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In the wake of news that Columbia is shopping for a third Bad Boys movie, I thought we'd take a look at the first one. Not the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence cop movie, but the teen prison movie from the 80's.

I don’t remember which Bad Boys I saw first. I believe the timing was in very close proximity to each other. It’s clear that this version made more of an impression on me, just by the fact that whenever I hear the name Bad Boys, I would think of this film first before Michael Bay’s. Bad Boys is a 1983 film starring Sean Penn, released right after he catapulted into fame with his role as Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A dramatic film, Penn’s role in Bad Boys was a complete 180 from Spicoli, and mapped the path for his future career in being sullen.

Directed by Halloween II director Rick Rosenthal, Bad Boys is the gritty mixture of a teenage rebellion film and a prison film. Penn plays Mike O’Brien, a sixteen-year-old punk sentenced to juvie after he runs over an eight-year-old during a botched attempt to rip off a rival gang member. Amazingly, the film also marked the film debuts of Ally Sheedy, Alan Ruck, Esai Morales and the great Clancy Brown.

The plot is typical of any prison film: finding one trustworthy friend, fending off the alpha male of the cell block, escape attempts, and ending with some kind of riot. It’s tough guy schoolyard machismo that has remorse lathered onto it just so the audience know that it’s okay to get off on the badassery of these scumbag kids, as long as you feel bad about it in the end and learn a lesson.

What’s really worth seeing here is the young Sean Penn’s performance as Mike, transferring his teenage angst into violent felon brawls and emotional outbursts. You can just imagine this character growing up to be... Well—Sean Penn's other characters.

For years, I couldn’t get a brutal sequence from this film out of my head. It involves a pillow cover and some RC Cola cans, but is in no way as refreshing as that sounds.

Bad Boys was recently re-released by Lionsgate in a misleading “Uncut & Uncensored” DVD, but really didn’t have any extra footage to it at all. Alternatively, it’s currently available on Netflix InstantWatch.

Watch Out! is a feature on JustPressPlay where Arya Ponto showcases lesser-known, lesser-appreciated and often bizarre small films that are cool and deserve to get some attention. Venture here to see all previous entries.