All the Right Moves

source: All the Right Moves

source: All the Right Moves

Trailer—All the Right Moves

All the Right Moves

Another part made for Tom Cruise, the young jock with aspirations for college to pursue a career in engineering. He needs to win the football scholarship to attain his dream. Otherwise, he will be locked into that Pennsylvania steel-mining town. While this is a familiar theme in films, it works well here thanks to the presence of Cruise and Lea Thompson, his young girlfriend who wants to pursue a career in music. Craig T. Nelson really steals the film in a part that he has relished playing-that high school coach! After losing a heartbreak, Cruise loses it and in one brief moment after drinking, he does something that can adversely affect his changes for college and his career. This is basically a story of people who want out of this hum-drum existence and aspire to better things. It is also a story of redemption and ultimate fulfillment of your life's dream. It is masterfully done.

The most noteworthy thing about this movie, and probably the only reason why it's still around, is that it has Tom Cruise in one of his earliest starring roles. Aside from that, there isn't really much to it. It's not bad I guess, but it's just all so plain and mediocre except for some of the acting. This script is one of the most predictable things ever written and just hums by with no surprises of any sort. You can't bring a lot of variation within the formula of a small town drama, but for the love of God, try a little. Often it just really needs to get to the point, because things get pretty boring if you already know the ending an hour beforehand. The raw, realistic filming style of the movie is in fact pretty good and really expresses desperation, but it just doesn't make the story any more interesting. As far as very young Tom Cruise goes, it's "Risky Business" all the way.

OK, so there have been many movies about someone struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds to make something of him/herself. In this case, Tom Cruise plays a Pennsylvania teenager hoping to get a football scholarship. He does a respectable job with the role, considering that it's really nothing that we haven't seen before. What makes this movie really good is that it shows how the company that employs the men in town is laying everyone off, so people are having to look for opportunities elsewhere. All in all, this is a pretty good movie. I've always thought that Tom Cruise was better in his earlier roles than in his later ones. Also starring Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson and Chris Penn. I have to admit that I learned about "All the Right Moves" from "Scream". You may recall the line about pausing the movie just right, and what you can see as a result.

I will also add that that is not the case now.... Be things as they are, when this film was made it showed a good side of Tom Cruise; neighborhood kid trying to get ahead- no guidance from his father; no trust fund or relatives to give him a hand. It is somewhat sad to watch this film, or "Born on the Fourth of July" (an excellent film, also) and be misguided by PR trash magazines and gossip. When he was younger, Tom Cruise deserved credit as an actor. I myself would like to write purely about film, but it is sad that, in the U.S. the rumor mills spread gossip and hatred to all areas; suffice it to say, this film has a good story, and Cruise was not as famous at the time, so it is well worth watching. 10/10.

Continuing my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I come to to his third and final movie of 1983, All The Right Moves. Plot In A Paragraph: A high school football player (Cruise) desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town. Like with Risky Business, this is another movie that I don't get people's love for. I find it watchable, and nothing more. Cruise is OK, everyone's favourite TV coach, Craig T Nelson is his usual reliable self, and Leah Thompson (who shares the most unsexy and uncomfortable life scene I have ever witnessed) looks cute, but doesn't really bring much. One plus is, it has a decent rock soundtrack, which is usually listed first in the end credits with each song stating what scene it was played it. This was the first movie Tom Cruise's name appeared above the movie title on a poster. All The Right Moves grossed $17 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 42nd highest grossing movie of 1983.

I would have to say that this is one of the better movies realisticly portraying small town high school football to ever have been made. Tom Cruise gives a wonderful performance indicative of his future superstardom and even though Craig T. Nelson seems to be typecast as a coach, he plays the role to perfection. The scene of the big game against neighboring rival Walnuts Heights was shot so masterfully, you felt like you were on the 50 yard line. You could just feel the tension in the locker room before kickoff. Even though this film came out when I was 11 years old, I remember in high school our whole football team would gather at the coach's house the night before a game and watch this movie. I don't think that there has ever been a movie since that has come along that portrays high school football, its significance to Small Town USA and the young men who portray the roles of "Friday Night Gods" with such gritty realism as this film.