J.C. ([Ally Sheedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/ally-sheedy)), and is himself sent to Rainford, setting up a final confrontation between the two.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982) • [7](https://www.prisonmovies.net/bad-boys-1983-usa)
## Production
Rosenthal, who had directed *[Halloween II](https://www.edgepedia.org/halloween-ii-1981-film)*, initially balked at the script's violence, recalling that at the point where a little boy is killed he thought "there's just no redeeming value in the whole thing," but accepted after script changes that he felt humanized the material.
**Casting.** [Matt Dillon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-dillon) wanted the lead role, but Rosenthal cast Sean Penn, then 22, on the basis of a reading, saying he feared audiences would see a movie star in Dillon but only the character in Penn. Penn stayed in character throughout the shoot, had a wolf's head tattooed on his arm, and checked into hotels as Mick.
**Shooting.** The film was shot in Chicago between 30 April and 17 August 1982.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) The end credits thank, among others, the State of Illinois Film Office under Governor James R. Thompson, the Chicago Mayor's Film Office under Mayor Jane M. Byrne, and the [Illinois Department of Corrections](https://www.edgepedia.org/illinois-department-of-corrections), including the St. Charles Youth Correctional Facility.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) Bruce Surtees and Donald Thorin were the cinematographers, [Bill Conti](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-conti) composed the score, and the film was copyrighted by Thorn EMI Films on 15 July 1983.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS) • [6](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/47994/)
## Reception
Critical response was divided. The film holds a Metascore of 53, based on 10 critic reviews, against an 89% Tomatometer from 19 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982) *Variety* praised Rosenthal for bringing to life "the seedy, hopeless environment of a jail for juvenile offenders" and for drawing convincing performances from his young cast, notably Penn.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/) Roger Ebert, writing in the *Chicago Sun-Times*, found the acting, direction, and sense of place strong enough that the film deserved better than its obligatory final scene, though he judged the ending predictable.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/) [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael) gave it a mixed notice, calling Penn worth watching in a picture she found singularly unimaginative.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/) The *Washington Post* critics were harsher: Gary Arnold wrote that the film degenerated into "Big House clichés," and Rita Kempley called the story "as stale as prison air."[8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/03/25/bad-bad-boys/bfddb717-5a17-4dfe-bcd8-87cf41328b36/) • [9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/03/25/really-bad-bad-boys/7103ac62-5104-4378-a37b-a5436f9fccbf/) Time magazine's reviewer dismissed the film with the line "there are no bad boys; there are only bad film makers."[10](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C923488%2C00.html)
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave the film its New Generation Award in 1983.[4](https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3159015) Audience ratings have remained favorable: IMDb users rate it 7.2/10 from about 19,000 votes.[11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085210/)
## Place in the prison-film genre
Commentators have read *Bad Boys* within the juvenile-delinquency and prison-film traditions. A criminal-justice textbook groups it with films since the 1980s, such as *The Outsiders* and *Menace II Society*, that portray alienated, defiant, and violent juveniles willing to challenge the established order, in contrast to the older "good boy gone bad" convention.[12](https://samples.jblearning.com/9781284208450/9781284218084_CH01_Regoli_SECURE.pdf) Gary Arnold's review noted that the title echoed a 1977 television documentary on juvenile offenders by Alan and Susan Raymond, and that the filmmakers initially seemed to aim for the stark authenticity of documentaries like *Bad Boys* and *Scared Straight*.[8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/03/25/bad-bad-boys/bfddb717-5a17-4dfe-bcd8-87cf41328b36/) Time Out's review called it "an oxygenated, thoughtful alternative to the usual run of gangs-in-the-slammer movies," noting Rosenthal's attention to his characters' living spaces and his unsentimental refusal to change his characters for a parole board.[13](https://www.timeout.com/movies/bad-boys-1)
Producer Robert H. Solo followed the film with *Colors* (1988), another youth-crime drama, which he began developing in 1984 after finishing *Bad Boys*.[14](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68374-COLORS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=3aab5703-8a55-4151-a033-6bb8b69a5322&sr=0.16985783) The film was released in Japan on 9 February 1985 through Toho-Towa.[6](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/47994/)
## References
1. [Bad Boys (1983), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57850-BAD-BOYS)
2. [Bad Boys (1983), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_boys_1982)
3. [Bad Boys (1983), Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bad-boys-1983/)
4. [Bad Boys (1983): Continuity script, Alexander Street](https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3159015)
5. [Bad Boys (1983), Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/bad-boys-1983)
6. [バッド・ボーイズ（1983）, 映画.com](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/47994/)
7. [Bad Boys (1983, USA), Prisonmovies.net](https://www.prisonmovies.net/bad-boys-1983-usa)
8. [Bad 'Bad Boys', The Washington Post, 24 March 1983](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/03/25/bad-bad-boys/bfddb717-5a17-4dfe-bcd8-87cf41328b36/)
9. [Really Bad 'Bad Boys', The Washington Post, 24 March 1983](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/03/25/really-bad-bad-boys/7103ac62-5104-4378-a37b-a5436f9fccbf/)
10. [Cinema: BAD BOYS, Time, 1983](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C923488%2C00.html)
11. [Bad Boys (1983), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085210/)
12. [Juvenile justice textbook chapter citing Bad Boys among 1980s delinquency films](https://samples.jblearning.com/9781284208450/9781284218084_CH01_Regoli_SECURE.pdf)
13. [Bad Boys 1983 review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/bad-boys-1)
14. [Colors, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68374-COLORS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=3aab5703-8a55-4151-a033-6bb8b69a5322&sr=0.16985783)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1980s films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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