Vision Quest (1985)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers:

Terry Davis (novel)
Darryl Ponicsan (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 February 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

All he needed was a lucky break. Then one day she moved in.

Plot:

Vision Quest is a coming of age movie in which high school wrestler Louden Swain decides he wants to...

Plot Keywords:

Vision Quest | Interracial Relationship | Male Anorexia | Wrestling | Male Nudity

Cast

Matthew Modine	...	Louden Swain
Linda Fiorentino	...	Carla
Michael Schoeffling	...	Kuch
Ronny Cox	...	Louden's Dad
Harold Sylvester	...	Tanneran
Charles Hallahan	...	Coach
J.C. Quinn	...	Elmo (as J. C. Quinn)
Daphne Zuniga	...	Margie Epstein
R.H. Thomson	...	Kevin (as R. H. Thomson)
Gary Kasper	...	Otto
Raphael Sbarge	...	Schmoozler
Forest Whitaker	...	Balldozer
Frank Jasper	...	Shute
Roberts Blossom	...	Grandpa
James Gammon	...	Kuch's Dad

Also Known As:

Crazy for You (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby Digital (DVD version)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Australia:M | Finland:S | USA:R (#27474) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Monroe Bridge, Spokane, Washington, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The poem recited by Tanneran in the classroom scene is a classic poem entitled "Spring and Fall To a Young Child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a noted Victorian-age poet whose works were published in 1918, some 30 years after his death.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: (At 06:50) Visible in the top of the frame for a second.

Quotes:

Margie Epstein: [after reading Louden's article about the clitoris] I'm speechless. You've broken new ground here, Louden! This is professional stuff! We're gonna' draaaggg this dinky school paper right into the twentieth century! I mean, where do you get your ideas?
Louden Swain: Well, I've been thinking a lot about that stuff lately.
Margie Epstein: Oooohhh, we're gonna' make history here!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Soundtrack:

No More Words

Another one of those "growing up" movies...

Modine is a high school wrestler who's just turned 18 and is in so much of a hurry to grow up. In the first 45 minutes of the movie, he's chosen 3 or 4 different careers. (Ah! To be young, again!) The movie follows all the basic plot lines concerning coming of age that does stand the test of time, because, even though this movie is almost 20 years old, a lot of the kids today can relate to it.

Along the way, Modine's father (Cox) has lost his job, Modine decides to move down, not just one, but two, weight classes to take on the best wrestler in the state, and a very pretty Jersey girl (Fiorentino) shows up on his doorstep to take up all his spare "thinking" time.

This is really not a bad movie. It examines some of what goes on in someone's head when they get in the frame of mind that they want something that just about everyone else feels is unattainable for them. Modine does a very good job in bringing the character of Louden to believability, and the surrounding cast puts in a good effort as well. It is a better-than-average teen flick movie, but not much (but I think it's only because I haven't been a teen ager in so long, myself).

6 out of 10...