Promised Land (1987)

Director:

Michael Hoffman

Writer:

Michael Hoffman (written by)

Release Date:

22 January 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This gritty drama follows two high school acquaintances, Hancock, a basketball star, and Danny, a geek turned drifter...

Plot Keywords:

Basketball | Tattoo | Wedding | Life | Skinny Dipping

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Jason Gedrick	...	Davey Hancock
Tracy Pollan	...	Mary Daley
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Danny 'Senator' Rivers
Meg Ryan	...	Beverly 'Bev' Sykes
Googy Gress	...	Baines
Deborah Richter	...	Pammie
Oscar Rowland	...	Mr. Rivers
Sandra Seacat	...	Mrs. Rivers
Jay Underwood	...	Circle K Clerk
Herta Ware	...	Mrs. Higgins
Walt Logan Field	...	High School Coach
Kelly Ausland	...	Schroeder / Ashville Basketball Player #1
Todd Anderson	...	Pat Rivers
Dave Valenza	...	Glenn
Theron Read	...	Harting
Richard Matthews	...	Mel
Cindy Clark	...	Vera
Charles Black	...	Preacher
Tony Kruletz	...	Charlie
Jim S. Cash	...	Park Employee #1 (as James Cash)
Matthew Karas	...	Park Employee Dultz
David Jensen	...	College Coach (as Dave Jensen)
Michael Ruud	...	Cowboy in Casino
Victoria Holloway	...	Cleo
Herb McGarvey	...	Riley Riddle
Don Steffey	...	Rudy Riddle
Spence Ashby	...	Flagman #1
Fenton Quinn	...	Flagman #2 (as Fenton Quinn Jr.)
L.L. West	...	Toy Store Clerk
John Garrison	...	Mr. Daley
Deborah Green	...	Kate Daley
Dorothy Conrad	...	Grandmother Daley
Gae P. Cowley	...	Mrs. Daley (as Gae Cowley)
Lisa MacFarlane	...	Jenny Daley (as Lisa Macfarlane)
Joseph Yeates	...	Kate's Husband
Gene Pack	...	Mayor of Ashville
Grant Gottschall	...	Bassford
Adam Christensen	...	Ashville Basketball Player #2
Shane Perry	...	Ashville Basketball Player #3
Greg Weichers	...	Ashville Basketball Player #4
Bob Bedore	...	Falcon Basketball Player #1
Troy Bench	...	Falcon Basketball Player #2
Tom Thornquest	...	Falcon Basketball Player #3
Zeke Totland	...	Falcon Basketball Player #4
Jeff Lindsay	...	Falcon Basketball Player #5
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself - in Pro-Contra Speech (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Hoffman

Writing credits
Michael Hoffman		(written by)

Produced by
Mark Bentley	....	associate producer
Dennis Bishop	....	associate producer
Andrew Meyer	....	executive producer
Andy Paterson	....	associate producer
Robert Redford	....	executive producer
Rick Stevenson	....	producer

Original Music by
James Newton Howard

Non-Original Music by
Giovanni Palestrina		(from mass "O Magnum Misterium") (as Palestrina)

Cinematography by
Alexander Gruszynski
Ueli Steiger

Film Editing by
David Spiers

Casting by
Risa Bramon Garcia
Billy Hopkins
Lora Kennedy

Production Design by
Eugenio Zanetti

Art Direction by
Jim Dultz

Set Decoration by
Michael Marcus

Costume Design by
Victoria Holloway

Makeup Department
Thomas Nellen	....	hair stylist
Thomas Nellen	....	makeup artist
Sheri Short	....	hair stylist
Sheri Short	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Dennis Bishop	....	production manager
Mitchell Cannold	....	executive in charge of production
Steven Reuther	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Matthew Carlisle	....	first assistant director
Shiho Ito	....	second assistant director
Andy Paterson	....	second unit director
Lynn Wegenka	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Clif A. Davis	....	set designer
J. Chad Davis	....	scenic artist
Timaree McCormick	....	property master
Richard W. Meyer	....	construction coordinator
Bob Simmons	....	storyboard artist
Bryan Utman	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Brigitte Arnold	....	dialogue editor
Colin Chapman	....	foley editor
Rodney Glenn	....	sound editor
Darrell Henke	....	sound mixer
David M. Roberts	....	boom operator (as David Roberts)
Hugh Strain	....	dubbing mixer

Special Effects by
Ray Brown	....	best boy effects
Bob Riggs	....	special effects coordinator
W. Wayne Walser	....	additional snow effects

Stunts
David Boushey	....	stunt coordinator
Bob Miles	....	stunt coordinator
Fenton Quinn	....	stunt double (as Fenton Quinn Jr.)

Camera and Electrical Department
Steve Arenas	....	assistant camera: second unit
Tom Davidson	....	key grip
Michael S. Endler	....	first assistant camera (as Michael Endler)
Khan Griffith	....	dolly grip
Steve Grnya	....	best boy grip
Bill Haebler	....	second assistant camera (as W. Trubee Haebler Jr.)
David R. Kohn	....	lighting technician
John Schaeffer	....	still photographer
Bill Schwarz	....	gaffer
Alvin Simmons	....	best boy electric
Keith Talley	....	best boy grip
Keith Talley	....	dolly grip
Alesia Walser	....	key grip: second unit
Jamie Watson	....	key grip
Matthew Williams	....	director of photography: second unit
Brian Sullivan	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Casting Department
Catrine McGregor	....	casting: Utah

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Pamela Johnson	....	costumer
Rebecca Poulos	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Jeff Smithwick	....	color timer

Music Department
Michael Lloyd	....	music arranger
Michael Lloyd	....	song producer
Michael Mason	....	music engineer

Transportation Department
Daniel C. Rothenberg	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Benita Brazier	....	script supervisor
Kathleen Caton	....	location manager
Shirley Johnson	....	production coordinator (as Shirley A. Johnson)
Kelly Lookinland	....	production assistant (as Kelly Wermuth Lookinland)
Mike Lookinland	....	production assistant

Thanks
Beryl Vertue	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Great American Films Limited Partnership
• The Oxford Film Company
• Vestron Pictures
• Wildwood

Distributors

• Vestron Pictures (1988) (USA) (theatrical)
• Aquarius TV (2006) (Greece) (TV)
• Central (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• EuroVideo (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Vestron Video International (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Video Film Express (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Circle Seven Recording  score recording
• Optical Film Effects  opticals
• Redman Movies and Stories  grip and lighting equipment
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | West Germany:12 | South Korea:18 | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Reno, Nevada, USA

Company:

Great American Films Limited Partnership

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Game K N B: Episode dated 3 March 2007" (2007)

Falls Short Of The Mark

When I was growing up my folks had a saying for whenever I wasn't able to finish some mouth-watering dessert that I had insisted on getting: my eyes were too big for my stomach. That's how I felt about this ambitious but under-inflated would-be epic. It very much wants to be a sort of quintessential 80's picture, a final say on the tragic consequences of so-called Reagan-era greed and consumerism, but it keeps pulling up lame. Like a novice trial lawyer it falters nearly every time it tries to make its case.

Occasionally it gets things right and briefly wanders into "A Simple Plan" or "The Last Picture Show" territory, in its double-edged depiction of small town security and frustration. There's a terrific, understated scene between Jason Gedrick and Tracy Pollan as they swim in a hot spring and lazily recall some of their glory days. Kiefer Sutherland and Meg Ryan have some nice fragile moments in the desert when these two lost souls discover the joy of actually connecting, however briefly, with another human being. There are glimmers of something substantial going on here, which is what makes the whole so disappointing.

The biggest flaw is the amount of time elapsed from Gedrick's game-winning buzzer beater that kicks the story off, to a mere TWO years later, when the 4 principles are at their big "crossroads" in life. Two years is simply not long enough. The film is making the specious argument that somehow Reagan's cold-hearted policies (he appears a couple times on television making supposedly "empty", out of touch speeches) are to blame for Gedrick dropping out of school and settling for becoming a local cop, or Sutherland hitting the road because he can't live up to his nickname ("Senator") by the ripe old age of 19! Yeah, fate and that trickle down economy are really conspiring against those two, aren't they? In order for an audience to really FEEL their desperation, they need to be older with their directions in life more set in concrete. That's why "A Simple Plan" worked so well, where here it's much harder to sympathize with the lead characters. Hell, chalk it up as a bad year or two. They all still have plenty of time to right the ship.

The acting is generally okay. I thought Meg Ryan over-did the hell-raising a bit, but at least she gives the film some real jolts of energy. Gedrick pulls a classic, 4 star nutty in a kitchen at one point that would make Mickey Rourke proud. Unfortunately the writing too often lets them down. There's such a fine line between having inarticulate characters groping for words to express themselves, and the screenwriter groping to give them something meaningful and revealing to say. In this case, it sure felt like the screenwriter was doing the most groping. There's just too many "It's not you. It's me!" and "You just ... don't understand!" type lines. Many of the arguments are forced and unconvincing.

I really liked the film's collision course structure, many of its visuals (the spinning camera around the little car in the desert casts an undeniable spell) and even its bombastic score full of "end of the world" chants and that sort of thing. It was setting me up for a conclusion that I was expecting to have so much more of an impact than it ultimately did. It didn't dig deep enough, didn't flesh out its people or their world (the town is never given a personality other than generically small and sleepy) sufficiently for me to care as much as I wanted to. But I did WANT to, and perhaps that's a small accomplishment. It's certainly better than the not entirely dissimilar "Inventing The Abbotts". But if you really want to see a more successful though equally forgotten riff on these very themes check out an early Bridget Fonda flick called "Out Of The Rain".