All the Right Moves (1983)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Michael Chapman

Writers:

Pat Jordan (article)
Michael Kane (written by)

Release Date:

21 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

He had a dream but the dream had begun to sour...busting to break out he had to make...

Plot:

A high school footballer desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | High School | Pennsylvania | Scholarship | High School Football

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Stefen Djordjevic
Craig T. Nelson	...	Nickerson
Lea Thompson	...	Lisa
Charles Cioffi	...	Pop
Gary Graham	...	Greg
Paul Carafotes	...	Salvucci
Chris Penn	...	Brian (as Christopher Penn)
Sandy Faison	...	Suzie
James A. Baffico	...	Bosko
Mel Winkler	...	Jess Covington
Walter Briggs	...	Rifleman
George Betor	...	Tank
Leon	...	Shadow (as Leon Robinson)
Jonas Chaka	...	Mouse (as Jonas C. Miller)
Keith Diamond	...	Fox (as Keith Ford)

Also Known As:

All Right

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Iceland:L | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #27119) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Lucille Ball Productions

Trivia:

The uniforms and team colors used in the film were from Ferndale Area High School, a small high school in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where the film was made.

Goofs:

Continuity: Stefan takes his plaid shirt off twice in the locker room before practice.

Quotes:

Nickerson: You poured garbage on me, my wife and my little girl.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Family Matters: All the Wrong Moves (#5.10)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Hold Me Close To You

When getting out is all that matters

A younger, different looking Tom Cruise (old jaw/nose?) stars in this movie about a high school student aching to leave his dying steel mill town and study to be an engineer on a football scholarship. He watches his best friend, also on the team, marry his pregnant girlfriend; another member of the football team is arrested for armed robbery; his brother gets laid off from the mill; and his girlfriend (a young, fresh Lea Thompson) complains that no one gives music scholarships, just football ones, and she's going to be stuck in the town. After turning down initial scholarship offers to middle of the road schools, Cruise finds himself blackballed after an incident at his coach's house with which he was only peripherally involved. Off the team, and with the word out that he has an "attitude problem," he sees his dreams turning to dust.

Craig T. Nelson plays the coach and does his usual fine job, and Lea Thompson is a vibrant, passionate Lisa. Cruise here gives a truer performance than usual - I usually find him a very external and not terribly believable actor. In "All The Right Moves," he's sympathetic and heartfelt. I much prefer this to the perfectly handsome, glossy figure he is today. Time to get back to basics, Tom, and get some of those right moves back.