All the Right Moves (1983)

Director:

Michael Chapman

Writers:

Pat Jordan (article)
Michael Kane (written by)

Release Date:

21 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

He had a dream but the dream had begun to sour...busting to break out he had to make...

Plot:

A high school footballer desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.

Plot Keywords:

Scholarship | Pennsylvania | High School | Coach | High School Football

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Tom Cruise	...	Stefen Djordjevic
Craig T. Nelson	...	Nickerson
Lea Thompson	...	Lisa
Charles Cioffi	...	Pop
Gary Graham	...	Greg
Paul Carafotes	...	Salvucci
Chris Penn	...	Brian (as Christopher Penn)
Sandy Faison	...	Suzie
James A. Baffico	...	Bosko
Mel Winkler	...	Jess Covington
Walter Briggs	...	Rifleman
George Betor	...	Tank
Leon	...	Shadow (as Leon Robinson)
Jonas Chaka	...	Mouse (as Jonas C. Miller)
Keith Diamond	...	Fox (as Keith Ford)

Also Known As:

All Right

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Iceland:L | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #27119) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Lucille Ball Productions

Trivia:

Three schools were used to portray Walnut Heights. Johnstown's Votech as seen when the Ampipe bus arrives for the big game. The locker room scenes were shot at Westmont High School some 20 miles from the Vo-tech. The scene where the team is getting on the bus to go home after the game, where Stefan is not allowed on the bus, was filmed in the parking lot of Westmont Junior High.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stefan goes to the field to ask the coach to play in the game, his hair is blowing in the wind. In the reverse angle, his hair is laying down flat.

Quotes:

Steff: We didn't quit, you quit!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.10)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Blue Skies Forever

When getting out is all that matters

A younger, different looking Tom Cruise (old jaw/nose?) stars in this movie about a high school student aching to leave his dying steel mill town and study to be an engineer on a football scholarship. He watches his best friend, also on the team, marry his pregnant girlfriend; another member of the football team is arrested for armed robbery; his brother gets laid off from the mill; and his girlfriend (a young, fresh Lea Thompson) complains that no one gives music scholarships, just football ones, and she's going to be stuck in the town. After turning down initial scholarship offers to middle of the road schools, Cruise finds himself blackballed after an incident at his coach's house with which he was only peripherally involved. Off the team, and with the word out that he has an "attitude problem," he sees his dreams turning to dust.

Craig T. Nelson plays the coach and does his usual fine job, and Lea Thompson is a vibrant, passionate Lisa. Cruise here gives a truer performance than usual - I usually find him a very external and not terribly believable actor. In "All The Right Moves," he's sympathetic and heartfelt. I much prefer this to the perfectly handsome, glossy figure he is today. Time to get back to basics, Tom, and get some of those right moves back.