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trek444
Reviews
Seventeen (1983)
Reality TV before there was "reality tv"
This is a great film but is it any different than what we see on TLC? Not really, but it's still worth a watch if you can find it on YT or DVD. Today Lynn Massie(the main character) would get her own reality tv show complete with spinoffs. She is an intelligent young woman but seems a bit "unguided" so to speak. My favorite parts of the film are the scenes in the home economics classroom. The teacher, Jane Hartling, seems to be doing her best to control these "crazy kids" while they curse at her, throw pie crusts on the floor and tell the camera that she better "watch out". You get the feeling Ms. Hartling feels like someone dropped her in the middle of a bullfight but that she has decided to "just stick it out until she can retire". In one scene she tells Lynn how capable she is when Lynn wants to drop the class to get out of doing an oral report so does seem to care about these young people. The rest of the film is very good, especially if you grew up in the 1980's, lot's a good music from that period and the party at the end of the film is one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever seen in a documentary. I'm not sure where Lynn is today but I have a feeling her current life would make a damned good reality show, she is a joy to watch.