Fandango

This movie holds a special place in my heart. I watched it for the first time in high school with one of my best friends. We spent our college years endlessly quoting it to each other. I revisit it every few years, and always take away something new. It's wonderfully acted, and brilliantly edited and shot. It perfectly captures that bittersweet moment when youth ends and adulthood begins. Its swagger hides a real vulnerability and melancholy. Really a lovely little film.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is my favorite movie of all time. I lost track a long time ago as to how many times I have seen this movie on tape. What a GREAT MOVIE. Kevin Reynolds clearly has this nailed down. Fandango is a movie about 5 fraternity brothers in the early 1970's who call themselves the 'Groovers', who decide to take off on a 'fairwell fandango' as a college graduation right of passage. We learn that they did the same 'fandango' earlier in their collegiate years, and in part, the purpose of this trip is to dig up a relic of that first adventure as the way to close out this chapter of their lives. Along the way, they take part in some wild adventures, deal with being drafted into the war in Vietnam, and meet some unique characters, all of which become the subject of the movie.

I love this movie for a number of reasons. #1, it takes me back to my collegiate days, and the craziness that seemed to define them. #2, it allows me to appreciate the people that populated each and every moment of college, as the characters in Fandango are eerily reminiscent of the fraternity brothers, classmates and band members that I spent 4 years of my life with. #3, it makes me realize that life is fairly short, and if we do it right...we'll be the better because of it.

The music in the movie seems tailored for every scene, even though there are cuts from great artists like Blind Faith, Elton John and Pat Metheney. In particular, the Metheney works in the film stand out. I cannot help but think of the wedding and final scenes when I am listening to Metheney's cuts from his 'Wichita Falls' and 'Works' tapes.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to strip off the baggage in life for an hour and a half one weekend, flip the pages back a few years(or more) to the days that were more innocent and raw, and think about the people that were so important to you as you grew up into adulthood. And if you happen to like the shape of Texas like I do, you'll appreciate this movie even more.(see the movie and you'll know what I am talking about) Go ahead....take this wild ride for all its worth. You will not regret it!!

It starts looking cool enough, I thought, although not overwhelmingly original: under a blue, blue sky, four young guys, as different as can be, drive to seemingly nowhere in a beautiful car from the roaring fifties. Singing, drinking, screaming. It looks like they're having a lot of fun, which of course will prove to be a doomed mood: their lives are suspended between youth and whatever comes next, just like them driving in the middle of Texas' desert landscapes with the unlikely goal of attending one of the mates' wedding... Everything is on the verge of changing for them; their friendship, the way they lead their lives, the way they consider the future.

What Kevin Reynolds achieves here masterfully is making the whole thing look, at first, like just another buddy-movie. Yet I think there is a lot more to it. Fun, slapstick, grotesque situations, and still, every time or so, we're given a hint that those people have no idea where they're going, that they try to ignore the (real) world that's waiting for them.

The one most representative of that borderline state and who remains, by default, the big brother telling the others where to go next, is Gardner Barnes, played by Kevin Costner. Very young-looking (to whoever, like me, hasn't seen him in a picture made 16 years ago), he radiates a kind of natural quality, telling us he may just be the most frightened and unsure one of those four mostly-losers. Anyone who has apreciated Costner in at least one movie should definitely have a look at this one.

There'll never be anything even remotely tragic in this story, nor any solid insight into any of those old kids. Not even into Gardner, the one with a haunting love on his mind, who claims he's never token a woman seriously. Some moments might strike you as either clichee, heavy or childish... Yet, after the finale, Reynolds has gotten us where we're supposed to be: feeling the dry cut apart from the time where our dreams where, to ourselves, a solid option for what our future might look like. The loss of what kept the world together until this very moment.

I should add that, having listened precisely in my beginning twenties to the Pat Metheny Group like mad, I was totally taken away when the whole wedding scene appeared to be choreographed around two of his magic compositions.

This movie has something fresh, universal, sincere. It's full of ideas and benefits from a truly inventive photography as well as a from a perfectly well-tuned rythm.

Anyone on a day where he feels up to re-live those cheers AND nostalgia, in the company of a bunch of excellent actors, would do himself a favor by taking a while to watch it. And, maybe, reconciliate with that little mix of sadness and joy we think we should have left behind us.

Quite simply the best film I've ever seen and as someone mentioned earlier, the `perfect' film. I've never known a film to captivate me to such a degree, and by the time Kevin Costner holds aloft his farewell beer at the end, you feel as though you're saying goodbye to a lifelong friend. There are so many scenes throughout which seem so uncannily familiar that its almost eerie, yet so comforting to watch. In those final few minutes, you're treated to some of the most beautiful scores that you could possibly wish to hear, a handshake that could tell a thousand words, and a stunning landscape which is the final destination for a group of friends who make the perfect combination. This will always be more than just a film to me. It's a key to unlock all those wondrous emotions that you once experienced many moons ago.

Five friends (the self-named "groovers") go on one final fandango before graduating college and going on to life, war, marriage, etc. Their destination is the Texas desert where they plan to dig up Dom, the friend they buried on the night their group was formed.

The film is a wonderful mix of poignant life lessons and slapstick hilarity. The crew consists of slacker Gardner, life-troubled kenneth, weenie extraordinaire Phil, overweight divinity student Dorman, and unconscious Lester (the fifth groover). As they wind their way through the Texas scrub on their last adventure, each of them faces the approaching life after college in his own way, reacting to his fears and the failings of his friends in the draft years of the Vietnam War.

An unknown Kevin Costner pulls off the role of Gardner Barnes with an easy perfection that would convince you there must be something of Gardner in him. He's utterly convincing as the footloose rascal on a mission to evade life.

The other performances are respectable, including that of Judd Nelson in the role of uptight ROTC cadet Phil Hicks who despises the moral ambiguity of the other characters while starving for their affection.

Though this movie is not a well-known blockbuster, it holds up well against others of the same genre. Definitely worth the price of a rental, and with the February 2005 DVD release, a good addition to your collection. Good music, good humor, and great fun.