''Vision Quest'' (released in the United Kingdom and Australia as ''Crazy for You'') is a 1985 American
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film starring
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...
,
Linda Fiorentino
Clorinda "Linda" Fiorentino (born March 9, 1958 or 1960) is an American former actress. Fiorentino made her screen debut with a leading role in the 1985 coming-of-age drama film ''Vision Quest'', followed that same year with a lead role in the ac ...
,
Michael Schoeffling and
Ronny Cox
Daniel Ronald Cox (born July 23, 1938) is an American actor, singer and songwriter. His best-known roles include Drew Ballinger in ''Deliverance'' (1972), George Apple in '' Apple's Way'' (1974–75), Ozark Bule in '' Bound for Glory'' (1976), C ...
. It is based on
Terry Davis's 1979
novel of the same name. Modine plays a
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...
who falls in love with an older woman, an aspiring artist from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
on her way to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
The film includes an appearance by
Madonna, her first in a major motion picture, playing a singer at a local bar, where she performs the songs "
Crazy for You" and "
Gambler
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
". In some countries, the title of the film was changed to capitalize on Madonna's emerging fame and the popularity of the song "Crazy for You".
Plot
Louden Swain is a wrestler at Thompson High School who has just turned 18 years old. He has decided that he needs to do something truly meaningful in his life. He embarks on a mission or, in a
Native American term, a ''
vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. It is usually only undertaken by young males entering adulthood.
Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English ...
'', to drop two weight classes to challenge the area's toughest opponent, Brian Shute, a menacing three-time state champion from nearby rival Hoover High School, who has never been defeated in his high school career. In his zeal to drop from to , against the wishes of his coach and teammates, he disrupts the team around him and creates health problems of his own.
Meanwhile, his father has taken on a
boarder A boarder may be a person who:
*snowboards
*skateboards
*bodyboards
* surfs
*stays at a boarding house
*attends a boarding school
*takes part in a boarding attack
The Boarder may also refer to:
* ''The Boarder'' (1953 film), a 1953 Soviet drama ...
named Carla from
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.[San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...]
. Louden falls in love with her and begins to lose sight of his goals as a wrestler. Worse, his drastic weight loss culminates in an unhealthy situation where he gets frequent nosebleeds which, Louden assumes, is due to a lack of iron in his diet (and results in him having to forfeit a match he was winning). The two finally admit their love for each other, but Carla realizes she is distracting him from his goals.
Carla decides to move out and continue on to San Francisco, but not before seeing Louden's big match in which he pins Shute in the final seconds with a hip throw after suffering a nose bleed. As Louden celebrates his victory, he monologues to the audience, "...I guess that's why we got to love those people who deserve it like there's no tomorrow. 'Cause when you get right down to it—there isn't."
Cast
*
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...
as Louden Swain
*
Linda Fiorentino
Clorinda "Linda" Fiorentino (born March 9, 1958 or 1960) is an American former actress. Fiorentino made her screen debut with a leading role in the 1985 coming-of-age drama film ''Vision Quest'', followed that same year with a lead role in the ac ...
as Carla
*
Michael Schoeffling as Kenny "Kuch" Kuchera
*
Ronny Cox
Daniel Ronald Cox (born July 23, 1938) is an American actor, singer and songwriter. His best-known roles include Drew Ballinger in ''Deliverance'' (1972), George Apple in '' Apple's Way'' (1974–75), Ozark Bule in '' Bound for Glory'' (1976), C ...
as Larry Swain
* Frank Jasper as Brian Shute
*
Harold Sylvester
Harold Sylvester (born February 10, 1949) is an American film and television actor.
Early life and education
Sylvester was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a graduate of New Orleans' St. Augustine High School and Tulane University. Turnin ...
as Gene Tanneran
*
Daphne Zuniga
Daphne Eurydice Zuniga (; born October 28, 1962) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1982 slasher film '' The Dorm That Dripped Blood'' (1982) at the age of 19, followed by a lead role in another slasher film '' The Initiation ...
as Margie Epstein
*
Charles Hallahan
Charles John Hallahan (July 29, 1943 – November 25, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor known for his performances in ''Going in Style'', '' The Thing'', '' Cast a Deadly Spell'', and ''Dante's Peak''. He was also best know ...
as Coach Ratta
* J.C. Quinn as Elmo
*
R.H. Thomson
Robert Holmes Thomson (born 1947), known as R. H. Thomson, is a Canadian television, film, and stage actor. With a career spanning five decades he remains a regular presence on Canadian movie screens and television. He has received numerous ...
as Kevin
* Gary Kasper as Otto Lafte
*
Raphael Sbarge
Raphael Sbarge (born February 12, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Jake Straka on ''The Guardian'' (2001–04), Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archibald Hopper on '' Once Upon a Time'' (2011–18) and Ins ...
as Kenny Schmoozler
*
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
After making his f ...
as Jean-Pierre "Balldozer" Baldosier
*
Roberts Blossom
Roberts Scott Blossom (March 25, 1924July 8, 2011) was an American poet and character actor of theatre, film, and television. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in ''Home Alone'' (1990) and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film '' Derange ...
as Harry Swain
*
James Gammon
James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled " good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series.
Gammon portrayed Lou Brown, the manager in the movies '' Major League'' and ...
as Mr. Kuchera
*
Madonna as Club Singer
* Ken Pelo as Coach Charlie Swann
*
Jana Marie Hupp
Jana Marie Hupp (born April 2, 1964) is an American actress.
Born in Spokane, Washington, she studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Western Washington University and worked on stage in theatre productions in Seattle. She later ...
as Sally
*
Andrew Shue
Andrew Eppley Shue (born February 20, 1967) is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999). Shue played soccer professionally for several years. He co-founded and served on the ...
as Bar Patron
* Pat Brown as Wrestler (Extra)
Production
Production took place in
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...
, in the fall of 1983.
The film was shot at
Rogers High School in northeast Spokane, referred to as "Thompson High School" in the film.
[ Interior cafeteria scenes were filmed at Ferris High School on Spokane's South Hill. Some of the locker room scenes were filmed in the boys' locker room of ]Shadle Park High School
Shadle Park High School is a four-year public secondary school in the northwest United States, located in the Audubon/Downriver neighborhood of Spokane, Washington. Northwest of downtown Spokane, Shadle Park was the first new high school in the ci ...
in northwest Spokane. Madonna's scene was filmed at the Big Foot Tavern on North Division Street in Spokane.[ Other scenes were shot at The Onion Restaurant downtown and the North Central High School gym. The scene where Louden's big match happens was shot in the gym of Spokane Falls Community College. Erik Abbey consulted on the wrestling scenes to verify their authenticity.
]
Reception
The film had moderate success in theaters in the U.S. in 1985, earning a gross of $13 million. It has received a rating of 60% at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
from 15 reviews, and has become a cult classic
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
.
Roger Ebert of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film 3.5 stars out of a possible 4, saying while the core storyline was a formulaic sports drama "it is nevertheless a movie with some nice surprises, mostly because it takes the time to create some interesting characters", with standout performances from Modine, Cox and Fiorentino.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the motion picture was released by Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
on February 12, 1985; the movie was renamed ''Crazy for You'' in some countries such as Australia and the UK due to the new popularity of pop singer Madonna and her song " Crazy for You".
The soundtrack does not include "No More Words
"No More Words" is a song by American new wave band Berlin from their third studio album, '' Love Life'' (1984). It was released on February 27, 1984, as the album's lead single. The single was the band's first top-40 entry on the ''Billboard'' H ...
" by Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, nor tracks from REO Speedwagon, and Quarterflash, which had appeared in the film. The background instrumental music by Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
is not included, but was later released on the fan project ''Tangerine Tree
Tangerine Tree was a fan project operating from 2002 through 2006 with the goal of collecting, preserving and distributing unreleased concerts and other audio material by the band Tangerine Dream. The creators of the Tangerine Tree project received ...
73: Soundtrax''.
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
}
Potential remake
In 2009, interest in a remake was generated after Taylor Lautner
Taylor Daniel Lautner (; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing shapeshifter Jacob Black in '' The Twilight Saga'' film series.
Lautner began his acting career playing bit parts in comedy series such as '' ...
of ''Twilight
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this i ...
'' fame expressed interest. ''E! News
''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...
'' claimed a script existed which Lautner reportedly approved.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1985 films
1980s coming-of-age drama films
1985 romantic drama films
1980s sports drama films
American coming-of-age drama films
American romantic drama films
Coming-of-age romance films
1980s English-language films
Films based on American novels
Films based on young adult literature
Films directed by Harold Becker
Films produced by Jon Peters
Films produced by Peter Guber
Films scored by Tangerine Dream
Films set in Washington (state)
Films shot in Washington (state)
Sport wrestling films
American sports drama films
1980s American films