MovieChat Forums > Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) Discussion > Everyone passes for a teenager EXCEPT Ka...

Everyone passes for a teenager EXCEPT Kathleen Turner

posted 10 years ago by teresah233
13 replies | jump to latest

Nick Cage, Catherine Hicks, Joan Allen, Kevin O'Conner, Barry Miller and Jim Carey all look and act like teenagers in this movie. The star, Kathleen Turner, looks older than 32 (her age during filming) and in no way resembles a teenager.
Back to the Future came out just the year before PSGM. Contrast Lea Thompson switching seamlessly between the older disillusioned bitter mom and the hot to trot teenager after MJF shows up in 1955. Too bad. KT was simply miscast, didn't rise to the acting challenge or both,

[–] !!!deleted!!! (47421091) 10 years ago

Lea Thompson was only 25 in Back To The Future. Big jump from 25 to 32 (sadly).

I thought Joan Allen looked 40 ish, but it could have been the frumpy glasses and hair and I thought Will Shriner looked too old to be a teenager.

Turner did look older than most but she did a great job acting in this, and none of the performances of the older actors diminished my enjoyment of this movie in any way.

[–] travelergirl 10 years ago

Actually, back then, they DID look older in high school. If you look in high school yearbooks during those years, you'll see what I mean.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chicago85 10 years ago

Peggy Sue didn't act like a teenager because she was aware that she was an adult who had gone back in time to her high school years. In some ways it was like a vacation but in others she saw some serious things in retrospect as an adult.

For instance there was a small scene where a man in a suit came to the house and her mother appeared to sell some jewelry. I think it meant her husband's small business wasn't doing well. She probably used the money to cover household expenses.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else

[–] CincyDude 10 years ago

"Everyone passes for a teenager EXCEPT Kathleen Turner"

I think that's the point. She is looking back or dreaming (my interpretation), from the perspective of a grown adult, observing her youth and its surroundings. Everyone else in the "past" is totally in the moment; they know no other time or reality than 1960. OTOH, she, alone, is already 43 years old, NOT a teen.

[–] Adler-99 10 years ago

Totally agree with CincyDude!

[–] babcl 10 years ago

Finally someone gets it!

[–] FabinhoDantasFlappers 9 years ago

You said everything. Period.

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

Nick Cage, Catherine Hicks, Joan Allen, Kevin O'Conner, Barry Miller and Jim Carey all look and act like teenagers in this movie. The star, Kathleen Turner, looks older than 32 (her age during filming) and in no way resembles a teenager.

Turner plays a 17-year-old not by trying to actually look 17, because, as you point out, the movie doesn't even try to pull that off; instead she makes certain changes in her speech and movements: She talks more impetuously, not waiting for others to reply; and she walks in the heedless manner of a teenager. The obvious idea is that the heroine looks adult to the viewer, but appears like a teenager to the people in the movie. Coppola respected the intelligence of the audience in that he assumed they'd figure this out without spelling it out.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] nikkivisser 9 years ago

they all looked 30-35 . the age they were in 1986 .did they all go back in time too ?

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

they all looked 30-35 . the age they were in 1986 .

Yeah, right. Cage was 21 during filming and Carrey was 23. It was Turner who was 31.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Elynne 9 years ago

Someone else has already made the point that teenagers during the '50s and very early '60s tried to look older than they really were. The hairstyles looked "old" and the teenage clothing (especially for high school girls) looked like you were dressed to take the train downtown and go to work as a secretary. When I was in college from '62 to '66, we all dressed and tried to look like Jackie Kennedy! Check out the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause" with James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo to see a bunch of supposedly "wild" teenagers look like they are in their 30s!

The whole "youth movement" didn't start happening until the mid-to-late '60s with fashion's Mod London ~ Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in the "Avengers" and Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton, to name a few fashion icons. And now everybody tries to look young forever!

[–] FabinhoDantasFlappers 9 years ago

Great point. You're right