Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Loveless

Play trailer Poster for The Loveless R Now Playing 1h 24m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
75% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In the 1950s, a rich Southerner falls in love with a biker who's on his way to the Daytona racetracks.
Now in Theaters Now Playing Buy Tickets

Where to Watch

The Loveless

Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Geoff Andrew Time Out At times the perversely slow beat of each scene can irritate, but that's a reasonable price for the film's super-saturated atmosphere. Jun 24, 2006 Full Review Janet Maslin New York Times Its evocation of tough-guy glamour is ridiculously stilted. And it regards the past with absolutely no perspective or wit. Rated: 1.5/5 May 14, 2005 Full Review Marya E. Gates Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) It’s sleazy and stylish and filled with so much mid-century eye candy (especially for people who love diners). Feb 13, 2024 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Filmmakers Bigelow and Montgomery, working from their own screenplay, deliver a meandering, uneventful drama that grows less and less interesting as it progresses... Rated: 2/4 Feb 27, 2021 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy An acceptable turn by Willem Dafoe and nice photography by Doyle Smith are the only assets to this inert drama. Rated: 1.5/4 Jul 20, 2019 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion An excoriation of Reagan-era nostalgia for the Fifties Sep 25, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (36) audience reviews
david c Watch on Criterion 8.5/10 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The Wild Ones it ain't. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a throwback to gang and biker flicks from the 50s. Dafoe is pretty solid here and I like the nihilism, but it's not as memorable as I was hoping for. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/20 Full Review Audience Member Kathryn Bigelow's film debut, conceived of and co-directed with fellow Columbia student Monty Montgomery, a future producer for David Lynch who plays the cowboy in "Mulholland Dr.". Willem Dafoe (in his film debut) stars as the leader of a bike gang travelling through the south to get to a stock car race. One of the bikes breaks down in a small town and the locals clash with the bikers. This sounds like an exploitation film, but it's more of an art film that bathes in the exploitation cool of the biker image (a bit like Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising"). In a quite literal sense, nothing happens for a lot of the film as people stare at each other meaningfully. Nonetheless, I found it mesmerizing and it is vaguely reminiscent of a Lynch film with all of the weirdness distracted. Rockabilly musician Robert Gordon co-stars as a fellow biker and provides most of the score. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Intoxicating, compelling and sensual. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Before director Kathryn Bigelow became widely recognizable with her later effort in 1987's NEAR DARK, 1991's POINT BREAK, 1995's STRANGE DAYS and of course, right down to 2009's Oscar-winning war drama THE HURT LOCKER, she made her first feature debut in a low-budget independent drama called THE LOVELESS when she was still studying in NYC as a film student. THE LOVELESS is a stylized and eccentric genre movie that pays homage to 1950s biker movies (notably Marlon Brando's THE WILD ONE) with arthouse sensibility. This movie is also notable as Willem Dafoe's first lead role. Read more at http://caseymoviemania.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-loveless-1982.html#more Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Loveless

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

More Like This

View All Movies in Theaters
Hardcore 80% 67% Hardcore Watchlist Whose Life Is It Anyway? 70% 79% Whose Life Is It Anyway? Watchlist The Border 65% 52% The Border Watchlist Smithereens 100% 58% Smithereens Watchlist Carny 57% 51% Carny Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All The Loveless photos

The Loveless

The Loveless (1983) The Loveless (1983) The Loveless (1983) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In the 1950s, a rich Southerner falls in love with a biker who's on his way to the Daytona racetracks.
Director
Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery
Production Co
Pioneer Films
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 5, 2017
Runtime
1h 24m
Most Popular at Home Now