Crazy for You

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!

...It's a way of life. Anyone who has ever wrestled, as I have, has learned lessons that stick with them for the rest of their lives. Even those who never make it to a tournament, or who don't get past being an "exhibition" wrestler learns these lessons. More than any other sport, wrestling teaches valuable lessons about self reliance, self determination, self confidence, and to get through life without making excuses for failure. It also teaches about setting lofty goals and not giving up when things go wrong, about what it takes to succeed in any station in life. This movie conveys these lessons well. Many folks who say this is a typical eighties movie should also know that the lessons it teaches are timeless, no matter what time period is depicted here. It could easily have been set in the fifties, sixties, nineties, right up to the present day and still say what it has to say. It's really a shame that real wrestling hasn't caught on too well in this country because it has some valuable life lessons to teach for those who become involved with it. Because when it gets right down to it, life is one big wrestling match. That is the theme of the movie, and it dramatized it very well.

While I bought the soundtrack to 'Vision Quest' while the movie was still new, I didn't bother to see the movie until recently. While a great soundtrack and a braless Linda Fiorentino was quite appealing, the 'high school wrestler' plot didn't interest me at all. A few years later, after seeing the sappy Matthew Modine in 'Married to the Mob, ' I lost all interest in 'Vision Quest'. However, after catching (I wish) Linda Fiorentino in 'Men in Black,' and finding 'Vision Quest on ENCORE, I thought, 'What the heck? It's free.' So, my wife and I snuggled in and watched. We were glad we did. Sure, Modine was sappy, but so was his character, Loudan Swain. Loudan's a goofy kid who just turned 18. He's also smart and athletic and decent. He's a wrestler and he plans to beat the best high school wrestler in the state. Loudan wants this not for glory or awards; he just believes he can do it and makes a superhuman effort to lose the weight required to compete in the champ's weight class. His buddy, Kuch, who fancies himself an American Indian, observes Loudan is making a 'vision quest' for self discovery. During Loudan's journey and 'rite of passage to manhood' he meets Carla, a street smart, sexy girl three years his senior. Loudan falls for Carla and now has two dreams, to fight the champ and to win Carla.

Daryl Ponicson ('The Last Detail,' 'Cinderella Liberty) wrote the fine, incisive screenplay from the novel by Terry Davis. The movie has a lot to say about life and how dedication leads to genius. The language is rough, but quite natural. Linda Fiorentino has the movies funniest line, which refers to the 'Holland Tunnel', but J. C. Quinn, who plays Modene's chef friend, has the most poetic monologue, regarding Pele and soccer. Even though things don't work out exactly as Loudan expected, he's uplifted and exhilarated and you will be, too.

The outstanding soundtrack contains music by Tangerine Dream, Journey, REO Speedwagon and Madonna, among others. While the songs were not written for the movie (except, probably the Oscar worthy 'Crazy for You'), they work extremely well. Credit director Howard Becker ('The Onion Field,' 'Sea of Love') for getting the best from his talented cast of actors and musicians. 'Vision Quest' is not a great movie, but a good one. I give it a '7'.

Don't let the title, or the fact that this movie is about wrestling, deter you as it almost did me. Vision Quest is not a campy sci-fi flick, nor is it about a sweaty muscle head frolicking around in a leotard to Cyndi Lauper; it's an entertaining tale with hints of the irreplaceable 1980's luster that most of the great films from that era provide.

Louden Swain is sort of a goofy character, but he's authentic and ironclad. Louden drives through the experiences of youth with all the wonder and ferocity anyone could hope for. A combination of solid writing and acting render him a palpable character who's easy to empathize with. The northwestern city atmosphere helps.

Linda Fiorentino puts out a relatively deep character, and her looks don't hurt anything. There are some good performances elsewhere; happily, there really aren't many two dimensional characters to speak of.

Initially, the movie feels a little kitsch, but if you stick with it, you'll find it's more about coming of age and romance than sports. Not really a mind-blowing script or anything too memorable, but not at all a bad way to blow ninety minutes.

Any time I need to get psyched up this is the movie I think about. I learned watching it back in the 80's that if you have a dream you have to go after it because nobody is going to give it to you. It doesn't matter if you are a wrestler, a financial analyst, an astronaut or a bartender everybody has a dream. Louden set a goal, had a plan and went after what he wanted, that's what we all need to do. This movie has had a great effect on my life. I guess everybody has their own motivational tools and cheesy or not this is one of mine. From the peg board climbing scene to the Pele description scene to the warm up scene playing out to "Lunatic Fringe" before his match with Shute this movie, in my opinion is an inspirational masterpiece. I really wish they would re-release the soundtrack because I can't find it anywhere.