American Anthem is a 1986 American sports drama film directed by Albert Magnoli, starring Mitch Gaylord and Janet Jones. The film was produced by Lorimar Motion Pictures and released in North America by Columbia Pictures. Gaylord was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Contents
Plot
Steve Tevere, a football player turned gymnast, seeks to join the United States Olympic gymnastics team.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on CD, LP and cassette by Atlantic Records. The album contains songs by various artists, including two themes from the film, composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri.
Two Hearts - John Parr (6:07)
Run to Her - Mr. Mister (3:34)
Same Direction - INXS (5:08)
Battle of the Dragon - Stevie Nicks (5:15)
Wings to Fly - Graham Nash (4:00)
Take It Easy - Andy Taylor (4:22)
Wings of Love - Andy Taylor (5:03)
Love and Loneliness - Chris Thompson (5:03)
Angel Eyes - Andy Taylor (3:26)
Arthur's Theme - Alan Silvestri (2:50)
Julie's Theme - Alan Silvestri (1:42)
Reception
The film was a box office flop, grossing only $4.8 million against a $7 million budget.
The film received aggressively negative reviews by critics, especially from famed critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert; with the latter saying the film was "as bad as any movie I've seen [in 1986], and so inept that not even the gymnastics scenes are interesting" and the former calling the film "complete junk; you can see more interesting gymnastics on Wide World of Sports than in this garbage". Ebert opened his print review by writing: "American Anthem" is like a very bad Identikit sketch of Purple Rain the previous movie by the same director. You can almost hear the police artist as he tries to make his drawing, based on half-witted descriptions of the big hit from the summer of 1984:
Q. Who is the star?
A. A major superstar in another field who has never acted before.
Q. What is his personal crisis?
A. He has an unhappy homelife and a father who mistreats him.
Q. What is the suspense?
A. Will he conquer his inner demons and perform once again at the peak of his ability?
Q. Who is his girlfriend?
A. A future star in his field whose excellence inspires him to start trying again.
Q. What's the movie's visual style?
A. Kind of a cross between a concert film and an MTV video. Be sure to overedit. And put in lots of shots where the camera peers into the light source, so the heroic youth can be seen in silhouette as he tosses back his head and sweat flies through the air.
Accolades
Gaylord's performance in the film earned him a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star, where he lost to "the six guys and gals in the duck suit" from Howard the Duck at the 7th Golden Raspberry Awards.