Now This Was Youth Adventure!

Before there was "Stand by Me"(excellent movie), there was "Bless the Beasts and Children" It came out in 1971, and was based on the excellent novel by Glendon Swarthout. I saw it when I was about 12, and it was so influential. Someone needs to remake this movie, but I think the animal rights activist would have huge problems with it. It was, dark, funny, emotional, sad, and dealt with real issues that kids, parents, and society were dealing with at the time, without sugarcoating it.

The Carpenters sang the title song. A fact not many people know is that a track that was played at times during the movie, before it was "Nadia's Theme" or "The young and the Restless" theme, it was called "Cotton's Theme" named after the character Cotton, played by Barry Robbins, who tragically died of AIDS in 1986. If you have never read the novel, or seen the movie, you do not know what you are missing.