There Goes My Baby 1994

In 1961, the freshman class of Westwood High School in Los Angeles is featured in Look magazine, celebrated as “the future of the country.” Fast forward four years, and that same group finds themselves on the verge of graduation and reliving the last night of their teenage lives. They converge at Pop’s Paradise Café, a neighborhood hangout that sits on the brink of being torn down in two days to make way for a mall, while a lively soundtrack from The Beard crackles through the speakers and threads through every conversation and corner of the room. The night unfolds as a mosaic of hopes, fears, and the unspoken promises of youth, all held together by a tightly-knit circle of friends who know each other better than anyone else.

Pirate, Dermot Mulroney is the ever-curious traveler in the group, dreaming aloud about hitting the road and seeing the country, collecting stories as he goes. His partner in adventure, Sunshine, Kelli Williams, holds a different dream—she longingly imagines moving to San Francisco to join the flower-child movement and carve out a new life, even as she wrestles with what that means for their relationship. Stick, Rick Schroder, computes a simpler plan—surfboards and sand, a carefree shoreline existence—but the clock is ticking; he is due to report for basic training in only a couple of days, and reality starts pressing in on his idealism. Finnegan, Noah Wyle, clings to poetry as a way of naming the world, hoping his verses might somehow capture the moment before adulthood mutely demands its due. Babette, Jill Schoelen, pursues a dream of stardom, working toward a breakthrough on a local live rock-and-roll program, Shindig, with the confidence that music can lift her life to a brighter stage. Tracy, Kristin Minter searches for love in a world that seems to move too quickly, hoping to be seen and understood.

Calvin, Kenneth Ransom stands out as the first Westwood graduate to earn a full scholarship to Princeton University, a beacon of possibility for the group. Mary Beth, Lucy Deakins, whose adult persona serves as the narrator for much of the film, contends with parental expectations—she wants to attend Berkeley, while her parents push UCLA as a safer, closer option. The friends’ inner tensions are intensified by the arrival of Morrisey, [Shon Greenblatt], whose own sorrow over a brother’s death in Vietnam has pushed him toward a more confrontational stance, culminating in a late-night act of protest.

As the night advances, world events press in on the personal dramas. The Watts riots erupt, casting a shadow over every decision and fear. Calvin, who lives in Watts, worries about his grandmother’s safety as chaos looms. Finnegan drives him toward town but is attacked by rioters; Calvin intervenes by returning him home and continues on to seek out his grandmother. Meanwhile, Stick learns that he is about to begin his army service, a reality he tries to balance with the rest of the night’s celebrations and uncertainties. Pop’s, the place that has anchored their teenage years, becomes a stage for their anxieties and their small rebellions as Finnegan heads back to the café and discovers that Morrisey has returned to the high school to stage a protest; in a dramatic moment, Morrisey burns his draft card and is arrested.

News of life-altering revelations unfolds as the night grows darker. Pirate learns that Sunshine is pregnant, and the two face a difficult choice about the future of the baby, while Sunshine herself weighs a complicated sense of responsibility and independence. Finnegan, feeling misunderstood by Tracy, ends their relationship, even as Tracy wrestles with her own longing for connection and the fear of losing herself in a relationship. Babette’s star-turn on Shindig looms large—the chance to perform in front of a live audience could change everything for her. The next day, with his grandmother safe, Calvin returns to his job at Pop’s, while the others process the night’s revelations. The strain of impending deployments and the weight of the draft divide the group’s trajectory: Stick braces for service, Finnegan contemplates his voice against the war, and the group continues to drift toward very different futures.

Tragedy strikes with the news that Morrisey has hanged himself in his cell, a brutal reminder of the costs that hang over a generation facing real-world consequences. In response, Finnegan makes a bold, sorrowful stand on his friend’s behalf, returning to the high school and burning the bronze statue that sits on the front lawn—a symbolic act that cements the night’s turning point. Stick, overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving for the military, finds reassurance in the steady calm of Pop and the bonds of the group, which hold him steady in the face of uncertainty. Babette’s fortunes tilt in her favor as she finally lands her shot at Shindig, performing the iconic “Leader of the Pack” and stepping into the life she has hoped to carve out for herself.

Meanwhile, Sunshine makes a painful, decisive choice: she decides to keep the baby but resolves not to tell Pirate, a secret that will forever shape both of their futures. The two part ways in the parking lot of Pop’s, Sunshine boarding a peace-sign-draped Volkswagen Bus heading toward the Bay Area, while Pirate’s path veers toward a future that remains uncertain, shadowed by the choices they have made and the loves they have shared.

In the film’s closing voiceover, Mary Beth reveals the fates of all the friends, connecting the night to the broader arc of their lives. Pop’s Paradise Café is torn down to make way for a shopping mall, a fact she notes with a quiet, almost clinical acceptance. The past lingers, though, in the lives they’ve built. Sunshine remains Mary Beth’s closest friend, and she becomes the godmother to Sunshine’s son, a boy named Pirate. The narrative then offers a sweeping set of epilogues: Pirate never makes Route 66 and is drafted into the Army, meeting a tragic end in the Mekong Delta; Babette spends a decade touring the music scene and later produces a successful rock-and-roll show; Calvin graduates from Princeton and eventually enters public service as a senator; Tracy’s life is a mosaic of marriages and battles with personal demons; Stick earns a Bronze Star for valor and later runs a surf shop; the school’s most popular course, The Road to Freedom, is taught by Michael Finnegan; and the speaker, Mary Beth, has written a book called There Goes My Baby, a testament to the night and to the enduring bonds of friendship.