Nobody Waved Good-Bye (1965)

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This downbeat, semi-improvised look at troubled youth was a landmark in Canadian filmmaking, and in 1984 it was named one of the ten best Canadian films of all time in a poll of the nation's film writers. Peter (Peter Kastner) is a confused and alienated teenager, bright and personable but also… More This downbeat, semi-improvised look at troubled youth was a landmark in Canadian filmmaking, and in 1984 it was named one of the ten best Canadian films of all time in a poll of the nation's film writers. Peter (Peter Kastner) is a confused and alienated teenager, bright and personable but also headstrong and rebellious, whose difficult relationship with his father (Claude Rae), an auto dealer, comes to a head when Peter steals a car Dad has brought home for the night. After his father forces him to spend the night in jail, Peter leaves home and moves into a rooming house, hoping to find a job and save enough money to move away. Peter's only real ally is his girlfriend Julie (Julie Biggs), who loves him and admires his bravado, though she's a good bit more emotionally mature. When Peter's parents insist that he break up with Julie, come back home, and return to school, it only strenthens his resolve, but his fortunes soon take a turn for the worse when he reaches a crosroads in his relationship with Julie. Director Don Owen and actors Peter Kastner and Julie Biggs revisited these characters 20 years later in the follow-up, Unfinished Business. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi