Mask (1985) on Netflix
Rocky Dennis has craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder that enlarges his skull. His mother Rusty and a motorcycle family accept him; many others meet him with fear or pity.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.2/1035,538 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Rocky Dennis lives in Azusa, California, in 1979. He has craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder that disfigures his skull but leaves his intelligence untouched. His mother, Florence Dennis, known as Rusty, rides with the Turks biker gang, and her boyfriend Gar acts as a father figure to Rocky, while his grandparents share his passion for baseball card collecting. Rusty's relationship with her own father, Abe, stays strained. Beyond that circle, strangers react to Rocky's face with fear, pity or teasing. Rusty wants him to have the chances other teenagers get, so she fights for his enrollment in a mainstream junior high school, where the principal, Mr. Simms, would rather send him to a special education class.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mask (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rocky Dennis's mother, Rusty Dennis, sold the film rights to his life story for 15,000 dollars, most of it spent on medical bills for her other son, Joshua, who is never mentioned in the film.
- Director Bogdanovich sued Universal for 19 million dollars, alleging it switched the film's music without his approval in breach of his final cut privilege; the Springsteen songs returned in 2004.
- Gene Siskel described Mask as "superb" and singled out Cher's portrayal of Rusty as the heart of the film, but criticized the marketing campaign that kept Stoltz's face secretive as a revival of a freak show mentality.
- The makeup that transformed Stoltz won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, while Cher and Stoltz both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances and Cher won Best Actress at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
