the best time in your whole life
I don't think that I knew that Bridgette Andersen died from a drug overdose back in 1997. Back when I was a kid, her Savannah Driscoll was basically an absolute innocent. And, while I know that Savannah Smiles is a deliberate mix of childish innocence and tragic circumstance, I remember the film as quite innocent even in its worst moments... We start with a prison break, of course. Would be totally serious but there's just enough silliness with the camouflage car and the branches sticking out of it, and it being amphibious. Plus, Alvie (Mark Miller, who also wrote the screenplay) is getting "paroled on Friday" but Boots (Donovan Scott) breaks him out anyway. Boots tries to steal a chicken, and there's an old lady who shoots at the two of them with a shotgun with very little prompting. And then we meet Savannah (Andersen), sitting alone on the stairs as her parents host a dinner party. Savannah's father Richard (Chris Robinson) is run...