supernatural experience in which an individual interacts with a guardian spirit to obtain advice or protection. Of particular importance to indigenous North and South American peoples, these rituals varied from tribe to tribe. Generally vision quests required extensive preparation, occurred over a period of several days, and involved solitary vigils, prayer, and fasting; some cultures augmented the experience with hallucinogens and self-mortification. It was not unusual for vision quests to be integral parts of more elaborate rituals, such as the sun dance of the Plains Indians. Despite having been heavily discouraged and even outlawed by colonial governments in the 19th and 20th centuries, vision quests continued to be practiced by many indigenous peoples during the early 21st century.

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Vision Quest is a 1985 coming of age drama starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Ronny Cox. It is based on the novel of the same name by author Terry Davis. In some countries it was released as Crazy For You to market on Madonna's fame and the popularity of the song.

In the movie, Modine plays Spokane, Washington high school wrestler Louden Swain, who falls in love with Carla (Linda Fiorentino), an aspiring artist from Trenton, New Jersey, on her way to San Francisco.

The film includes an appearance by Madonna, her first in a major motion picture, playing a singer at a local bar/restaurant (filmed at the Big Foot Tavern on North Division in Spokane), where she performs the songs "Crazy for You" and "Gambler".

Plot

In this coming-of-age story, Louden Swain is a high school wrestler who has just turned eighteen and decided that he needs to do something truly meaningful in his life. Against the wishes of those around him, he embarks on a mission to drop two weight classes in order to challenge the toughest opponent, Brian Shute -- a menacing 3-time state champion from nearby rival Hoover High School, who has never been defeated in his high school career. In his zeal to drop from 190 pounds to 168 pounds, against the wishes of his coach and teammates, he disrupts the team around him and creates health problems of his own.

Meanwhile, his father has taken on a boarder named Carla. Though she is older, he begins to fall in love with her and begins to lose sight of his goals as a wrestler. Worse, his drastic weight loss culminates in an unhealthy situation in which he gets frequent nose bleeds due to a lack of iron in his diet (which costs him a match that he should have won). He and Carla finally admit their love for one another, but she realizes this is distracting him from his goals. She decides to move out and continue on to San Francisco, but not before seeing Louden's big match in which Swain defeats Shute in the final seconds with an over-under lateral drop.

Cast

• Matthew Modine as Louden Swain
• Linda Fiorentino as Carla
• Michael Schoeffling as Kuch
• Ronny Cox as Larry Swain
• Harold Sylvester as Gene Tanneran
• Daphne Zuniga as Margie Epstein
• Frank Jasper as Brian Shute
• Charles Hallahan as The Coach
• J.C. Quinn as Elmo
• R.H. Thomson as Kevin
• Gary Kasper as Otto Laft
• Raphael Sbarge as Schmoozler
• Forest Whitaker as Balldozer
• Roberts Blossom as Grandpa
• James Gammon as Kuch's father
• Madonna as Club singer

Reception

The film had average success in theaters in the United States earning around a total gross of $13,000,000. It has received a "fresh" rating of 64% at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has become somewhat of a cult classic among high school wrestlers for its various wrestling scenes, in particular Louden's extreme weight loss measures and workout regime.

Book

The movie was based on the novel of the same name by Terry Davis, filmed at Spokane's John R. Rogers High School (referred to as Thompson High School in the film). The school building has gone through major renovations since the filming, with the only recognized characteristic being the school's front entrance (Interior cafeteria scenes were filmed at Joel E. Ferris High School on Spokane's South Hill and some of the locker room scenes were filmed in the Shadle Park High School boys locker room).

Differences from the book

• Louden wrestles at 147, not 168.
• Thompson High School, which was used in the film, appears to relate more toward Spokane's North Central High School was actually based on Spokane's Shadle Park High School, North Central's rival school, where author Terry Davis graduated from (Shadle's team made a brief appearance as Sherman High School).
• In the book, Carla was living with Louden, but for longer than the movie version and was actually settled down with him, living in Spokane.
• Gary Shute was the actual name of the character in the book that Louden was going to wrestle (the book ends when their match begins). He was also from Evergreen High School; rather than Hoover High School (which appears in the movie to be based on Mead High School).
• In the book Otto Laft had a much larger role than in the movie.
• Elmo, the cook who works with Louden, was actually a black former boxer, and Gene Tanneran, Louden's English teacher, was white and going out with a cheerleader. In the movie, Tanneran is a black former basketball player, and Elmo is white.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the motion picture was released by Geffen Records on February 15, 1985. It was re-named Crazy For You in some countries such as Australia and the UK due to the popularity of pop singer Madonna and her song "Crazy For You".

Track listing

1. "Only The Young" - Journey
2. "Change" - John Waite
3. "Shout To The Top" - The Style Council
4. "Gambler" - Madonna
5. "She's On The Zoom" - Don Henley
6. "Hungry For Heaven" - Dio
7. "Lunatic Fringe" - Red Rider
8. "I'll Fall In Love Again" - Sammy Hagar
9. "Hot Blooded" - Foreigner
10. "Crazy for You" - Madonna

External links

• Vision Quest box office data, movie stars, and idle speculation