Childhood crush

Bored a few nights ago, I flipped through the channels in the hopes of finding a movie worth watching. I landed on Take the Lead, a teen dance movie starring Antonio Banderas that I had never heard of before. I wouldn’t call it worth watching, but I’m willing to sacrifice my high standards.

While the plot and characters were predictable, I was most entertained by an actor who played one of the misfits who, after some resistance, dedicated himself to learning ballroom dance. The actor, Dante Basco, had a gravely voice, dark hair and face that took me back to my childhood, to watching the movie Hook over and over again, to chanting the cheer “Ruf-E-OOOOoooooo!” along with The Lost Boys on the TV screen.

I’d had a HUGE crush on Rufio. The boy who had taken over leading The Lost Boys in Peter Pan’s absence. And this Dante Basco, playing a high school boy, reminded me of him my long forgotten love. But surely Basco couldn’t be my long lost Rufio. After all, I was fairly certain that Rufio was older than I was when I’d subjected my father to rewinding and replaying Hook for me over and over again as a child. As you all know, I’m old, well beyond my years of passing as a high school kid and even farther beyond being in high school.

After the movie ended, I couldn’t set aside my curiosity over Dante Basco and my long-lost Rufio. I went to imdb.







Turns out my childhood memory can be trusted. Basco did in fact play Rufio in 1991 and just last year he played a teenager in Take the Lead. I was also right about him being older than me as a child, nine years older than me.

I now find myself wondering about the benefits and pains of being able to pass as a teenager half your age.

Dear friends, would you be willing to make a deal with the devil (as Mr. Basco must have done) to maintain such a youthful appearance?