The Man in the Moon

Set in rural Louisiana in the summer of 1957, The Man in the Moon centers on fourteen-year-old Dani Trant, who has grown up sharing everything with her older sister Maureen. Their closeness is tested when Court Foster, a seventeen-year-old boy, moves with his family to the neighboring farm. Dani forms a first, tender attachment to him, but Court becomes drawn to Maureen instead. The sisters, once inseparable, find themselves at odds over the same young man, and a tragedy forces them to confront what they mean to each other.

Robert Mulligan directed the film from an original screenplay by Jenny Wingfield, with Mark Rydell producing. It was Mulligan's first feature in roughly two decades, following a run that included To Kill a Mockingbird, Summer of '42 and The Other. Reese Witherspoon, in an early screen role, plays Dani, alongside Jason London as Court, Emily Warfield as Maureen, and Sam Waterston and Tess Harper as the girls' parents.

Made for about a million dollars, the film took roughly three million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 7.2 rating from around 21,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.4 from far fewer votes. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 22 reviews places it well above the audience scores.