A high-school wrestler, hungry for a personal challenge, undertakes a debilitating training program to shave off twenty-two pounds and enable him to face the most feared wrestler in the state (who trains for his matches by running up and down the stadium bleachers with a log on his shoulders). The projected showdown gives the movie, like the hero, plenty of drive; and it moves along at a decent clip despite the draggy subplot about a tough chick from Trenton who gets stranded in Spokane on her way to San Francisco. The showdown itself is a bit of a disappointment in its failure to illustrate, or even to address, the hero's thesis that what matters is "balance, not strength or speed." Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Schoeffling, and Ronny Cox; directed by Harold Becker. (1985) — Duncan Shepherd
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