Written by Michael Kane, Directed by Michael Chapman
| Starring: | Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T. Nelson, Christopher Penn, Charles Cioffi, Gary Graham, Paul Carafotes |
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Written by Michael Kane, Directed by Michael Chapman
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It`s western Pennsylvania, where they crank out steel and football stars, but business is bad and the mills are no longer taking on new hires. Tom is a star defensive back, and both he and Craig, the strict coach, work very hard and see college as their way out of the stagnant steel town. Tom needs a football scholarship to pursue his engineering dream, while Coach seeks a promotion and a future NFL position.
The state championship game against a rich rival school seems to be in the bag, but a late penalty by Tom and a botched call by Coach give the game away. Both see their dreams slip away with the final seconds of the game. They blame each other and the rest of the team is too despondent to take sides.
Some disappointed townies vandalize Coach`s house, and Tom is framed for it, causing him to be kicked off the team and blackballed from college scholarships. An angry Tom lashes out at his girlfriend, Princess Lea, and almost loses her as well. They make up and after school ends, he begins his new life as a part-time shift worker shovelling slag with his laid-off brother and father.
Lea speaks with Coach`s wife (no, not Shelley Fabrares, that`s his TV wife-this is a movie), and Tom has a few words for the man himself during a chance encounter, but to no avail.
At the end of the summer, long after the usual scholarship deadline, Tom is surprised to see Lea and Coach waiting for him outside the slag plant one day, and to receive a scholarship from his former nemesis. It seems that Coach received his college position after all, and hadn`t had a chance to tell Tom that he could have the one scholarship held open just for him.
Tom had, indeed, made All the Right Moves. Blue Skies Forever is the closing theme song-a most appropriate choice! It`s a very nice looking film as well.
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