All the Right Moves is a 1983 American sports drama film directed by Michael Chapman, and starring Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson, Chris Penn and Gary Graham. It was filmed on location in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh.
Plot
Stefen "Stef" Djordjevic is a Serbian American high school defensive back who is gifted in sports and is a B student academically. He is seeking a college football scholarship to escape the economically depressed small Western Pennsylvania town of Ampipe and a dead-end job and life working at the mill, just like his grandfather, father, and his brother Greg. He dreams of becoming an electrical engineer right after he graduates from college. Ampipe is a company town whose economy is dominated by the town's main employer, American Pipe & Steel, a steel mill struggling through the downturn of the early 1980s recession. Stef gets through his days with the love of his girlfriend, Lisa Lietzke, and his strong bond with his teammates.
In the big football game against the undefeated Walnut Heights High School, Ampipe appears headed to win the game, when a fumbled handoff in the closing seconds, along with Stefen's pass interference penalty earlier in the game, lead to Walnut Heights' victory. Following the game, Coach Vern Nickerson lambastes the fumbler in the locker room, telling him he "quit" the game. When Stefen retorts that the coach himself quit, the coach kicks him off the team.
In the aftermath, disgruntled Ampipe fans vandalize Coach Nickerson's house and yard. Stefen is present and is a reluctant participant, but is nonetheless spotted by Nickerson as the vandals flee. From there, Stefen deals with personal battles, including dealing with the coach blackballing him among colleges because of his attitude and participation in the vandalism. Stefen gets in an argument with Lisa, and his best friend Brian declines a scholarship offer to USC and plans to marry his pregnant girlfriend.
Frustrated by what Nickerson did, Stefen angrily confronts his former coach which ends in a shouting match out in the street. Lisa decides to talk to Nickerson's wife to try to help. Nickerson realizes he was wrong for blackballing Stefen. He has accepted a coaching position on the West Coast at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and offers Stefen a full scholarship to play football there, which he accepts.
Cast
Tom Cruise as Stefen Djordjevic
Craig T. Nelson as Coach Vern Nickerson
Lea Thompson as Lisa Lietzke
Charles Cioffi as Pop
Gary Graham as Greg Djordjevic
Paul Carafotes as Vinnie Salvucci
Chris Penn as Brian Riley
Leon as Austin "Shadow" Williams
Sandy Faison as Suzie Nickerson
James A. Baffico as Bosko
Mel Winkler as Jess Covington
Terry O'Quinn as Freeman Smith
Production
The film was produced by Stephen Deutsch, with Phillip Goldfarb as co-producer. Gary Morton of Lucille Ball Productions was executive producer. The production was filmed over seven weeks in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the early spring The recently closed sixty-year-old high school (), the former campus of Greater Johnstown High School, was used as the location of the film, along with Actress Thompson was inserted as a new student at Ferndale Area High School for three days prior to Cruise was similarly inserted into Greater Johnstown High School, but was recognized immediately. (His only notable film part at the time was in Taps in 1981; The Outsiders and Risky Business were yet to be released.)
In 2018, Thompson stated she initially did not want the part, as the script required her to participate in two nude scenes, but Cruise persuaded the producers to drop one of the scenes and was naked with her in the remaining scene.
Reception
The film was released to mixed reviews. It has a score of 63% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "All the Right Moves is an uncommonly grim coming-of-age drama that overcomes numerous clichés with its realistic approach to its characters and setting." On Metacritic, it has a score of 62 out of 100 based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".