All the Right Moves (1983)

Closing up the unofficial trilogy where Tom Cruise losing his virginity is essential to the plot is the 1983 movie All the Right Moves. As the last of four films that Cruise released in 1983, it brings me no pleasure to say it does little to continue the thought-provoking commentary put forth by Risky Business to settle for a mediocre coming-of-age story that says little instead.

The plot follows Cruise's character Stefan Djordjevic, a high school senior with dreams of escaping his small, steel-mining hometown in Pennsylvania. His best option is to get a football scholarship to a college located elsewhere, although his girlfriend Lisa (played by Lea Thompson) would rather him stay close by so they can resume their relationship after high school.

There's plenty of interesting concepts to explore here. After Risky Business' surprisingly poignant look at the privileges bestowed upon the upper class, All the Right Moves could have easily explored the same dynamic, but with Cruise as part of the lower middle class, instead. And it would have been fantastic to see Cruise effortlessly get into Yale in Risky Business as Joel while Stefan, arguably more worthy, struggles to guarantee the same future. But shame on me for expecting anything more from an 80s teen movie than simple plot lines and mediocre filming techniques that leave this movie feeling as humdrum as Stef's hometown.

Instead of actually exploring the issue of why Stef's hometown is so bad that everyone wants to leave and not doing so feels like a death sentence, the film merely introduces so interesting concepts (like his friend accidentally impregnating his girlfriend and Lisa being unable to get a scholarship because she doesn't play football) and then never addresses them again in favor of a silly dispute between Stef and his football coach. If it wasn't so uninteresting, it might even be aggravating at the loss of potential.

Although it is curious to think about how much was changed in the film as a result of some on-set drama. As Lea Thompson explains:

This is a funny story about how generous he was. They wanted me to show my breasts twice in the script. I didn’t even audition because I didn’t want to take my shirt off, but I got the part and was like, “OK.” Tom managed to talk them out of one of the [nude] scenes, and in the second, he said, “Well, if she has to be naked, I’ll be naked, too.” That’s pretty badass! I’ve always been grateful to him for standing up to the producers.

One of the subplots of this film centers around Stef and Lisa having sex for the first time, with Lisa being much more resistant to the idea. There is a nude scene as a result, but given that she was planned to be topless in another scene in the movie until Cruise stepped in, and there's not much information available about the filming of this movie, perhaps some changes to the script were made. And if this was the case, I worry that it might have made the film better, given the raunchy sense of humor at the start of the film.

Reportedly, Cruise and Thompson were put in high schools to get a feel for what it was like to be in high school again before filming. Cruise was recognized the first day, although, for what it's worth, he had only been out of high school for two years at that point. Also mildly interesting is that both Stef and Cruise were kicked off the football team, although Cruise's reason was much less dignified -- namely, he was caught drinking. However, his departure from the football team did lead him to further involvement with acting, so perhaps it was a happy incident for him, after all.

As far as performances go, this movie is ho-hum enough that Cruise doesn't have much to offer. Nobody has much to offer. The most memorable part aside from Cruise dancing poorly and saying, "Not bad for a white boy, huh?" is the fact that there is a frame in the film where you can see Cruise's penis if you look hard enough. I'll let you find that shot.

Rating: 2/5 - February 6, 2020