Promised Land

No matter what the critics contend I loved this movie - I like the actors - all of them, not just the top 4. I thought the top 4 should have gotten Oscars. The film is depressing but it is supposed to be that way. The scenery and music just add to the awesomeness. References to President Regan made it more relevant. The despair and frustration of growing up in this movie are not equalled anywhere else. Two thumbs up.

I do believe these characters: A cheerleader/good girl, a jock who is less of a jerk than most jocks, a totally ineffectual loser, and a trashy drifter floozy. But I still need to hear a little more in depth dialog about why they are who they are, or what they want out of life.

Other reviewers have mentioned a couple Reagan speeches in the background or some kind of political message about disappointment in the Reagan years. I see that the "lefty" Robert Redford produced this film, but I did not pick up on the whole Reagan-bashing vibe. There is one scene where the jock throws a tantrum and says, "you lied to me," but I'm not sure to whom he was talking or referring.

I was a lost soul in the 80's, but it never occurred to me to blame Reagan. My problems were entirely a combination of genes and my own decisions. The same goes for these characters.

I couldn't stand the Meg Ryan character, and I couldn't see anything to respect or like about the Sutherland character, so during their sequences, it was more like a documentary about losers. I felt no sympathy. Those two are so off-putting and ugly,they ruin the whole film.

What I did like was the gorgeous scenery and the accurate portrayal of the angst of small town youth. Growing up is scary and there's no place like home. The characters conveyed this well.

Why make it in Utah? I know that Redford lives there, but wouldn't you have to include some references to Mormonism? There was a steelmaker union sign on the main street. Were there steel mills in Utah back in the day? It was supposed to represent a generic working class small town, but nothing in Utah is generic. It's a unique place.

Tracy Pollan is five years older than Jason Gedrick and Meg Ryan is several years older than Keifer Sutherland. But I can't say that I really noticed that. I do think they were weird casting choices. A Jewish girl from Long Island as a small town Utah cheerleader? A Connecticut beauty queen type as a thief and a whore? I have faith that the jock and cheerleader will make a nice couple. She clearly has no direction in college and will find something worthwhile to do back home. He will continue as a cop. They will have a double income and produce a nice middle class life amongst their friends and family. What else is there anyways?

One thing though: Another reviewer mentioned that they should have made more than two years pass by. I agree,because two years is nothing. 20 years old is not the time to panic about your future. You can always go back to school or work for a while. Nothing at 20 needs to be forever.

The film may have made much better sense if they were all 25.

Dave Hancock is a small town athletic star who goes away to college as a basketball player on scholarship. When he washes out of the team he drops out of college and comes home to find a job on the local Police department where he's comfortable among the folks he's always known and able to relax in his former glory.

Mary his head cheerleader girl friend goes away to school to study art but also longs for the small-town life and the boy she's left behind. She's got big dreams but is afraid to leave the comfort of the small town and afraid to tell her family she wants to stay.

Danny Rivers, tagged `the Senator' was a nobody in high school and can't wait to leave for the world outside the town he's grown up in and the bleak undemonstrative family that raised him.

When Danny meets and marries a crazy do-as-she-pleases girl he decides to return home and all of their lives are changed forever...

I found this movie to be evocative of a period and had better than average character development but this film will not appeal to all. It is a sketch of a time and a place and the people there. They are not archtypes, they are not universal but they are realistic and you can care about them and as with many sketches the viewer is left with the desire for more, a more complete picture, a better sense of what comes next and even a few more details about the present.

In the small town of Ashville, Hancock (Jason Gedrick) is the best basketball player and local hero. Mary (Tracy Pollan) is a cheerleader and his gorgeous girlfriend. They both intend to go to the college together. Their friend Danny 'The Senator' (Kiefer Sutherland) quits high school and moves alone to the Arizona, trying to have a good job and a better life. A couple of years later, Hancock is the local chief of police, living from his glorious past; Mary is studying Arts, and although still loving Hancock, she can not accept life in Ashville and has a new boyfriend; and Danny is a complete loser, who decides to get married with the crazy Beverly (Meg Ryan) and spend the Christmas Eve in his home town with his family. The story ends in a tragic way. 'Promised Land' is a depressive tale about the fate of each one and, in accordance with the initial credits, is based on a true story. The young cast has a great performance, the story is never corny, and it is great to see an American low budget movie about real common people, and not the fancy Hollywood reality. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): 'Terra Prometida' ('Promised Land')

I can't believe anyone referred to this as fluff;hate it, but no way is this fluff. It was almost creepy to me how this non-didactic near masterpiece captured a lot of what the 80's were about for most Americans by telling this seemingly simple tale of disaffected young people in some small burg in the Midwest. Of the four principles, two want to get out (only one can articulate to what, and she's hasn't convinced herself), one needs to stay because his only real defining moments were there, and the fourth is a near sociopathic drifter, who meets up with the clueless one who leave smallburg because he doesn't know what else to do. Even this character, Bev (Meg Ryan actually showing range instead of getting rich off Nora Ephron fluff she can walk thru), needs "home" in some way, and convinces clueless Danny to marry her (a great wedding scene; gives new meaning to the word "downscale") and take her to meet his folks. Former star HS athlete Hancock (Jason Gedrick), the one who couldn't leave, has become a cop and is trying to convince ex HS sweetheart Mary (Tracy Pollan) to come back and stay, and she IS conflicted, but ultimately knows she has to get away. It sounds somewhat pedestrian, but it's played to expose more than human frailty, but how we can destroy ourselves and others without ill will. It also, probably unconsciously, shows us a piece of the majority of USA that wasn't getting rich in the 80's, and in fact was struggling with diminished expectations and an increasing gap between the haves and have nots. Tom Wolfe gave us the smarmy pseudo-satire "Bonfires of the Vanities", Michael Hoffman got us a peek at what was and, to some extent, what was to be. The slowly spiralling paths of the characters in Promised Land eventually collide with tragic results. There is no salvation or redemption.-- The End Oh, you want to see Meg Ryan take another chance and come up winners, check out "Hurlyburly" and her small but memorable role in this actors' movie adapted from David Rabe's play.