Customer Reviews

Everybody's All-American

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this movie but no one mentions Timothy Hutton in their reviews. I thought he nearly stole the show, and I loved every scene with him. Very entertaining with a mix of live action sports romance and great 50/60 tunes. Lange is gorgeous.

I loved this movie. I'm not a big football fan, but there was enough sports and enough romance to keep both me and my husband entertained throughout the movie.

It's a peek into into the turbulent and chaotic life of a diehard, aging football hero who never let's the team down, and his beautiful, naive, trophy wife.

Throughout the entire movie, you are routing for both the team and the marriage. When you think that love has lost, it's just begininng.

If anyone knows who sings the ending song, I think it's called, "It's Forever", please email me with the artist's name.

Thanks-

This is an overlooked film from 1988, and perhaps the best performance in Quaid's career. Director Taylor Hackford has had an uneven career, but this stands as one of his best movies so far. Quaid is the a star college football player who marries the homecoming queen (Jessica Lange) and SLOWLY comes to realize that the fame and glory of his college days won't carry him in the real world of professional football and the years after. Lange gets top billing (contractually), but it is Quaid's movie. This should have been his Oscar-nominated performance.
Hackford (or careful editing) pulls back before certain moments fall into sappy sentimentality. But the period detail is meticulous and perfect, and certain pressings of this video come with the dialog-only (no music) trailer for 1989's "Batman", one of the unintentionally best movie trailers ever.

"Everybody's All American" is the story of Gavin Grey(Dennis Quaid)a guy who goes from stud-muffin to couch potato faster than you can say touchdown. In this endevor he's aided by Jessica Lange - the no-good-for-him love of his life. Taylor Hackford directs with slick style and lots of heart this story better suited for reruns of "General Hospital" than a big screen romance. Nevertheless, and happily so, the film works on all levels.
TRANSFER: Very respectable effort from Warner Brothers with rich, vibrant colors, deep blacks and some nicely balanced colors and contrast levels. On the down side, some scenes appear to have a slightly hazy look to them and there is considerable film grain in a few scenes and age related artifacts to contend with. Overall, however, an adequate remastering effort.
EXTRAS: The director gives us his personal insight into the making of this film which isn't really as insightful as one might imagine. There's also a trailer.
BOTTOM LINE: If you like schmaltz with your beer then this one has it all. If the only thing that excites you is touchdowns then Monday Night Football is a better fit.

Directed by Taylor Hackford, this exceptional 1988 drama not only deals with the vicissitudes of a 25-year marriage, but also the fleeting aspects of fame.

Taking place from the mid-1950s into the 1980s, the film casts Dennis Quaid as the All-American football player, turned pro, and Jessica Lange as the Magnolia Queen who gave up her career to become a wife and mother.

The dynamics of the marriage shift as Quaid's gridiron glories diminish and Jessica, now the mother of four, is forced to become the family's principal financial support. Yet, through all their problems, the couple's love for each other endures.

Timothy Hutton is Quaid's nephew, who secretly loves his uncle's wife, John Goodman plays Dennis' best friend whose addiction to gambling almost causes the family's ruin and Carl Lumbly is an African-American friend of Quaid, the movie's symbol of the country's changing attitude toward civil rights during the 1960s. Patricia Clarkson is also in the perfectly chosen cast.

This is a film that you will not soon forget.

© Michael B. Druxman

this was a great movie. Like one reviewer already said... Anything with the golden band from tigerland in it is a great movie!

Quaid and Goodman are really great together in this movie!!

FIRE DINARDO and buy this film!

Dennis Quaid plays a college football hero stuck in that role and incapable of doing anything else. Jessica Lange is the college queen who marries him, has lots of babies, and gets neglected by Quaid. Quaid goes on to the pros, passing by business opportunities along the way, and stays on too long (it's all he knows). When they are about to go bankrupt, Lange takes charge, getting a job and holding them together. More important, she grows as a person, taking on responsibilities and doing things she never thought she could do. Meanwhile, Quaid continues to live in the past. Then the best 20 minutes of the movie occurs: Quaid and Lange confront their dilemma and work it out. Whether their (and the movie's) solution is believable is questionable, but the acting here is very sharp.

This movie's message is, simply put, don't go living in the past or the present may very well run over you like a very large lineman. Initially, it would appear that the movie glamourizes those bright college days, full of football heroism & social ascendancy on campus, but it becomes apparent soon enough that the film's main characters are real losers in the larger game of life. Jessica Lange in particular plays a southern belle who, as her life progresses, realizes that life really isn't a Homecoming dance, and that the culture that once put her on a pedastel has, in the long run, really screwed her over by limiting her options. Ahh, the life of the trophy wife. Meanwhile, Dennis Quaid (whose smart-alecky persona normally drives me crazy) comes across as a total loser in the bigger picture, as he remains mired in the increasingly long-ago glory days of his youth, unable to cope with his present-day, beer-gut-ridden life of mediocrity. Ahh, the life of a has-been athlete.

Meanwhile, the characters that remained on the fringes in the good old days focused on what they might do in the future rather than dwelling in the past, and had much more meaningful lives as a result. This is all very gratifying for people who weren't high school football heroes or prom queens. While not a great film, this is a pretty good film, and a worthy antidote for excessive exposure to rampant nostalgia.

...That's the words that Dennis Quaid says in this 80's classic, to his wife Babs (Jessica Lange). This is a great story, not only of the life of an athelete, but of life itself. It encompasess an era between the 50s and the 80s, where this couple faces many life changing events. From the finaly game in college, getting drafted into the NFL, bankrupcy caused by thier college friend, to a change of bread-winners after the retirement of th "Gray Ghost". After all they go through, they manage to stick together because they were truly in love.

This is an excellent movie with wonderfull performances by Lange, Quaid, and Goodman. The character development is superb and the message the movie delivers is powerful. Highly recommended for all viewers.