Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:03, 17 May 2007

Vision Quest
Directed by	Harold Becker
Written by	Terry Davis Darryl Ponicsan
Produced by	Jon Peters
Starring	Matthew Modine Linda Fiorentino Michael Schoeffling Madonna
Music by	Steve Smith
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release dates	February 15, 1985
Running time	105 min
Language	English
Budget	N/A

This article is about the film Vision Quest. See Vision quest for the Native American rite of passage.

Vision Quest is a 1985 film starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Ronny Cox. It was released in some countries as Crazy For You to market on Madonna's fame and the popularity of the song.

In the movie, Modine plays Spokane, Washington high school wrestler Louden Swain, who falls in love with Carla (Linda Fiorentino), an aspiring artist from Trenton, New Jersey, on her way to San Francisco.

The film includes an appearance by Madonna, her first in a major motion picture, playing a singer at a local bar/restaurant (filmed at the Big Foot Tavern on North Division in Spokane), where she performs the songs "Crazy for You" and "Gambler".

Movie Synopsis

Template:Spoilers

In this coming of age story, Louden Swain is a high school wrestler who has just turned eighteen and decided that he needs to do something truly meaningful in his life. Against the wishes of those around him, he embarks on a mission to drop two weight classes in order to challenge the 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 190 pounds to 168 pounds, 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 named Carla. Though she is older, he begins to fall 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 in which he gets frequent nose bleeds due to a lack of iron in his diet (which costs him a match that he should have won). He and Carla finally admit their love for one another, but she realizes this is distracting him from his goals. She decides to move out and continue on to San Francisco, but not before seeing Louden's big match in which Swaine defeats Shute in the final seconds with a highly improbable over-under lateral drop.

The title Vision Quest is explained when one of Louden's teammates Kuch, who believes heavily in Native American culture, tells him that he is searching for his place in the circle, which Louden comes to realize is true.

Reception

The film had average success in theaters in the United States earning around a total gross of $13,000,000. It has received a "fresh" rating of 64% at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has become somewhat of a cult classic among high school wrestlers for its various wrestling scenes, in particular Louden's extreme weight loss measures and workout regime.

Book

The movie was based on the book by Terry Davis, filmed at Spokane's John R. Rogers High School (referred to as Thompson High School in the film). The school building has gone through major renovations since the filming, with the only recognized characteristic being the school's front entrance (Interior cafeteria scenes were filmed at Joel E. Ferris High School on Spokane's South Hill and some of the locker room scenes were filmed in the Shadle Park High School boys locker room).

Differences from the book

• Louden wrestles at 137, not 168.
• Thompson High School, which was used in the film, appears to relate more toward Spokane North Central High School (which was oddly filmed at North Central's rival Rogers H.S.), was actually based on Spokane's Shadle Park High School, where author Terry Davis graduated from (Shadle's team made a brief appearance as Sherman High School).
• In the book, Carla was living with Louden, but for longer than the movie version and was actually settled down with him, living in Spokane.
• Gary Shute was the actual name of the character in the book that Louden was going to wrestle (the books ends when their match begins). He was also from Evergreen High School; rather than Hoover High School (which appears in the movie to be based on Mead High School).
• In the book Otto Laft had a much larger role than in the movie.
• Elmo, the cook who works with Louden, was actually a black former boxer, and Gene Tanneran, Louden's English teacher, was white and going out with a cheerleader. In the movie, Tanneran is a black former basketball player, and Elmo is white.

Frank Jasper

After "Vision Quest", Frank Jasper (who memorably and menacingly played Brian Shute in the film) practically dropped out of sight, with the exception of two small roles in the low-budget horror flick, "Freeway Maniac" (1989), and the TV movie "Blindsided" (1993). Jasper's last film role was in the music video for "Right Now" by Van Halen. Jasper appears as a homeless person holding up a sign that reads, "I will wrestle you for food."

In college, Jasper studied Chinese medicine and accupuncture. After earning his M.D., Jasper and his wife, Sandra, began operation of Osani Holistic Health Care, a holistic medicine clinic in Pacific Palisades, California. Jasper later earned his black belt in Aikido several years ago after his father, himself a black belt judoka and accomplished competitor, first exposed Frank to martial arts. Jasper is also known to enjoy golf.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. The soundtrack also included songs by Journey ("Only The Young"), former Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow/Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio ("Hungry For Heaven") and Red Rider ("Lunatic Fringe").

External links

• Vision Quest at IMDb
• Vision Quest at Rotten Tomatoes
• Vision Quest box office data, movie stars, and idle speculation

• 1985 films
• Coming-of-age films
• Sport wrestling films
• Teen films