Can 800 million Chinamen be wrong?

Title: Vision Quest (1985)

This movie was very memorable for me. My best friend in high school was a wrestler. Although his wrestling career was nowhere near as dramatic as Louden Swain's (Matthew Modine), I couldn't help but refer to this movie whenever I try to motivate my buddy to do something.

In any case, Vision Quest is less about wrestling as a sport and more so as a coming of age for a high school wrestler (Swain) achieving the goal to win a big tournament before graduating. His life was made a bit more complicated when a beautiful drifter moved in to rent a room as a boarder in his house. The sultry Carla was played by a then-relatively new comer and perenially beautiful, Linda Fiorentino, who eventually became the only support that Swain could come to. Of course, he fell in love with her along the way. Linda Fiorentino is also the linking actress from "After Hours."

The movie, just like many feel good 80s films that I'll likely be reviewing in this blog, culminated in a melodramatic showdown between Swain and his much-ballyhooed adversary. Cheezyness? Maybe. Swain won with a bleeding nose, if I recall correctly.

Additionally, many of you probably remember that this movie was being billed back then as Madonna's big screen debut. She had a cameo as a club singer performing her song, The Gambler, from the soundtrack.

The Vision Quest soundtrack is excellent by the way. Still holds up today. Crazy for You is still widely played. I've always liked I'll Fall In Love Again by Sammy Hagar. I might even have the original cassette tape that I bought way back when.