Johnny Be Good (1988)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Bud S. Smith

Writers:

Steve Zacharias (written by) &
Jeff Buhai (written by) ...

Release Date:

25 March 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Every college in the country wants Johnny. 'Cause when he's good he's very very good. And when he's bad he's better.

Plot:

It's recruiting time and despite being short and scrawny, Johnny Walker is America's hottest young football prospect...

Plot Keywords:

Football | American Football | Reference To John Wayne | Reference To Liberace | Future

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Anthony Michael Hall	...	Johnny Walker
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Leo Wiggins
Paul Gleason	...	Wayne Hisler
Uma Thurman	...	Georgia Elkans
Steve James	...	Coach Sanders
Seymour Cassel	...	Wallace Gibson
Michael Greene	...	Tex Wade
Marshall Bell	...	Chief Elkans
Deborah May	...	Mrs. Walker
Michael Alldredge	...	Vinny Kroll
Jennifer Tilly	...	Connie Hisler
Jon Stafford	...	Bad Breath
Peter Koch	...	Pete Andropolous
Howard Cosell	...	Himself
Jim McMahon	...	Himself

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | Iceland:12 | New Zealand:M | Finland:K-14 | USA:PG-13 (theatrical version) | USA:R (video rating) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Georgetown, Texas, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

During a scene where Johnny (Anthony Michael Hall) is drumming, you can clearly see a Charlie Chaplin poster. Robert Downey Jr., who plays Leo Wiggins, played Charlie Chaplin in the movie titled Chaplin (1992).

Quotes:

Georgia Elkans: Well. Since you're not going to speak, you WILL rub my feet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bride of the Monster (#5.23)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Ring Around Rosie

Just Awful

Honestly, this is probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's certainly one of the least-competently made studio releases ever. There are entire scenes in this movie in which the sound is so poorly handled that you can barely hear what characters are saying. This isn't helped by Anthony Michael Hall's decision to mumble all of his lines. He seemed very unenthusiastic about this role--like he could barely work up the energy even to say the words.

There is a scene in the film in which Hall's character and some friends have an impromptu football game on his girlfriend's front lawn, against her father (who hates Hall for some reason that is never explained) and some other boobs, that is so badly edited that you simply cannot tell what is happening. Characters come in and out of that scene without rhyme or reason--continuity errors abound. There are also many scenes in which weird dialog was looped in during post-production to bridge awkward narrative gaps. This is a sure sign that the director didn't really know what he was doing, and just failed to capture footage that made sense on its own.

Also, Robert Downey, Jr. is unbelievably obnoxious in this movie. I mean really disgusting.