Vision Quest

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Vision Quest
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Harold Becker
Produced by	Jon Peters Peter Guber
Written by	Terry Davis (novel) Darryl Ponicsan
Starring	Matthew Modine Linda Fiorentino Michael Schoeffling Ronny Cox Harold Sylvester Daphne Zuniga
Music by	Tangerine Dream
Cinematography	Owen Roizman
Editing by	Maury Winetrobe
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	February 15, 1985
Running time	107 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$12,993,175

Vision Quest is a 1985 coming of age drama starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Ronny Cox. It is based on the novel of the same name by author Terry Davis. In some countries it was released as Crazy For You to market on Madonna's emerging fame and the popularity of the song. The movie was filmed in Spokane, Washington, in 1984.

Modine plays a Spokane high school wrestler who falls in love with an older woman, an aspiring artist from 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".

[edit] Plot

In this coming-of-age story, Louden Swain (Modine) 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 (Frank Jasper)—a menacing 3-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 (Charles Hallahan) and teammates, he disrupts the team around him and creates health problems of his own.

Meanwhile, his father (Ronny Cox) has taken on a boarder named Carla (Linda Fiorentino) from Trenton, New Jersey, passing through on her way to San Francisco. Though she is older, Louden 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, Louden claims, 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 he defeats Shute in the final seconds with an over-under hip toss.

[edit] Cast

• Matthew Modine as Louden Swain
• Linda Fiorentino as Carla
• Michael Schoeffling as Kuch
• Ronny Cox as Larry Swain
• Harold Sylvester as Gene Tanneran
• Daphne Zuniga as Margie Epstein
• Frank Jasper as Brian Shute
• Charles Hallahan as The Coach
• J.C. Quinn as Elmo
• R.H. Thomson as Kevin
• Gary Kasper as Otto Laft
• Mike Geselbracht as Onca
• Raphael Sbarge as Schmoozler
• Forest Whitaker as Balldozer
• Roberts Blossom as Grandpa
• James Gammon as Kuch's father
• Madonna as Club singer

[edit] Reception

The film had moderate success in theaters in the U.S. in 1985, earning a gross of $13 million. It has received a "fresh" rating of 64% at Rotten Tomatoes and has become somewhat of a cult classic among middle and high school wrestlers for its various wrestling scenes, in particular Louden's extreme weight loss measures and workout regime.

[edit] Book

The movie was based on the novel of the same name by Terry Davis, filmed at Spokane's 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 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).

[edit] Differences from the book

• Louden wrestles at 147, not 168.
• Thompson High School, which was used in the film, appears to relate more toward Spokane's North Central High School was actually based on Spokane's Shadle Park High School, North Central's rival 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 book 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.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the motion picture was released by Geffen Records on February 12, 1985. It was re-named 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".

[edit] Track listing

1. "Only the Young" - Journey
2. "Change" - John Waite
3. "Shout to the Top" - The Style Council
4. "Gambler" - Madonna
5. "She's on the Zoom" - Don Henley (Backing vocals by Belinda Carlisle & Jane Wiedlin)
6. "Hungry for Heaven" - Dio
7. "Lunatic Fringe" - Red Rider
8. "I'll Fall in Love Again" - Sammy Hagar
9. "Hot Blooded" - Foreigner
10. "Crazy for You" - Madonna

[edit] External links

• Vision Quest at the Internet Movie Database
• Vision Quest at Allmovie
• Vision Quest at Box Office Mojo
• Vision Quest at Rotten Tomatoes