TAYLOR HACKFORD
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.5.
USA, 1988. New Visions, Warner Bros.. Screenplay by based on the novel by Cinematography by Produced by Taylor Hackford, Ian Sander, Laura Ziskin. Music by James Newton Howard. Production Design by Joe Alves. Costume Design by Theadora Van Runkle. Film Editing by Don Zimmerman.
This enjoyable drama centres around the loss of youth’s golden dreams in the wake of grown-up reality. Dennis Quaid plays a star college football player who sees nothing but glory and success in his future for him and his cheerleader girlfriend (Jessica Lange, who is definitely too old for the college scenes but does so well later on that it’s forgivable). Life after college, however, isn’t all they’d both hoped, and soon the demands of practicality require them to sacrifice much of what they’d hoped for and be satisfied with just getting by. Quaid’s exceptional performance is the best reason to watch it.