FANDANGO (1985) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Kevin Reynolds
Kevin Costner, Judd Nelson, Sam Robards,
Chuck Bush, Suzy Amis, Glenne Headly
A wild-assed, bittersweet road movie about five college buddies who duck out of their graduation party to take a final revealing journey together before the adult world catches up to them. The year is 1971. Vietnam looms over everything. One of the characters is an ROTC cadet about to go on active duty. Two others have just gotten their draft notices. One's a divinity student, and one's about to get married. This is their last waltz and they know it, two days of reckless whims, desperate joy and marathon beer drinking before they move on, their time together probably more or less over. It's a rambunctious celebration of youth, with a wistful underlying sense of its transitory nature, and an impressive early collaboration between Costner and Reynolds, who would team up later (with bigger budgets but not always better results) on "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and "Waterworld". Glenne Headly does an amusing bit as a woman who has an unusual problem getting her laundry done.
Glenne Headly
(1955-2017)
