All the Right Moves

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Vincent S @Vin_E_At_The_Movies Aug 6 A surprisingly frank, honest high school drama with another early, grounded Tom Cruise performance. Craig T. Nelson is also outstanding. This is compelling and a great football story and look at becoming mature and responsible as college and adulthood is coming fast. It is entertaining too. See more CodyZamboni Z @CodyZamboni Jan 14 Solid character drama, featuring a cocky high school footplayer, hoping to broker his talent to get a full ride at a top engineering college, And to escape a dying steel town, Then butts heads with football coach who can torpedo his dreams, Simple story, well acted, shot on location that brings authenticity to the action, The expert photography done by by future action director Jan de Bont, Only drawback is a terrible theme song, See more Jeffrey M @hestitateandlose Oct 8 I was 16 when this came out, and it hit like a blitz on third-and-short. Set in a gritty steel-town where Friday nights are church and the field is the altar, All the Right Moves nails how high school football can feel both small and enormous at the same time—life-defining for kids and community alike. Tom Cruise is pure kinetic energy as Stefen Djordjevic—amped, hungry, manic, and not yet the brand we’d all come to recognize. Chris Penn brings a surprising, lived-in authenticity, the kind of teammate you recognize from your own locker room. The fact they were going to send him to USC and not Penn State still bugs me as a stupid left coast idiot writing mistake. At least make it Notre Dame, Pitt, West Virginia, Temple, even Lehigh. And Cruise to "Cal Poly?" When would a Cal Poly recruiter come this far east for a slow white cornerback? Lehigh, Rutgers, Kent State or UConn for him. Lea Thompson is the best choice for the role (could have taken Diane Lane but she might have been a little older) without being a cliché; she grounds the story with warmth and a quiet backbone. And Craig T. Nelson—perfectly cast—plays the coach as a man caught between pride, pressure, and the shrinking promises of a blue-collar town. What sticks isn’t just the football (though the mud, cold, and collisions feel right). It’s the moment in life the movie captures: that razor-thin age when one decision—smart, dumb, or just lucky—can bend your future for years. The film doesn’t romanticize the mill or the scoreboard; it respects how heavy those choices feel when you’re 17 and the adults aren’t exactly winning either. Rewatching it now, it still plays honest. The stakes are clear, the performances are memorable and un-fussy, and the town feels like places we grew up in—tight-knit, stubborn, proud. No shiny filters, no pep-talk fairy dust. Just kids, a coach, and a community trying to make the next right move. See more Monsieur P @RT10730471 05/24/2025 This movie is fine for a 1983 movie about the obstacles of a no name town with no opportunities, as depicted from a highschool Sr. I'm surprised the ratings are so low. I had a lot of friends from the Midwest in the military and they described their life as so. I also remember all the "babies having babies" talk show themes in the 90s so this movie was ahead of the curb. Strong performances by the leads and an entertaining movie. See more Jelisije J @jjosifovic 02/11/2025 This is an excellent sports movie abou a small town team of high school kids that are feeling the pressure every single day to make something of their lives and try to be better off then their parents in a small town. They must make all the right moves in order to make it. See more Dave P @WaveDave 12/06/2024 Hadn’t seen it for a while, but it came across the TV this afternoon. Great coming of age movie. I had a similar experience in school myself so maybe it hits home, but it’s well paced and lots of life lessons. Tom was just starting to show his acting chops. I have never been one to worry about actor’s personal lives so Tom remains one of my favourite actors. I always believe he’s the character and not Tom Cruise. See more Read all reviews

All the Right Moves

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