Tuff Turf
New World Pictures | Release Date: January 11, 1985 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
6
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
Miami HeraldSandra Early
But in addition to the sex and violence, there is also surprising style, humor and, yes, drama -- drama that actually serves to justify much of the violence.[11 Jan 1985, p.D14]
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Enough visual bravado to overpower the peculiarities of its class pretensions. Read full review
50
Washington PostPaul Attanasio
Tuff Turf is a youthsploitation movie that has fun with its formula, and for that, two cheers. But director Fritz Kiersch's twists promise more than they deliver -- it's just more grist for the run-of-the-mill. Read full review
50
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
This modestly budgeted youth pic is a poor man's and partially musicalized Rebel without a Cause with a touch of The Warriors thrown in. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
If Tuff Turf had used a little more of Downey's relaxed intelligence and amiability, and a little less teenage angst and sense of violence as retribution, it might have been tough stuff. As it is, it's a lightweight in a genre populated with featherweights. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
What if Holden Caulfield turned into Charles Bronson? That piquant premise underlies the lively but confused teen exploitation film, Tuff Turf.
40
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The intensity of the melodrama here is undermined by a camp-ish turn from Robert Downey Jr as Morgan's leathered friend and by risible musical outbursts from Spader and Kim Richards. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Tuff Turf is the worst teenage exploitation movie since "Where the Boys Are". Read full review
30
Washington PostClay Warnick
Unfortunately for the makers of Tuff Turf, the plot's as hokey as they come; the dialogue is dreadful ("Life isn't a problem to be solved, it's a mystery to be lived!"); and kids in 1985 are just too sophisticated for such juvenile tripe. Right kids? Right? [1 Feb 1985, p.19]
25
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Tuff Turf is so relentlessly derivative that its good points--chiefly an attractive, relatively talented cast--are buried in cliche. Read full review
12
Chicago TribuneGene Siskel
Responsible for this trash is director Fritz Kiersch, and remember that name. Last year Kiersch gave us one of 1984`s worst films, his adaptation of Stephen King`s ''Children of the Corn.'' Now, with Tuff Turf, Kiersch has made the ''worst'' list two years in a row. Read full review
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