Spin (2003)

It really IS too bad that this film didn't get more publicity. I was an extra for this film (the funeral scene) and I must say how very professional and delightful the entire cast and crew were. I've been on many sets, and this one by far was the best! The days were LONG and COLD (filmed in Winter) but we got through it.I enjoyed watching the finished product and I'm sad that more people don't know about this film. Working with James "Jamie" Redford was awesome, and the day I was on set was Dana Delaney's birthday. We sang "Happy Birthday" and got cake...WOO HOO! Yeah, it's been a few years, but it's it never too late to see a touching coming-of-age movie. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! :-)

This is one coming-of-age film I really liked and respected. Most of them are not "my cup of tea." However, this one features nothing but likable characters, including the teens. Yeah, they're not perfect; they have a few "moments," but mostly Ryan Merriman ("Eddie") and Paula Garces ("Francesca") are good kids.The adults are even better, just wonderful people. Dana Dalaney ("Margaret") and Reuben Blades ("Ernesto") play a couple who adopts young "Eddie" who loses his parents in a small- plane accident. Stanley Tucci ("Frank") has a key role as a mentor of the boy, a guy who leaves Eddie when he's young but comes back and teaches the now-17-year-old how to fly.Language-wise, there as almost zero profanity for the first hour, but there were cases of it in the last third of the movie. The photography is nice in here, too, especially for a film, I suspect, was low budgeted.This little-known film should be better-known. It's a nice story. I really can't imagine anyone watching this film and not enjoying and respecting it.

Ryan Merriman was young Eddie Haley, whose parents die in a small plane crash as the movie begins. Stanley Tucci is Major Haley, a pilot and Eddie's uncle who travels most of the time. Dana Delany is Margaret, pretty Paula Garcés is Francesca who eventually becomes Eddie's girlfriend in high school. Rubén Blades is Ernesto the ranch hand who effectively becomes Eddie's father after Major Haley leaves.Dad leaves Eddie a note, written in blood on a handkerchief as he is about to die after his crash, "Don't let this stop you." Eddie grows up bitter, is a class clown, gets into trouble here and there, wasting his potential. He even spurns the gift of love and friendship that Francesca offers. But when Major Haley returns, and offers to teach Eddie to fly, Eddie becomes an eager pilot, using a makeshift airstrip on their Arizona ranch.Eddie eventually comes around, the theme of the movie is "family", it is what you make of it with the people around you.SPOILERS, FOR MY RECOLLECTION, PLEASE READ NO FURTHER. Francesca's father has become a drunkard after her mother died, doesn't treat Francesca very well, even thought she is a model student and works after school at a local burger joint. One night while her friends are all at the school dance, her dad makes advances, beats her up and, we deduct from later comments, rapes Francesca. She leaves and he kills himself with a gun. Francesca gets out of town, gets drunk, gets sick with high fever, Eddie takes the plane to go to her, finds her, brings her back by plane for a hospital, magneto acts up, spare is bad too, crash lands safely, Major Haley comes to him in jeep, gets Francesca to safety, profess love for each other, as Eddie plans to head for Air Force Academy and Francesca for college in Mexico.

"Spin" came as a total surprise. We had not heard about the movie before, so when it was shown on cable recently, we decided to watch it, something that paid off because it is basically an unpretentious look at a not too distant past. James Redford, is making his debut as a director showing he has an eye for detail.The story centers around Eddie. When we meet him, he is a young boy who has to deal with the premature death of his parents in a small plane crash. As a result, his only living relative is a distant uncle, a major in the Air Force, who practically abandons him to the caretaker couple that works for him in the Arizona ranch. Eddie's uncle, as well as his father, have a passion for flying that is transferred to the young man. A few years go by and next we see a teen aged Eddie who is not doing well in school. His friendship with the lovely Francesca develops into love, but fate intervenes in their lives.The film has a lovely finished look thanks to the cinematography of Paul Ryan who captured the rugged Arizona landscape in all its glory. The musical score is by Todd Boekelheide, which serves the film well. The performances are credible as Ryan Merriman makes us care for his Eddie. Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Ruben Blades and Paula Garces are the other performers.James Redford does a good job with his first directorial assignment.