How Long Is “River's Edge”?

There is no one in this dark drama about depraved young kids that is especially sympathetic which means that some audiences might find this a difficult 99 minutes -- though the presence of future star Keanu Reeves along with a turn by Dennis Hopper may create interest. Right at the beginning, 12-year-old Tim (Joshua Miller) heads to the riverbank where he discovers Samson (David Roebuck) alongside the nude body of his girlfriend whom he has just strangled to death. Tim not only decides it is best never to rat on a friend, but he goes one step further and pilfers some beers to bring to Samson. Supposedly based on a true 1981 case, all of Samson's buddies -- including the friends of the murder victim -- keep to a conspiracy of silence to protect the killer. They do this either from indifference or because they apparently see nothing wrong with murder. Layne (Crispin Glover) gets ex-biker and killer Feck (Hopper) to hide Samson while the murder is being investigated. Meanwhile Tim's older brother Matt (Reeves) begins to think that secretly informing the police may not be such a bad idea, as long as no one knows he did it.