Endless Love (1981)

23% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
59% of users liked it
(6,573 ratings)

Based on a novel by Scott Spencer, Endless Love details the doomed romance between 17-year-old David (Martin Hewitt) and 15-year-old Jade (Brooke Shields). Banished from Jade's home by her daddy Hugh (Don Murray), David obsessively cooks up a scheme to get back into the family's good graces. Since… More Based on a novel by Scott Spencer, Endless Love details the doomed romance between 17-year-old David (Martin Hewitt) and 15-year-old Jade (Brooke Shields). Banished from Jade's home by her daddy Hugh (Don Murray), David obsessively cooks up a scheme to get back into the family's good graces. Since this plan involves setting Jade's house on fire, one can easily predict that the puppy-love romance is in for a bumpy ride. Jailed for arson, David heads directly to Jade the moment that he's released, with tragic results. Posting respectable earnings thanks to the popularity of Brooke Shields, Endless Love was also the film debut of Tom Cruise, billed 18th in the cast list. A young James Spader lends a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Genres: Drama, Romance

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
A Cotton-candy rendition of Scott Spencer's powerful novel, Endless Love is a manipulative tale of a doomed romance which careens repeatedly between the credible and the ridiculous.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie as a whole does not understand the particular strengths of the novel that inspired it, does not convince us it understands adolescent love, does not seem to know its characters very well, and is a narrative and logical mess.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Anyone unfamiliar with the story of Scott Spencer's novel is bound to be mystified by Franco Zeffirelli's latest film, which reduces Endless Love to a whimperingly latter-day Romeo and Juliet with a little pyromania thrown in.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
A bad but commercially popular romantic melodrama, due to Brooke Shields' celeb status at the time and the the Oscar-nominated tune by Lionel Richie.
Chuck O'Leary, FulvueDrive-in.com
A potentially interesting story of obsessive teenage love is sabotaged by some laughably absurd overplotting.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A notorious disaster.
, Time Out
As excruciating as the Diana Ross/Lionel Richie title tune.
Brandon Judell, PopcornQ
Love twaddle, perfect for teens.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Endless Love explores romantic yearning in all of its intensity.
, Film4
In a word: yuck.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

This love story is alike part of 'Romeo and Juliet'. Brooke Shields was so beautiful, young and sexy of the early 1980's.
Lee K

finally got a hold of number two on my hard to find list, a movie my small click of freinds used to gather at one of our houses to watch during the summer like a 1000 times or so. Great little storyline that has two young lovers Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt after being torn apart… More
finally got a hold of number two on my hard to find list, a movie my small click of freinds used to gather at one of our houses to watch during the summer like a 1000 times or so. Great little storyline that has two young lovers Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt after being torn apart by her folks for being'too young' battle to see each other however its more so on Hewitt's charectors part then hers. Its a movie that shows the extent some people will go to just to be with their true loves, also on the other hand it also shows that some guys dont know the meaning of 'no'

Cast

            Brooke Shields as Jade

            Martin Hewitt as David

            Shirley Knight as Anne

            Don Murray as Hugh

            Richard Kiley as Arthur

            Beatrice Straight as Rose

            Ian Ziering as Sammy

            Robert Moore as Dr. Miller

            Penelope Milford as Ingrid

            Anna Berger as Nurse

            Jane Fleiss as Patient

            Marvin Foster as Attendant

            Jami Gertz as Patty

            Walter Gorney as Passerby

            George Kyle as Chicago Cop

            Philip Lenkowsky as Patient

            Salem Ludwig as Mr. Switzer

            Jan Miner as Mrs. Switzer

            Teri Shields as Nurse

            Sylvia Short as Nurse

            James Spader as Keith

            Gilbert Stafford as Attendant

            Leon B. Stevens as Judge

            Robert Altman as Hotel Manager

            Mark Arnold
            
            Tom Cruise as Billy

            David Willis as Walter

            Ron Perkins as Patient

            Kenneth Cory
            
            Lawrence Sellars
            
            Jeff Marcus as Leonard
See full cast

Endless Love (1981)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

Lee K

Cast