Tuff Turf

Morgan Hiller is the new student at a Los Angeles high school, and he quickly draws the attention of Nick, who runs a local gang, and of Frankie, Nick's girlfriend. What starts as friction between Morgan and Nick grows as Morgan pursues Frankie and she turns away from Nick, pushing the rivalry toward open confrontation.

Fritz Kiersch directed the film, his second feature after Children of the Corn, followed later by Gor and Under the Boardwalk. Jette Rinck wrote the screenplay, and Donald P. Borchers produced it for New World Pictures. James Spader plays Morgan, with Kim Richards as Frankie, Paul Mones as Nick, Matt Clark and Claudette Nevins as Morgan's parents, and Olivia Barash as Ronnie. The film runs 112 minutes and mixes action, drama and romance.

Released in January 1985, Tuff Turf drew a critics' rating of 4.1 out of 10 across six reviews, while audiences on TMDB rate it 6 out of 10 from 137 votes. The gap suggests that viewers have been more receptive to the film than reviewers were at the time of its release.