Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) Warner Bros./Comedy-Drama RT: 97 minutes Rated R (language, violence, nudity, sexual content, alcohol abuse) Director: Randal Kleiser Screenplay: Ken Hixon Music: Thomas Newman Cinematography: Reynaldo Villalobos Release date: August 3, 1984 (US) Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Troy Donahue, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Windom, Carole Cook, M. Emmett Walsh, Ramon Bieri, Elizabeth Gorcey, John Philbin, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Camilla Hawke, Melissa Domke, Michael Winslow. Box Office: $4.7M (US)
Rating: ****
Sometimes a movie comes along that’s so good you can’t believe nobody’s heard of it. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration; I’m sure there are a select few that saw Grandview, U.S.A., a coming-of-age story directed by Randal Kleiser (Grease). It opened at number eight in August ’84 against box office juggernauts Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid and Purple Rain. It carried an R rating making it off limits to most of its core audience (i.e. teenagers). As you can see, it was destined to get lost in the summer movie shuffle.
C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) plays Tim Pearson, an 18YO from a small town in Illinois. He’s about to graduate high school (as valedictorian) and like all teens in his position, he’s confused about what’s next. He wants to go to Florida and study oceanography. His father (Bieri, Ghosts of Mississippi) wants him to attend state university so he can take over his real estate business someday.
There’s already plenty of friction between the two Pearson men when Tim exacerbates it by sinking his father’s brand new Cadillac in a stream while making out with his girlfriend (Gorcey, Footloose). Covered in mud, the couple walks to the nearest business, demolition derby track Cody’s Speedway, to arrange for a tow truck. The owner Mike Cody (Curtis, Trading Places) is willing to help Tim until she learns who his father is. She sends one of the drivers, Slam Webster (Swayze, Road House), to tow the ruined car out of the mud.
What’s the deal with Mike and Tim’s dad? He wants to buy the Speedway and tear it down to make room for a housing development. She’s not willing to sell so he arranges for her to be slapped with a long list of safety violations and only 30 days to fix them all or else the county commission will shut her down and sell the property to Mr. Pearson. When Tim finds out what his father has planned, he blows the whistle on him at a commission meeting.
Slam has his own set of problems; namely, his cheating wife Candy (Leigh, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), a bottled-blonde bimbo flaunting her affair with Donny, a “leisure-suited, Coppertone-tanned” jerk played to sleazy perfection by former teen idol Troy Donahue (A Summer Place). Not only does she make a cuckold of him, she has him barred from entering his own home after he angrily attacks the car they’re sitting in.
Meanwhile, a grateful Mike invites Tim to come home with her after he decides not to return home in light of what his father tried to do. One thing leads to another and they end up sleeping together. Isn’t it every teenage boy’s dream to do it with an older, more experienced woman? YES, especially one as hot as Jamie Lee Curtis. Slam, who’s been in love with Mike since they were teens, doesn’t take it well when he finds out. Incidentally, this aspect of Grandview, U.S.A. isn’t presented in the same exploitative manner as Private Lessons and My Tutor. Why would it be? It’s not that kind of movie. It’s handled with surprising restraint and taste.
Kleiser takes a standard genre and tweaks it just enough to make it relatable for the MTV generation. A couple of dream sequences play out like music videos in which Tim expresses angst (“Steely Man” by Frank Musker) and frustration over feeling trapped (“Der Kommissar” by After the Fire). Howell creates a plausible character in Tim Pearson, a kid trying to find his own path in life, one not chosen for him by his controlling, overbearing father. Granted, not every teen boy has the good fortune to make it with a hot older woman or drive in a demolition derby, but Howell’s a good enough actor to build a believable character amidst unbelievable scenarios. In addition, he’s the right age for the role. Kudos to the makers for NOT casting 20-somethings as teenagers.
Grandview U.S.A. features a talented cast, all of whom deliver fine performances. Curtis proves definitively that her range extends well beyond the slasher genre that first brought her to the attention of moviegoers. She showed her comedy chops the previous year with Trading Places in which she more than held her own alongside stars Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. With Grandview, U.S.A., she shows she’s a fine dramatic actress as well. Her character Mike is a combination of tough and kind-hearted. The latter is seen in her relationship with Cowboy (Philbin, The New Kids), the mentally challenged son of her employee Betty (Cook, Sixteen Candles). She’s damn sexy too. She co-stars in one of Tim’s “dreams”. WOW! Swayze does solid work as Slam, a man ultimately pushed too far by his wife and lover. The scene where he takes a bulldozer to his house is AWESOME! BTW, he and Howell previously worked together in The Outsiders and co-starred in Red Dawn (the first PG-13 movie!) released the following week. They work well together. Leigh, in her first adult role, is convincing as the trampy, adulterous wife. Donahue hams it up nicely as the slick/sleazy lover replete with gold chains around his neck.
Although Grandview, U.S.A. has comedic elements (like the small role played by Police Academy sound effects guy Michael Winslow), it’s more of a drama and works very well on that level. Take Tim’s relationship with his father. They argue a great deal over their differing notions of Tim’s future. His dad wants him to pursue a practical goal while the boy wants to chase his dream of becoming an oceanographer. For his part, Tim wants to get out of Grandview and experience the world outside his small hometown.
Kleiser does a fine job in territory familiar to him. The situations, for the most part, aren’t wholly original, but they make for compelling drama nonetheless. One of the things I like most about Grandview, U.S.A. is the opening montage of the small town residents doing small town things. It’s a great albeit cliched way to establish place. Today, this depiction of small town life seems almost quaint. The movie even ends with a parade celebrating some unknown thing. This is Americana as it used to be, folks.
