Teenagers 1974 (TRIVIA)

* At first, author Nicholas Pileggi didn’t really like John Matthews’ film adaptation of Teenagers. However, in 1976, he lost that hatred and started to like it.
* During filming, a family of birds were accidentally killed. Matthews, an animal lover, was so upset, he had cancelled the rest of the day’s work.
* In 1972, before Matthews started filming, he had already made a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to release Teenagers. Unfortunately, Matthews’ deal had done awry and MGM had stopped funding Matthews for the next five years. Therefore, Matthews made a new deal with Paramount Pictures, who did release it.
* R. Lee Ermey, Full Metal Jacket/Murder in the First, made a promo for his TV series Gunnytime in 2015, which was absolutely similar to the original theatrical trailer of Teenagers.
* Jimmy Scott, who played Morten, suffered from claustrophobia and had a slight fear of being locked in a jail cell, but this wasn’t revealed until after the shootings of his scenes.
* Gene Williams, who played Andy when he was younger, claimed he actually cried as Kirk Douglas pretended to whip him for the shot.
* The beer and alcohol used in the film was actually soda and root beer because a federal law states that the age to start drinking is 21.
* When the casino marauder was being killed, in some countries, the song Tiny Dancer by Elton John was replaced with Atlantis by Donovan.
* Michael Rosemont, president of the MPAA, said Teenagers was far too violent and profane (although there were no f\*cks used) for a PG rating and originally thought of giving the movie an R or an X rating. However, many teen boys and girls around the world were so ecstatic to see it, so there was no choice. Plus, the rating PG-13 wasn’t created until 1984, when Red Dawn was released.
* Zed Cassidy in casting was unsure on what the characters such as Rick, Santoro, or Mr. Heartthrob should look like. That being said, he went to Nicholas Pileggi for guidance.
* In 2003, movie critics started to rant about the film, saying it “wasn’t part of the series.” Frustrated, Mitch Packard Jr. was prepared to make a film called Teenagers Extreme, in which the grandchildren of the characters in Teenagers and its sequels meet each other and embark on a journey, which was released from Universal in May, 2005.
* In 1968, when Rick turned 13, he wanted a Disneyland gift card. This was slightly unnecessary because gift cards weren’t initiated until 1972. Plus, that was never stated in the novel.
* When Rick’s father became a journalist, he had a whole office built in the basement involving thousands of cords, which caused the house to burn down. This was actually based on a true story in which a man from South Philadelphia worked as a journalist and his house burned down due to millions of cords on the floor, which occurred in July, 1964.
* The outside of Rick’s current home was actually the outside of the Kubrick Hotel.
* In the opening scene, one of the Lusthog gunners was actually John Matthews, although it was never fully proven until 2007 because it was uncredited.
* The Paramount logo used in the intro and outro of the movie was actually the 1976 Paramount logo. When first released into theaters, the film featured the original Paramount 1974 rare logo. It was that until in 1978, when the movie was first released on videocassette for the first time when the 1976 logo permanently plastered it.
* According to Paramount Pictures, this was their FIRST ever action/thriller motion picture. The next one was John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man.
* Ray Sanchez, executive producer #1, suggested that Teenagers would be an independent film, but since John Matthews thought it would be a massive hit as much as the novelization was, it was left major.
* During a 1982 Johnny Carson interview with John Matthews, it was stated that he believed that the MPAA was sure to give it a rating beyond PG due to its contents. Because it was an adolescence film, he actually got down on his knees and prayed to God one night that the MPAA would have mercy and rate it PG.
* Unfortunately, the premiere night was ruined by a couple of drunken 18-year-olds who got into a massive argument about whether or not the Sweathogs or the Lusthogs were better. This also led to a bloody fistfight. Due to the noisy commotion, cinema employees had to temporarily shut the projector off so security can deal with the boys. It was turned off for about a good 20 minutes, according to Jack Peterson, a movie critic who happened to attend the ceremony. A few weeks later, a rumor spread around saying that someone who was at the premiere was killed as the fistfight grew progressively worse. This almost had the plug pulled for the movie entirely, when it was revealed at the last minute that it was just a story made up by a conspiracy theorist at the premiere to make it look exactly like the Rolling Stones concert disaster at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, where a fight broke out and a fan was killed.
* During a gun scene, actor Eric Kauffman, who played Santoro, accidentally shot the window of a McDonald’s not too far from the movie set. That being said, director John Matthews ended up paying a $15,000 fine for damages.
* According to a 1993 Charlie Rose interview with Mike Dickson, who portrayed Rick, 39 years old at the time, Dickson stated that he was actually pretty nervous about playing the role of Rick, especially the main character and overall hero of the movie.
* Martin Carpenter, the actor who portrayed Andy, was actually paralysed in real life. He was born with functioning legs, but when he was 6 years old, he got hit by a car while running in the middle of the street after his baseball rolled across the street. This particular accident took away the use of both legs. Doctors said he was lucky enough to be alive because that accident could’ve killed him. Plus, the driver of the car who hit him just so happened to be taking a swig of his coffee at the time. Another reason why he is crippled is because he was born with spina bifida, so we don't know which side of Martin's story was true.
* The “cocaine” being chopped up in the movie was actually white Smarties which were crushed. But, the coke that was cut up already was actually baking powder or flour.
* Robbie Thaddeus, the deceased actor who portrayed the Sickened One, actually got into a massive delivery truck/motorcycle collision one night while riding home after a day of filming in April, 1973. This left him in a temporary crippled wrist and a shattered rib cage. In some scenes, you could barely see his left arm move at all.