leczorn

It took me 28 years to finally get around to seeing this high school football drama, but it was well worth the wait and probably for the best, since I appreciate it far more now at 40 than I could've at 12.

I remember when it came out in late 1983, a few months after Tom Cruise became a star through "Risky Business." Despite a solid publicity campaign, "All the Wrong Moves" failed to reap a huge benefit from Cruise's presence. The movie grossed a modest $17,233,166 at the American box office and quickly faded into obscurity.

Then I saw it in the $3 bin at Big Lots and decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did, because it's a diamond in the rough; definitely the best high school sports movie I've ever seen. Rather than the usual sports movie clichés, such as the focus on "the big game," this is a heavyweight drama that's about football on the surface but life at the core.

Stefen "Stef" Djordjevic (played by Cruise) resides in the blue collar town of Ampipe, Pennsylvania, where he plays cornerback for the local high school football team. He resides with his older brother, Rick (Gary Graham), and their father (Charles Cioffi), both of whom work in the local steel mill, as does seemingly every man in town. Stef's and Rick's mother is dead and the three Djordjevic men seem to all have a pretty good relationship with each other. And at a couple of points in the latter half of the movie, the father shows great support in the midst of his son's hardships.

Now a senior, Stef is a moderate college prospect and has realistic expectations. Being a mere 5'10" (178 cm) and white, he has no illusions of making the NFL, and being a B student, he has no illusions of getting an academic scholarship. But he hopes to attain a college football scholarship and earn a degree in engineering. Still, he's uncomfortable with the possibility of being far away from his beautiful cheerleader girlfriend, Lisa (Lea Thompson), a junior who adores him, even though she's not a football fan.

Ampipe's next game is at Walnut Heights, who is undefeated and ranked #3 in the state, as well as located in a much wealthier area. Stef and some of his teammates view the game as an opportunity to impress college scouts and break away from what they see as a dead end town. Ampipe is economically struggling and the steel mill is laying off many workers. And the team's tough, no-nonsense head coach, Nickerson (Craig T. Nelson), is also looking beyond the town, pursing college assistant coaching jobs.

Late in the game, with Ampipe trailing 10-7, Stef intercepts a pass and returns it for a touchdown. But shortly afterward, while disobeying Nickerson's order to go after the ball instead of the receiver, Stef commits a crucial pass interference penalty that contributes to his team losing. In the locker room right after the game, he and Nickerson have an argument that results in Stef's dismissal from the team. Nickerson won't even Stef ride home on the team bus and tells him to ride with the cheerleaders.

Instead, he hitches a ride home with some Ampipe fans, who stop at Nickerson's house and vandalize it. Not realizing what they were going to do, Stef unsuccessfully tries to stop it. Nickerson's daughter hears the vandalizing and tells her father, who goes outside and sees the vandals fleeing. It's initially uncertain whether he got a close enough look at Stef.

But the next week, Stef visits Nickerson at a football practice, apologizing for his role in the argument and asking for re-instatement to the team, which has only one game left. But Nickerson says that he saw Stef at Nickerson's house that night after the game. Stef insists that he did none of the vandalizing but Nickerson doesn't believe that.

The day of the game, Greg and 700 others get laid off from the steel mill. In his ensuing depression, he goes out and gets drunk. While he's gone, Lisa comes over and she and Stef have sex for the first time.

The next few weeks are chaotic for Stef and his teammates. Brian (Christopher Penn), having just accepted a scholarship offer from USC, learns that his girlfriend, Tracy (Paige Lyn Price), is pregnant. They keep the baby and get married. Vinnie Salvucci (Paul Carafotes) gets arrested for armed robbery. And Stef's previous scholarship offers are revoked, leading him to believe that he was blackballed by Nickerson. And though Lisa is bitter about athletes getting scholarships while other deserving students don't, she goes to Nickerson's wife and tries to intervene.

And without revealing the ending, I will say that it has great messages of forgiveness and the selflessness inherent in pure love.

"All the Right Moves" mostly lives up to its title. All of the performances are top notch and both 80s small town high school life and the atmosphere of big time high school football are portrayed flawlessly. I also like that the school has a good mix of blacks and whites and that people of the two races have much positive interaction throughout the movie, both on and off the football team.

In addition, the scenery brings Ampipe powerfully to life and the rock dominated soundtrack, while not one of the best of the genre, further cements the movie's early 80s feel. And don't be turned away if you're not a football fan. The movie actually contains only one game scene. While the surface theme, as I said, is football, many other surface themes could equally be used to teach the same lessons.

The movie is a fairly heavy R, mostly for language and a couple of semi-graphic sex scenes, but if you can tolerate that, it's hard to find a better teen dominated drama than this.

I read about this movie and thought it seemed interesting, but it still far exceeded my expectations. Inspired by a true story, "Worlds Apart" is a superior drama that delves into one of the world's most intriguing religious groups and the universal theme of divided loyalty.

17-year old Sara Dahl (Rosalinde Mynster) is a beautiful but somewhat introverted student who lives in a small Danish town with her parents, Andreas (Jens Jørn Spottag) and Karen (Sarah Boberg), and her younger siblings, Elisabeth (Sarah Juel Werner) and August (Jacob Ottensten). All are active Jehovah's Witnesses. Early on, Andreas confesses that he has committed adultery. Karen decides to divorce him, but because he is repentant, the children oppose the divorce and decide that Karen should be the one to move out, which she is.

Shortly afterward, Sara and her friend Thea (Catrine Beck) attend a party in which Sara meets a 23-year old musician named Teis (Johan Philip Asbæk). She falls for him, but becomes very drunk. Teis walks her home and the two stay in touch.

They soon get together again and while walking through a mall, Sara is approached by a young man revealed to be her older brother, Jonas (Thomas Knuth-Winterfeldt). The two have a brief and curiously awkward conversation. After Jonas leaves, Sara explains that Jonas was expelled from the JW organization because of reading an improper book and therefore is to be shunned by his family. Sara adds that she only spoke to Jonas because Teis was there. Teis, who is non-religious, quickly becomes hostile toward Sara about the JW belief that only JWs are saved.

Teis finds Sara at school shortly afterward and apologizes for criticizing her faith. The two steadily grow closer and one night at a café, Sara loses track of time and misses her train. She spends the night at Teis' apartment where the two sleep in the same bed and kiss but don't have sex or even undress.

Still, Andreas is very upset and takes her to see the church elders, all of whom are middle aged men. Seemingly led by a man named John (Anders W. Berthelsen), she is questioned about Teis, including whether he touched her breasts or not. The movie doesn't show that act, but Sara says that it happened. The elders do accept her claim that the two didn't have sex and allow her to remain in the organization, but order her to end her relationship with Teis through a letter.

She does so but feels bad about it, especially after learning that Teis has called her several times since receiving the letter but that her family hasn't told her. She asks Andreas for permission to talk to Teis in person. Andreas reluctantly agrees and shortly after Sara visits Teis, he surprises everyone by attending a service at Sara's church. Andreas and John are suspicious and John offers to refer Teis to another JW church. But Teis insists that he wants to hear about God the same way that Sara does. John reluctantly accepts that and gives Sara permission to see Teis provided the two don't have sex.

Teis' faith initially appears to be sincere and Sara's grows as well. She quits school (seemingly some kind of post-high school institution) to become a pioneer (door-to-door missionary). But right after a large JW convention, Teis and Sara have sex for the first time. From there, Sara's faith steadily fades.

Sara says that she's moving in with Karen but actually moves in with Teis. Karen covers for Sara and also secretly sees Jonas. Teis introduces Sara to his non-religious parents, Vagn (Hans Henrik Voetmann) and Jette (Charlotte Fich). Vagn treats Sara cordially but Jette spews out a long list of anti-JW comments. Sara and Teis leave and Teis seems embarrassed by his mother's behavior but reveals to Sara that he's concluded that he doesn't believe in God after all.

Eventually, Sara's façade falls apart. Elisabeth, while visiting Karen, notices that no clothes are in Sara's supposed closets. That leads to Sara being given an ultimatum from the elders – leave Teis or be expelled.

I won't reveal her decision but I will say that my only significant criticism of the movie is that a character dies because of refusing a blood transfusion. That strikes me as a forced attempt to emphasize one of the most distinctive parts of JW doctrine. However, that character's funeral is very powerfully used to set up a hard hitting climax.

This is one of my three favorite foreign movies, along with "Noi" ("Nói albínói") from Iceland and "Kissed by Winter" ("Vinterkyss") from Norway – what is it about the Nordics?! The performances in "Worlds Apart" are outstanding, the screenplay is very compelling, and there's plenty of great scenery for anyone who appreciates small town Denmark, as I do.

JWs are widely ridiculed and dismissed as being brainwashed. But despite coming from one of the most secular countries in the world, this movie is surprisingly balanced in its portrayal of JWs. While their beliefs and tactics are brought into question, the movie portrays JWs as, above all, human beings. None are demonized and all are portrayed as well intentioned and in some cases compassionate, even if misguided. And they even evoke sympathy because of the torment that stems from their dilemma between loving someone – whether romantically or familially – and the fear of going against the teachings of the church and maybe even losing their salvation.

I've read dozens of message board postings related to this movie and almost all posters who identify themselves as former JWs describe the movie as very realistic and emotional. And even most with no ties to the JW church can relate to the aforementioned universal theme of divided loyalty.

Unrated by the MPAA but very PG-13 level, this is one of those rare movies that I strongly recommend to everyone.