Little Darlings

Outfest members receive free admission at the box office!

We are honored to host guest curator Angela Robinson. The winner of this year’s Outfest Achievement Award, Robinson has built a storied career as a writer, producer and director that spans the big and small screens. After her award-winning feature directorial debut D.E.B.S. in 2004, Robinson transformed the television landscape on shows such as The L Word, Hung, True Blood and How to Get Away With Murder. Her most recent work as writer-director, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, was one of the most critically acclaimed films of last year. Her selection for this Outfest UCLA Legacy Project screening is Little Darlings (1980).

Little Darlings (1980)

Tomboy Angel (Kristy McNichol), and Manhattan debutante-in-waiting Ferris (Tatum O’Neal) meet, well, not cute—they get into fisticuffs on a school bus—on their way to that great American leveler: summer camp. Goaded by the camp mean girl, as much by taunts that they’re lesbians as their own instant rivalry, Angel and Ferris join a contest to see who can lose their virginity first. Little Darlings was almost branded with an X rating for the sexual frankness of Kimi Peck and Dalene Young’s daring script but what’s truly ahead of its time about this cult classic is the respect it showed for the vulnerabilities and preternatural wisdom of a generation of girls forced to grow up fast. O’Neal and McNichol share a magnetic chemistry but McNichol, in particular, delivers a fierce, iconic performance that sparked countless young gay crushes.

35mm, color, 95 min. Director: Ronald F. Maxwell. Screenwriter: Kimi Peck, Dalene Young. Cast: Tatum O'Neal, Kristy McNichol, Armand Assante, Matt Dillon.

Watch the conversation with Angela Robinson and Film Programmer Paul Malcolm: