Hyser's body was insane, but even as a chick, her face wasn't so hot. But that bod sure made up for it!
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
What is a butterface?
shareNo, I wouldn't call her a butterface. She's not the most insanely beautiful girl there ever was, but then, she couldn't be, for this part. This had to be an actress who could legitimately pass for an androgynous male. You couldn't cast -- this was the mid-80's, so let's think of a truly beautiful actress from that period -- Heather Thomas, or Heather Locklear, or Diane Lane, or Lea Thompson, or Elizabeth Shue, or Phoebe Cates etc. This had to be an actress who could genuinely, convincingly pass for a high school boy. Joyce Hyser had the facial features, and the contralto voice to make that work, while still being pretty and feminine enough to be made up into a really attractive female to be a believable love interest. She really was the perfect choice. It's like Caitlin Clarke in the movie Dragonslayer: androgynous enough to believably pass for a boy, but pretty enough to be a convincing love interest to the thoroughly straight hero. That's a pretty fine line.
That said... I always wondered what happened to sour him on Deborah -- or Deborah on him. After all, Deborah was his high school crush. She really seemed to warm to him, and he certainly showed his manliness to advantage in beating Greg at the prom, when Greg picked a fight. So what split him and Deborah up? A less storybook, but probably more realistic ending would have had Greg stay with Deborah, since she was the girl he had the hots for. And Deborah Goodrich, the actress who played her, was really prettier, even if she didn't have as voluptuous a body as Hyser. When I first saw the movie, I was, of course, glad Terri got the guy she had fallen in love with. But as I got older, I kind of felt disappointed that Rick didn't get Deborah, and Deborah didn't end up with Rick, since she seemed like such a nice girl and he was such a decent guy.