Take Down (1979 film)

Last updated

Take Down
TakeDown(Film)1979MoviePoster.jpg
Directed by Kieth Merrill
Written byEric Hendershot
Kieth Merrill
Produced by Kieth Merrill
David B. Johnston
Starring Edward Herrmann
Lorenzo Lamas
Maureen McCormick
Kathleen Lloyd
Maxx Payne
Stephen Furst
Cinematography Reed Smoot
Edited by Peter Teschner
Music by Merrill Jenson
Production
company
American Film Consortium
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • January 1979 (1979-01)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.5 million [1]
Box office$2 million [2]

Take Down is a 1979 American comedy-drama sports film directed by Kieth Merrill and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company. The plot concerns an unqualified teacher who finds himself saddled with coaching duties after a small group of high school seniors form a wrestling team in a last-ditch effort to end a 9-year losing streak against a rival school.

Contents

Plot

Ed Branish, a snooty English teacher who finds his situation at Mingo Junction High School far beneath him and barely tolerable, flaunts his air of superiority over all, including his supportive wife, by frequently spouting platitudes from literary masters to validate his often contemptuous viewpoint. Even his wife is starting to show signs of getting fed up with his narcissism.

His habit of having as little to do with his school as possible finally gets the better of him when his light schedule makes him the only staff member available to supervise the newly formed wrestling team. Cornered, he lashes out at the first student to cross his path – Nick Kilvitus, a reserved 185 lbs. senior who's embarrassed by his near-poverty social status and who's also missed a lot of classes lately. No one realizes Nick's been filling in for his alcoholic father at a steel mill hauling I-beams when his dad's too drunk or hung over to show up (which is all too often), and which also keeps Nick busy at night fishing his embittered father out of bars – to be carried home across town because they don't have a working car.

Nick hopes he can make up the missed school work in Ed's class to graduate in Spring but instead gets a tongue-lashing on how he should be held back as an example of the consequences of laziness and irresponsibility. In turn, Nick calls Ed an "Egotistical snob" telling him that he is more interested in proving how book smart he is instead of teaching and as a result he is clueless when it comes to the real world and its everyday problems. Fortunately, because of the wrestling team, both will cross paths again and discover they each have much more to them than what they were previously aware.

Cast

Production

Take Down was filmed primarily in Utah, at the old American Fork High School campus prior to its being demolished and rebuilt. Scenes at other schools include a wrestling match shot at Murray High School in Murray, Utah. It was also filmed in Orem. [1]

The movie was the first film produced by the American Film Consortium and had a budget of $2 million. [1] Buena Vista Distribution Company acquired it for distribution, their first non-Disney release since Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! in 1969. [2] [3] This was the first film with a PG rating released by Disney, [2] five years before they launched Touchstone Pictures to expand into the "adult" market.

Release

Take Down was initially released January 1979 in the Salt Lake City area by American Film. [2] Disney then bought the film rights and released it March 2, 1979 in Northern and Southern California, the Carolinas and the Midwest and grossed $2 million, which was not in line with Disney's expectations. [2] [1] Taft International Pictures later acquired the film. [1]

Home media

The film was released on VHS by Unicorn Video in the 1980s.

Related Research Articles

Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Touchstone Pictures</span> American film label of Walt Disney Studios

Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featured more mature themes targeted towards adult audiences than typical Walt Disney Pictures films. As such, Touchstone was merely a brand of the studio and did not exist as a distinct business operation.

<i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest</i> 2006 fantasy film directed by Gore Verbinski

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006 American fantasy swashbuckler film. It is the second installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). It was directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. In the film, the wedding of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann is interrupted by Lord Cutler Beckett, who wants Turner to acquire the compass of Captain Jack Sparrow in a bid to find the Dead Man's Chest. Meanwhile, Sparrow discovers his debt to Davy Jones is due.

<i>Honey, I Shrunk the Kids</i> 1989 film

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 American comic science fiction film. It is the first installment of a film franchise and served as the directorial debut of Joe Johnston. The film stars Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Marcia Strassman, and Kristine Sutherland. In the film, a struggling inventor accidentally shrinks his kids, along with the neighbors' kids, down to the size of a quarter-inch. After being accidentally thrown out with the trash, they must work together and venture their way back through a backyard wilderness filled with dangerous insects and man-made hazards.

The Walt Disney Studios is an American film and entertainment studio, and is the Studios Content segment of the Walt Disney Company. Based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, the studio is best known for its multifaceted film divisions. Founded in 1923, it is the fourth-oldest and one of the "Big Five" major film studios.

Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording arm of Disney Platform Distribution, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The division's subsidiaries consist of two owned record labels—Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records—along with Disney Music Publishing, the publishing entity that administers the company's music, as well as Disney Concerts.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios; the Searchlight Pictures label operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit.

<i>Recess: Schools Out</i> 2001 animated Disney film directed by Chuck Sheetz

Recess: School's Out is a 2001 American animated comedy adventure film based on the Disney television series Recess, and features the voices of Andrew Lawrence, Rickey D'Shon Collins, Jason Davis, Ashley Johnson, Courtland Mead, Pamela Adlon, Dabney Coleman, Melissa Joan Hart, April Winchell, and James Woods.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 2005 fantasy film by Andrew Adamson

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

<i>Freaky Friday</i> (2003 film) 2003 film by Mark Waters

Freaky Friday is a 2003 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, based on Mary Rodgers's 1972 novel of the same name. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter, respectively, whose bodies are switched by a mysterious and magical Chinese fortune cookie.

<i>The Boatniks</i> 1970 film

The Boatniks is a 1970 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar and starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers, Don Ameche and Phil Silvers. It was made by Walt Disney Productions, released by Buena Vista Distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment</span> The Walt Disney Companys home entertainment subsidiary

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, and other audiovisual content across several home media formats, such as Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and digital media, under various brand labels around the world.

<i>Gus</i> (1976 film) 1976 film by Vincent McEveety

Gus is a 1976 American sports comedy film released by Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution, directed by Vincent McEveety and starring Ed Asner, Don Knotts and Gary Grimes. Its center character is Gus, a football-playing mule. The film did well at the box office and was released on home video in 1981.

<i>Wild Hogs</i> 2007 film by Walt Becker

Wild Hogs is a 2007 American biker road comedy film directed by Walt Becker and starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. It was released nationwide in the United States and Canada on March 2, 2007. It was the last film by Tollin/Robbins Productions.

Disney Platform Distribution, Inc. is a business unit within Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) that manages all third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate marketing and affiliate-related business operations for all of the company's direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks; content sales agreements for General Entertainment, Studios and Sports; as well as global theatrical film distribution; management of the El Capitan Theatre and the Disney Music Group.

<i>The Game Plan</i> (film) 2007 film by Andy Fickman

The Game Plan is a 2007 American sports family comedy film directed by Andy Fickman and with a screenplay by Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price from a story by Millard, Price and Audrey Wells. The film stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the lead role, Madison Pettis and Kyra Sedgwick. It follows a professional quarterback who finds out he has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buena Vista (brand)</span> Brand name historically used for divisions of the Walt Disney Company

Buena Vista is a brand name that was historically often used for divisions and subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company, whose primary studios, the Walt Disney Studios, are located on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, California. The studio lot is also home to the company's corporate headquarters, the Team Disney Burbank building. The logos for the various Buena Vista brands featured the "Buena Vista" wordmark superimposed over the Disney castle logo to signal the affiliation between Buena Vista and Disney.

Disneynature is an independent film studio that specializes in the production of nature documentary films for The Walt Disney Studios. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008, and is headquartered in Paris, France.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Take Down at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Buena Vista To Continue Pic Pickups Despite 'Take Down'". Daily Variety . 17 May 1979. p. 4.
  3. ↑ "Disney plans show for 'older' viewers". 28 July 1980. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.