Wendy gazelle the in crowd 1988

Yesterday morning, the MGM channel aired – and I DVRed – a true lost treasure, which we watched last night: The In Crowd (1988).

Set in 1965, the movie tells the story of a (fictional) fast-talking Philadelphia disc jockey named Perry Parker (Joe Pantoliano), whose daily TV dance show is on its last legs due to the changing times, and two of his star dancers: suburban boy Del (Donovan Leitch) and city girl Vicky (Jennifer Runyon). At the start, Del is dancing alone in his living room, not on TV; he dreams of not just dancing with Vicky on the show, but wooing her away from her hunky beau and dance partner Dugan (Scott Plank). Del’s also well-educated and, if his neighbor Gail (Wendy Gazelle) has her way, destined to attend medical school. Vicky, meanwhile, doesn’t know the difference between fiction and friction.

Here’s the (slightly dark and blurry) trailer:

The film’s director, Philly native Mark Rosenthal, described it as “a tale of two cities, the affluent suburbs and the hard-edged inner city,” to the Allentown Morning Call just prior to the film’s release in February 1988. (Rosenthal also co-wrote the screenplay with Lawrence Konner, with whom he’s co-written a ton of stuff.)

It’s that, true, but it’s also a love letter to a specific ti

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