The Flamingo Kid (1984)

Directed by 'Happy Days' creator and 'Pretty Woman' director Garry Marshall, The Flamingo Kid, released on DVD by Fremantle Home Entertainment on 10th November 2008,is a timeless and charming coming-of-age comedy starring Matt Dillon (Herbie Fully Loaded; Crash), Hector Elizondo (The Princess Diaries; Pretty Woman), Richard Crenna (the Rambo movies) and Jessica Walter (Arrested Development).

The film also marked the big screen debuts of future Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) and Steven Weber (Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip), as well as featuring some of the earliest screen appearances of John Turturro (Transformers), Bronson Pinchot (Beverly Hills Cop) and Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit).

Dillon stars as Jeffrey Willis, a working-class kid from Brooklyn who, during a trip out of the city to Long Island to play cards with a few of his wealthier friends, lands himself a job as a car valet at the exclusive upper-class beach club, the El Flamingo. There, he meets a beautiful, rich Californian girl, Carla (Janet Jones), who is visiting the East Coast for the summer. Carla invites Jeffrey to dinner at her relative's mansion and introduces him to her uncle, Phil Brody (Crenna), a successful sports car salesman and part owner of the El Flamingo.

Impressed by Jeffrey's confidence and outgoing nature, Brody promotes him from valet to cabana boy and begins to take him under his wing, eventually promising him a lucrative salesman's job at the his car showroom. But Jeffrey's wide-eyed wonder at this privileged new world doesn't play well with his father, Arthur (Elizondo), a hardworking plumber who is suspicious of the man who's burgeoning business relationship with his son is causing upheavals within their traditionally happy family. Torn between his loyalty to his father, mother and sister and his hunger for a future of which he had never previously dared dream, Jeffrey has to make a fateful decision that will affect the rest of his life.

Far funnier than the synopsis would have one believe, The Flamingo Kid is a wonderfully warm comedy, full of heart and buoyed along by a superb and unforgettable lead performance from then 'bratpacker' Matt Dillon and by a infectiously catchy soundtrack packed wall-to-wall with a stack of classic rock n- roll hits from the 1950s.

Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.