The Happy Years (1950)

The Happy Years (1950)

[7] Thirteen-year-old Dean Stockwell (Kim, The Dunwich Horror) stars in this turn-of-the-century coming-of-age flick about a mischievous boy who mellows after years of preparatory school. Stockwell plays "Dink" Stover, who in the first act of the film is responsible for painting a…
Class of ’44 (1973)

Class of ’44 (1973)

[5] Gary Grimes and Jerry Houser reprise their roles from the emotionally charged Summer of '42 in this lackluster, somewhat pointless follow-up. Whereas Summer of '42 was very much about a young man's sexual awakening with an older woman, Class of '44…
Get Real (1998)

Get Real (1998)

[7] Ben Silverstone and Brad Gorton star as closeted gay teens at a British high school. One is a journalism nerd and the other is a star athlete. They discover each other though an anonymous encounter in a public restroom and develop…
Risky Business (1983)

Risky Business (1983)

[8] Nineteen year-old Tom Cruise made his star-making turn alongside Rebecca DeMornay in writer/director Paul Brickman's directorial debut, Risky Business. Cruise plays a college-bound teen who's forced to turn his parents' upper class home into a brothel for one illustrious night in…
Running with Scissors (2006)

Running with Scissors (2006)

[6] Writer/director Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee) brings Augusten Burroughs' memoir to the big screen. Joseph Cross plays young Burroughs, a thirteen-year-old whose emotionally unstable mother hands him off to her therapist. Running with Scissors is primarily about Burroughs trying to fit in…
Foxfire (1996)

Foxfire (1996)

[7] Angelina Jolie stars as a transient teen who helps four other young ladies defend themselves against a predatory high school teacher. They form a bond, get expelled from school together, and take up residence in an abandoned home together. Their 'gang'…
An Education (2009)

An Education (2009)

[6] Carey Mulligan gives an outstanding performance in this adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir. Mulligan plays a sixteen-year-old in 1960s London, pushed by her father to study hard so she can get into Oxford. When she falls in love with a charming…
Boy Erased (2018)

Boy Erased (2018)

[8] Joel Edgerton (The Gift) brings Garrard Conley's true story of dangerous, misguided gay conversion therapy to the big screen with the help of Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) plays Conley in…
The Reader (2008)

The Reader (2008)

[8] A young German man (an award-worthy David Kross) has an affair with an older woman (Kate Winslet), only to discover many years after the affair ends that she was a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. After she is found guilty…
Love, Simon (2018)

Love, Simon (2018)

[8] Nick Robinson (Jurassic World, Kings of Summer) stars as a closeted high school student who carries on an anonymous email relationship with another closeted student, all while trying to gather the courage to 'come out' to his family and friends. There…