Five Corners" concerns several people living in a Bronx neighborhood in 1964 .There are two independent plots ,one involving two girls who look like if they were part of girls group of the era ,the Ronettes,the Crystals or most likely the Shangri Las .The merit of this period piece is to be able to create an atmosphere without using the oldies but goldies of the time (the girls group's classics for instance).The only songs we hear are the Beatles ' "in my life" which 1) is British 2)was released late 1965 and is a bit irrelevant as the movie is not treated as a flashback and a brief excerpt of Dylan's "the times they are a changing" ,which makes sense since the hero (Tim Robbins)wants to help his black brothers (it was the Civil Rights time ,and Luther King was the Man of hope)who,on the other hand, are not that much excited by his "help" .A psychotic (John Turturro) ,released from jail ,scares a young girl (Jodie Foster) he tried to rape before.Both Robbins' and Turturro's are present:the former is a widow -her husband was a policeman killed in a riot- who does not want her son to commit himself (to fighting for causes she does not believe in anyway:for her,black people are still n......) ,the latter is an extravagant woman ,who seems to live in another world,who seems interested only in her ludicrous hairdo .In 1964,before Flower Power ,bed-ins and peace and love hippies ,the question which must be asked after watching "Five Corners" would be :is non-violence the solution?The movie would tend to prove that it isn't.

I have a bit of a nostalgic spot for this movie -- my friends and I used to watch it in high school. A guy who I knew then was obsessed with Jodie Foster and the Beatles -- I don't know which came first, or if that was why he watched the movie or if the movie was why he was a fan of Jodie Foster and the Beatles. But those two things seemed to dominate his life and they came together in this movie, and as his close friends we all shared in the enjoyment of this fine film.The main story of "Five Corners" is about John Turturro's character Heinz, a disturbed young man who has just been released from prison for attacking Jodie Foster's character Linda. In between Linda and Heinz are two other concerned young men: her on-again off-again boyfriend Jamie (Todd Graff), who was crippled by Heinz in the fight, and the boy who actually stopped the rape by smashing a pitcher over Heinz' head, Harry (Tim Robbins), who has become a pacifist in the mean-time under the influence of Martin Luther King Jr. Heinz' reappearance puts Harrys' non-violence to the test and strains Linda and Jamie's relationship. There's also a side plot involving a pair of young women who get ditched by their protector and spend a night and an afternoon carousing and adventuring with a couple of strange boys. The continual cross-cutting between the different plots makes the film feel a bit like "American Graffiti" or "Dazed and Confused", coming-of-age films of that genre. But this film has quite a bit more violence and perversity to it, and you don't notice the music nearly as much.All the young actors acquit themselves well in this film. Jodie Foster, although perhaps sadly typed at this point in her career (or forever?) as a rape victim, sheds all layers of "movie star" with this very believable humble girl who's more intelligent than she's been taught to reveal. Robbins gets some wonderful scenes with Kathleen Chalfant who plays his mother, and a really excellent first scene with Turturro. Of course it's Turturro who does the heavy lifting, coming off brilliantly in a very difficult role. It's a bit like watching a young DeNiro, seeing him in this movie. He's clearly got his "psycho act" down but he never fails to interact with all the other cast members in a believable way. His big pre-climactic confrontation with his mother could stand up under any comparison. In fact that was the main effect for me of seeing this movie; I kept my eyes out for Turturro after that, and have not been disappointed on the whole.The film's fabric is a bit shaky; screenwriter John Patrick Shanley was still a bit of an excited novice and it shows. There's a lot of talent here, a lot of good lines, but the structure of the thing doesn't really support the kind of dextrous switching between comedy and drama that his dialog demands. And the director Tony Bill, while bringing the film a pleasing intimacy and warmth, can't do anything to stylize the film and make it really propel itself along. We're always sort of waiting for what Turturro is going to do next, instead of just being carried along with the feeling of the whole piece. That makes the scenes in the largely unrelated sub-plot feel even more like filler or padding.On the whole however, this is a very good film and I highly recommend it. I was surprised when I came here on IMDb that there were so few comments and votes. I thought it was a pretty famous movie, but apparently my friends and I were part of a "cult" and we didn't even know it! Why not join up?

Younger versions of some of today's great actors show that yes, they were always good. Stand-out performances by John Turturro and Tim Robbins who carry the film from start to finish. Unfortunately it builds from the opening moments to an inevitable confrontation that turns into a complete cop out in my opinion, a great something could have happened here but instead nothing. Maybe the director was to afraid to go down the road I was hopping for, but the again I've heard others say it's some kind of Shakespearian metaphor. If that's the case it goes way over my head, and I still think my way is better. I am reminded of a documentary I recently watched, 10 Questions for the Dali Lama, the interviewer asked the Dali Lama about the non-violent resistant approach that he and his Tibetan followers have taken on, a view and method also taken up by Gandhi in India during the British occupation and Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. He asked, at what point does violence have two equate violence, like during the Holocaust and World War II, does that mean the Allied forces did the wrong thing by stopping the Nazis, should we have just held non-violent protests and staged boycotts and sit-ins instead. Of course even the Dali Lama who I respect immensely dodged the question, he answered with something about in self-defense only. It feels as if the director of Five Corners doesn't want to have to answer that question either. Him and the Dali Lama, I'd say he's got good company. Those who have not seen Five Corners don't see the relevance of all this and I apologize for going so far off track, once you have seen the film you will hopefully see the reason. There is also a side story going on that I was sure must play into the main storyline but never does and that's a disappointment to both stories, because I feel they would be better for it. I've also read plenty of complaints about the DVD quality, who cares, wow we're spoiled by living in the Blue-Ray generation. Over all a well-acted film that if nothing else touches on some real interesting issues, and touching on real issues is more then most movies do.

This is an intriguing movie. The cast is mainly budding superstars. Their performances here are in keeping with their march up the ladder to A-list status. Tim Robbins especially connects with an ex-ruffian that has found his conscience. He wants in to a trip to Mississippi, to join MLK's freedom fighters. His explanation to a Malcom X type recruiter in Harlem, is heartfelt and well delivered. The rest perform their quirky roles well, thru some very quirky situations. The movie is very..... quirky.But....the writer, who went on to Oscar consideration later in life, has really stretched stuff to fit the plot. The mood change is radical, sub-plots are diverting, but unnecessary. And the worst to me was Jodie being "slugged" and knocked out. She remains knocked out while, carried from the subway, a car theft, a police shootout, a car crash, a 3rd floor Mom/Son confrontation, a climb to a rooftop and a 3 way struggle on the roof. Then she wakes up, reasonably clear headed!?!?! Hmmm! Too much for me. The "inept" police approach was good comedy and again, the cast showed the promise of bigger things to come!! Worth a watch! (in fact, watch the credits roll for a laugh out loud moment!)