Fandango (1985) UMR Links
UMR Review of Fandango (1985)
Sadly, I was motivated to re-watch this one when I learned that one of my childhood friends (Craig Ricks) had succumbed to Co-Vid19. We had originally discovered this movie after being blown away by Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club and realizing that Judd was also in this little-known movie. In this one a group of five friends (The Groovers) go on one more round trip before their lives take them in different directions. Well, my group of five friends (The Brew Crew) really fell in love with this movie as we could easily associate ourselves with the characters in the movie.
In the movie, Kevin Costner plays the cool character, Judd Nelson plays the nerdy character, the son of Lauren Bacall and Jason Robards, Sam Robards, plays the groom to be, Chuck Borman plays the muscle and reader of the group and Brian Cesak plays a character who spends much of the movie passed out. Fandango takes place in 1971 in Texas and a trip to Vietnam is in most of their futures. There are numerous scenes that I have always appreciated. Those scenes include the opening credit scene, a train scene, a parachute scene and a very unusual wedding. Some of these scenes (picking up a bottle while driving and standing on the roof while driving with a belt to hold onto) were duplicated in real life by my group of friends. Are some scenes a little flat? Yes, they are, but overall, this is movie that most people generally enjoy, they just have to discover this movie.
Ok. so now back to my late buddy Craig. For years we argued who was the most like Costner’s character. He thought it was him, while I thought it was me. We could easily agree who our other three friends matched up with in the movie. That left the Robards and Costner characters for us to match up with. After re-watching this one today, I will finally agree that Craig was more like Costner than me. So, Craig, you were right, and I was wrong. I just wish I would still be able to tell you this. Rest in Peace.
This film is incredible! Poorly handled by Warner Bros. when in fact they had a jump start On Costner’s career and a certified hit on their hands. Too bad no one in their organization had the guts to tell Spielberg he was wrong about the film and too bad no one in the company watched it. It resonates with beauty, sadness and comedy filled with an array of characters that easily connected with and hard to forget. Perfect ending to a perfect film. It suffered the same fate as “Static”. As a film booker/buyer, this is the politics of frustration when you are seeing quality product not making it to the marketplace.
Hey Rivoli Palace. Great review and thoughts on Fandango. I agree with you 100%. Good to know I am not alone, when it comes to Fandango. Thanks for stopping by.