Vision Quest (1985)

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:

Based on the 1979 novel by Terry Davis.

Goofs:

Continuity: The wristbands on the referee's are on the wrong arm. The red wristband should be on the left wrist, and the green band on the right wrist.

Quotes:

Margie Epstein: [Picking up garbage] What a blast to the First Amendment! The first thing they do is shut down the press and imprison the intellectuals.
[Turns to Louden]
Margie Epstein: I LOVED YOUR PIECE ON THE CLITORIS! I SHOWED IT TO MY MOTHER!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Soundtrack:

Change

It was made for the wrestlers and fans!

Its not hard to understand why some viewers would dislike this movie, since less than .1% of the worlds population ever wrestled in a competitive environment.

But, for those that have, and for the friends and parents of those wrestlers, this movie is a solid 9/10 rating. The movie hits on every aspect of this sports tortuous rigor: losing weight every week, not eating, training, and the mental gymnastics involved with having to believe that you can beat anyone at anytime.

And most realistically, this movie also shows the hardships of doing what every other high school kid does, in combination with the rigors of the sport. They have love relationships, they have classmates, they have to deal with the teachers and coaches, as well as their own family, plus they have to deal with their own teammates each week who may want to take over the top position at their weight.

As one who had over 100 high school matches (15 years before the making of this movie), I can confirm that there is no better movie than this about high school wrestling. When you rate this movie you should not think about how good it is among all other movies, rather you should rate it solely based on its ability to achieve the objective of accurately portraying its subject.

I guess that some would think Louden is not a "team player", but wrestling is an individual sport, no matter how others would want to portray it (although if you win your team gets points). Now that this diatribe (which it might be to some) is about over, I will summarize as follows: Do not watch the movie if you don't care about seeing an exceptionally good story about high school wrestling, you won't like it!