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Vision Quest (1985)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 3/14

VisQ
3/14: Vision Quest is my favorite Matthew Modine picture.

A poor man's Jeff Bridges, he's quirky, charming, and likeable who makes the role work. Linda Fiorentino is surprisingly good and effective as Carla the tough Jersey girl. Everybody else is superb as well. The whole plot is believable. I love the energy, and it's one of those feel-good films not afraid to tackle serious questions. The best of them all is how realistic the high school wrestling scene looks.

I wrestled in public and school leagues for a decade and had gone to tournaments almost every weekend during winters, watched thousands of matches, and witnessed many dramatic moments. It's a rare sport that anybody can beat anyone which only takes determination and attitude. Just ask Larry Owings when he handed Dan Gable his first loss in high school and college combined.

I've seen a girl pin a boy even though he, prior to the match, bragged to me of having an easy go at it. I've seen a nobody take down a state champion. I've seen a multiple AAU national champion go through high school and fail to place once in the states. I've seen a free-spirited kid who only wrestled for fun beat a state champion and stopped wrestling afterwards. Again and again, I've seen an unseeded nobody take down seeded wrestlers to win the entire tournament.

I've seen some of the most thrilling matches that made the people in the stands to shake the building. I've seen a wrestler to go through high school undefeated and then get beaten silly in college. I've seen a flabby pushover to become really good within a few years and take the high school district title. I've seen a wrestler be paralyzed on the mat after he's warned not to face his overweight opponent. I've seen a wrestler winning multiple state championships only to end up in prison for good.

But there's only one thing I've never seen, and it's a coach in his singlet during practice. So yeah...this Brian Shute thing happens all the time. Vision Quest gets just everything about right. The only complaint I have is that Louden's nosebleed appeared minor and shouldn't have resulted in medical forfeit. It happens all the time and is a natural part of wrestling. Thus, the job done on his nose wasn't handled properly.

All in all, Vision Quest definitely gets the high school wrestling part right.