American Anthem (1986)

Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

Best movie of this year hands down!

Blistering performances.

Yes she was mostly likable and she is pleasant to look at but the movie is just awful. It seems like one mission of this was to promote her for future work, I don't think it worked even though she seems more than capable. We have seen the small town hero have to go back and work before, this 1986 update to the theme was unnecessary from a movie watchers point of view. It timely exploited the seemingly great guy Gaylord as an American hero, which is certainly is/was. As a high school gymnast I was excited to see it but other than the gymnastics this film is pitiful. The filming/editing of the gymnastics was very good. Watch for the gymnastics but expect nothing else.

where do I begin? The plot that is non existent,Characters you don't understand,nor relate too cause there's no depth to them,or the fact that nobody really care about gymnastics. I seem to recall they tried a couple of these unorthodox movies like these in the 80s,without much luck. One had a rowing theme starring Rob Lowe,another one had a wrestling theme, starring Matthew Modine.I think they both sort of failed to be the impact they were suppose to be. Don't get me wrong all these sports are probably important for those who compete in them,but the theme don't really do well on film. Unlike boxing or Karate,which both were big themes through the 80s.I get the feeling there's a lot,that ended up on the cutting room floor,cause the storyline moves way to fast. At one moment, the female lead have an argument with her friend over being late for a workout session. Then suddenly there's bad blood between them for the remainder of the movie? c'mon you gotta build it on something more than that. The new girl in town falls in love(OFC) with the first guy she meet(who just happens to be the the outcast),after barely speaking 3 words to him. I can believe in love at first sight in movies by all means. But if you wanna have a storyline above porn standard,it is wise to leave the scenes where "Romeo and Juliet" of the movie, get to know each other over a period of time. HEre she goes for a drive with him,than he ask if she as a boyfriend,when she says no,He just ask if she wants one? And then their together. It seem like they have tried to gather as many 80s clichés as possible,throw them into a blender in hope of making a big script with IT DIDN'T WORK

Now I know why the logo for Lorimar Motion Pictures had a direct shot of the sun shining right into your eyes - to blind you so you wouldn't be able to see movies like "American Anthem." I saw this movie on video first, and later at a drive-in under its overseas title "Take It Easy" (named after one of the songs by Andy Taylor - yes, the one from Duran Duran - that clogs up this movie) as the supporting feature to "Dirty Dancing." Swayze blew away Gaylord then as he has now (hey, how many movies has Mitch done since then? Thank you).From the director of another bad movie starring someone with no business acting ("Purple Rain"), this was a very poor time at the flicks. I can still remember the boring scenes, the undramatic gymnastic moments (except for the one where our hero went too fast on the parallel bars, flew off and crashed - but sadly lived to twirl another day), and I can still remember Janet Jones as our hero's girlfriend dancing to synth soft rock instead of the usual stuff. Actually, Janet's hard body and Alan Silvestri's score (which Mike Clark from 'USA TODAY' dismissed at the time as the kind of stuff associated with political campaign ads - but let's face it, what do most movie critics know about movie music?) were the only good things about the movie - I got the soundtrack album hoping that there'd be some of it, and was not happy to find none of the orchestral stuff there; he only had two synth cuts in amongst the likes of John Parr (did this man ever record anything NOT for a movie?), the aforementioned Andy Taylor and Graham Nash. In other words, like the movie, it sucked apart from him.Lorimar should've stuck with "Dallas" and "The Waltons."

There's really not much better than the high concept films of the '80s, and this one has it all. Ever notice how in these films, everyone in the ENTIRE TOWN seems centered around whatever miraculous achievement the star is involved in?In this case, it's a whole group of friends, a whole family and a WHOLE TOWN focused on gymnastics! This movie made me want to rush out and become a gymnast, though I think that may be tempered by the fact that my teeny-bopper mind wanted to fall into the awaiting arms of Mitch Gaylord.Granted, Mystic Pizza made me want to work in a restaurant and North Shore made me want to...uh...go to Hawaii and make fun of people, but as a film rooted in its conception of gymnasts, nothing's better than the would-be star who fails and fails until he finally gets it right.Hoo-yeah.