Vision Quest

...It's a way of life. Anyone who has ever wrestled, as I have, has learned lessons that stick with them for the rest of their lives. Even those who never make it to a tournament, or who don't get past being an "exhibition" wrestler learns these lessons. More than any other sport, wrestling teaches valuable lessons about self reliance, self determination, self confidence, and to get through life without making excuses for failure. It also teaches about setting lofty goals and not giving up when things go wrong, about what it takes to succeed in any station in life. This movie conveys these lessons well. Many folks who say this is a typical eighties movie should also know that the lessons it teaches are timeless, no matter what time period is depicted here. It could easily have been set in the fifties, sixties, nineties, right up to the present day and still say what it has to say. It's really a shame that real wrestling hasn't caught on too well in this country because it has some valuable life lessons to teach for those who become involved with it. Because when it gets right down to it, life is one big wrestling match. That is the theme of the movie, and it dramatized it very well.

A slightly different spin on the traditional Underdog Athlete Overcomes the Odds storyline, Vision Quest is a decent film for most viewers (for those who have actually endured the challenges of the collegiate wrestling world, the movie is practically required viewing!). Modine and Fiorentino, who went on to better-known films such as Equinox and Jade, respectively, are solid if unspectacular in roles as a high school wrestler and the world-weary object of his desires. Among the other notables who appear in the movie: a young Forrest Whitaker, James Gammon, Michael Schoeffling (Sixteen Candles), and Madonna, who contributed "Crazy For You" and "Gambler" to an underrated soundtrack. The wrestling sequences are gritty and realistic, as are the frequent portrayals of training. But the screenplay's dialogue is often choppy and does little to develop the potentially interesting characters. Subplots are hinted at but are not followed through with. And there is a lack of smooth transition between sequences. Still, Vision Quest is watchable and worthwhile as a rental (if you are a wrestler, this is especially true).

We used to watch this before big games. I especially like the Ronnie James Dio / Don Henley / Madonna soundtrack.

whatever happened to shute??? I hate wrestling but this is a classic underdog story.

Linda Fiorentino says she really likes 'big hands'. Hilarious. The wrestler character here is only about 100 times more believable than the Emilio Estevez character in Breakfast Club. Linda Fiorentino has great 80's hair in this film. The scenes with him climbing up the peg wall are the best non-Shute scenes by far. This picture has really solid naturalistic dialogue.

I've been a fan for over 10 years, both my daughters love this movie, and as a former HS wrestler I'm probably hooked for life. Begs to be remade with less emphasis on the goo goo eyes for Linda Fiorentino but Matthew Modine is just terrific, both as kid on a mission and a wrestler. 9/10

Its not hard to understand why some viewers would dislike this movie, since less than .1% of the worlds population ever wrestled in a competitive environment.

But, for those that have, and for the friends and parents of those wrestlers, this movie is a solid 9/10 rating. The movie hits on every aspect of this sports tortuous rigor: losing weight every week, not eating, training, and the mental gymnastics involved with having to believe that you can beat anyone at anytime.

And most realistically, this movie also shows the hardships of doing what every other high school kid does, in combination with the rigors of the sport. They have love relationships, they have classmates, they have to deal with the teachers and coaches, as well as their own family, plus they have to deal with their own teammates each week who may want to take over the top position at their weight.

As one who had over 100 high school matches (15 years before the making of this movie), I can confirm that there is no better movie than this about high school wrestling. When you rate this movie you should not think about how good it is among all other movies, rather you should rate it solely based on its ability to achieve the objective of accurately portraying its subject.

I guess that some would think Louden is not a "team player", but wrestling is an individual sport, no matter how others would want to portray it (although if you win your team gets points). Now that this diatribe (which it might be to some) is about over, I will summarize as follows: Do not watch the movie if you don't care about seeing an exceptionally good story about high school wrestling, you won't like it!