Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino’s coming-of-age romance film called Vision Quest came out back in 1985. The film took inspiration from author Terry Davis’ 1979 novel of the same name, so let us take a dive into what this almost forty-year-old movie, Vision Quest, is about and all of the locations where it was filmed.
The movie is a love story between a high school wrestler, Louden Swain, played by Matthew Modine, and a budding artist who moved from New Jersey to San Franciso in hopes of making it big, Carla, played by Linda Fiorentino.
Their romance, though great, gets disrupted due to reasons that force the couple to part ways forever. If you wish to find out what the reasons could be, we suggest you check the movie out.
Carla is portrayed as an older love interest for the eighteen-year-old Louden, which adds another layer to their forbidden love. It did not take the movie all that long to take over the hearts of the viewers and become a cult classic. While the movie has a lot of wrestling scenes and an overall sports film vibe, it still finds its balance well between the themes of romance, dreams, and ambitions.
The movie also has actors Michael Schorffling and Ronny Cox in the movie, apart from the two main leads. Another surprise element in the movie is a scene shot at the town’s local bar, which features popular singer Madonna, who performed two soundtracks of the film Crazy for You and Gambler.
Though at the time Madonna was a rising star, her appearance in the song, Crazy for You, got so much love that in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia, the movie itself was promoted by the name Crazy for You in hopes of capitalizing on the singer’s fame and success.
Vision Quest’s Filming Locations
Spokane, Washington
The film came out in 1985, and the filming for the same took place in the fall of 1983 in the city of Spokane, Washington. This is also the place where the story of the two characters is actually set. Modine’s character of Louden is portrayed as a high schooler, and the school that he supposedly goes to is called ‘Thompson High School.’
The set for this was an actual high school called Rogers High School, located in Northeast Spokane. But surprisingly, this was not the only high school that the crew and the actors visited. The cafeteria scenes in the film were shot at another school called Ferris High School, located south of Spokane.
Scenes that involved the boy’s locker room were filmed in the actual boy’s locker room of another school called Shadle Park High School, located in Northwest Spokane. Singer Madonna, who also featured in the film for two songs that she sang at the local bar, was, in fact, filmed at the Big Foot Tavern located on North Division Street in Spokane.
Some more scenes of the film were shot in other parts of the city including The Onion Restaurant downtown and the North Central High School gym. The movie also had scenes of Louden’s wrestling matches, and one of the big match scenes in the film was shot at the gym of the Spokane Falls Community College.
The entire film wrapped up the shoot by using places and spots in and around the city of Spokane. Places like the Big Foot Pub & Eatery and Orchard Praire are actually places where both of our leads, Carla and Louden, had their dates.
The Ridpath Hotel is another location that the makers used, and if you remember well, then this was the place where Louden would run to after his training and practice to continue his part-time job at the hotel as a bellboy.
If you are a fan of the film and wish to relive the lives of the characters of the film, then you could easily pack your bags and find your way to Spokane. It should take you no more than a day or two to cover all of the locations of the film that we mentioned, that is, if they still continue to exist in the present time.
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