Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)

I lived near Pontiac IL for 12 years and after seeing the movie and recognizing places I went when I was growing up it was special.One question though if anyone knows Was the main house in the movie the funeral home in town? My brothers and I have wondered that for a long time. If anyone has an answer to that email me at [email protected], also does anyone know if any scenes were done in Saunemin IL. thats where I lived and went to school thru 7th grade, my parents worked in Pontiac at the chair factory, then my mom worked at the hospital and my dad worked at the prison.We always thought that the track was near Fairbury but I guess not is there any place where this movie can be rented I have check Block Buster and they don't have it i think its one of those hard to find movies. thanks a bunch Dolores Ogden

In first watching Grandview, USA, you might be puzzled by the scattered storytelling. Simply put, the movie concerns a few small town Illinois residents, but each with their own assorted, and somewhat separate, small town struggles. C Thomas Howell, at least in the trailers, is made to look like the main character of the story, the teenager just aching to break free of the provincial setting. But in fact, his story is neither anything important, nor anything dominant. Jamie Lee Curtis is Mike Cody, a speedway owner who is fighting to hold on to her property. Since her father, the man who built the speedway died, the city commissioner had been dying to get their hands on it. And, Patrick Swayze plays "Slam the Ram," a rather cumbersome character who plays a speedway driver on Cody's lot who is dealing with his sleazy wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) cheating on him. No story is really fully developed. No situation really seeks to grab the audiences' attention. Everything just seems to be a subplot. The entire story is, as said before, simply scattered and without focus.Jamie Lee Curis and Patrick Swayze, however, are no less entertaining despite this. If only they had developed their characters and story enough, you might have had quite an enjoyable little film. For me, it was still an entertaining film, so long as you don't mind obscure movies and you're in the mood for something different. C Thomas Howell's teenage angst can be kind of annoying at points, especially the music video daydream sequence with the 'Steele Man of Action' bit. But, 80s fans might be lured by the cast. Look for John Philbin (as one of the speedway employees), John Cusack and Joan Cusack (as C Thomas Howell's friends) in minor parts. It wasn't great, but still worth a viewing if you can find it.

OK I must say that this movie isn't the greatest, but hey it was the 80s. This movie is special to me because it was filmed in my home town of Pontiac,IL. I was a little kid when they were filming it and I got to meet Jamie Lee. it was awesome. In Pontiac,IL not much goes on, so you can only imagine how fun it was to have a movie with real stars being made there! The place where they had the race track, was where I played Pony League. They used my high school, and many other parts of the town that I have been to. It's fun to watch this and look out for stuff that's there, not there and see some of my friends in little pieces of the film. So if you are from or have ever been to Pontiac,IL I suggest you watch this film!!

Set in a small town in the mid-west,"Grandview USA" is neither the best nor the worst of the films to come along in the wake of "American Graffiti".Nothing much really happens,but C. Thomas Howell's recurrent music video fantasies are entertaining,and the snippets of small-town America during the opening credits are fun.The little kid who's sharing her ice-cream cone with her dog was my favorite.A pleasant,unoffensive,little film.