Vision Quest

Cafe Society
1

I got the novel which the movie Vision Quest was based on. (Of the same title.) I had figured, before I even knew for sure that the movie was based on a book, that this was the case simply because there are a lot of things in the film (Louden’s dad’s job, his relationship with his grandfather, the character of Tanneran) which seemed novel-like and not fully fleshed out. As it turns out, there are significant differences in the book:

Carla is described as a petite woman with fair skin, freckles and red hair.

Louden admits to vague homosexual/bisexual leanings.

The guy in the film who tries to touch Louden’s cock in the hotel while teaching him Tai-Chi, is in the novel a recurring character who frequently has conversations with Louden while completely naked, and shows him gay porn in one scene (which Louden looks at out of “curiosity” and then later actually thinks about while having sex with Carla.)

The character of Kuch is totally different. Instead of having an abusive and drunken father, as he does in the film, the Kuch in the novel actually has a great relationship with his dad and does everything with him (race snowmobiles, motorcycles, etc.)

The character of Otto in the novel is one of Louden’s best friends and completely benevolent, whereas he is initially an antagonist in the film.

Elmo, the cook at the hotel, is implied to be black in the novel, whereas he is white in the film.

The relationship of Louden to his father and grandfather is far more complex in the novel - Louden is shown to be part of a large clan of very rugged Northwestern rural mountain folk, and his life outside of wrestling seems to primarily be spent in the pursuit of outdoor activities - fishing, camping, and observing wildlife. He also used to ride and work on motorcycles, something not alluded to in the film at all, and played football in addition to wrestling (also not alluded to in the film.)

In the film, his relationship with Carla is initially rocky and awkward and in fact he very nearly rapes her in one scene. In the book, she is far less of a self-sufficient and mature character and much more vulnerable - she is Louden’s girlfriend almost immediately after arriving at his house, with no antagonism between the two.

Has anyone else seen the film or read the novel, or both? What were your thoughts?

2

I really liked the film, haven’t read the book. I didn’t know until your post it was a book first - nice comparison, thanks. I haven’t seen it in over five years, but a few things stand out still.

  1. I think Journey’s song “Only the Young” worked great in this film. It’s always been “the Vision Quest song” for me, and is one of my favorite Journey songs because of it. Yeah I like Journey, what are you gonna do about it?

  2. I like the parts showing the training, but I enjoy watching others go through agony. Especially as I sit on my couch eating a chili dog combo from Sonic.

  3. Kuch scares the crap out of me. One of the most efffective “bad guys” I’ve seen. He’s not evil - just dedicated and talented, and he knows it.

3

Kuch wasn’t the bad guy, you’re thinking of Shute. Kuch was Louden’s best friend.

4

Oh yeah, also, after wrestling in high school, every time I see a supposedly “tough” training sequence in sports movies, I always think, “those guys have it easy.” Like in Miracle, when Brooks makes his team skate sprints from one end of the ice to the other, the whistle blowing over and over again, it’s obviously supposed to seem really brutal to the average audience member, but to me, that kind of shit was just the reality of what I had to go through for three hours every day after school for six months.

5

Oh yeah! I remembered his fans chanting his name and got the names confused.

“Shute! Shute! Shute!” Awesome.

6

One bump before I give up.

Come on, nobody else is a fan of this brilliant wrestling epic?

7

A fan here - I just stumbled across it about a week ago and got sucked in. Lindo Fiorentino, mmmmmm. And Modine has suck a quirky delivery that comes across as real. And Crazy for You is a great song - overall the soundtrack is chock full of 80’s goodness…

Didn’t know it was a book first and found the differences interesting…

8

Count me in as a fan of the movie. I was already a fan of Matthew Modine’s from the film Birdy, so I was interested in anything he did. We saw the movie in the theater and liked it right away, bought the video, then the DVD.

The differences from the book are shocking. I can’t imagine how a book fan who then went to see the movie must have felt. I kinda feel sorry for them, but I still liked the movie.

9

We always had to do blue line, back, red line, back, far blue line, back, goal line, back. The skating part is easy. It’s the constant stopping and changing direction 180 degrees that gets you tired.
Oh and in all fairness, the training probably looks a lot easier in “montage” format.

10

Yeah I played hockey too, I remember doing those. (Our coach wasn’t very brutal because this was youth league.) But we still had to do them. Yeah it was tiring.

But the scene I’m talking about in Miracle isn’t a montage, it just straight up shows them doing it over and over. (Which is more effective cinematically.) I was thinking, yeah that’s tough, but try doing it in a rubber-lined room with the heating system on and no water breaks, then I’ll really feel sorry for you. Looking back on it now, I can’t believe we weren’t allowed any water until the end of practice (3 hours.) All the other former wrestlers I mention that to act really surprised.

11

I meant Vision Quest had the montage (IIRC).