Johnny Be Good

1988

1h 31m

IMDb RATING

4.5/10

142

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Comedy

It's recruiting time and despite being short and scrawny, Johnny Walker is America's hottest young football prospect. His dilemma: should he take one of the many offers from college talent scouts or should he attend the local state college with his girlfriend and give up his football career?

Directors

Bud S. Smith

Writers

David Obst(writer by)

Steve Zacharias(writer by)

Jeff Buhai(writer by)

Stars

Anthony Michael Hall

Robert Downey Jr.

Uma Thurman

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Photos21

Top cast

Johnny Walker

Leo Wiggins

Georgia Elkans

Wayne Hisler

Coach Ned Sanders

Connie Hisler

Wallace Gibson

Chief Elkans

Mrs. Walker

NCAA Investigator

Pizza Boy #1

Lou Landers

Tex Wade

Vinny Kroll

Bad Breath

Pete Andropolous

Himself

Himself

Directors

Bud S. Smith

Writers

David Obst(writer by)

Steve Zacharias(writer by)

Jeff Buhai(writer by)

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User reviews1

Review

Featured review

6/10

Uneven goofy teen comedy, but often fun and funny RELEASED IN 1988 and directed by Bud Smith, "Johnny Be Good" is a high school comedy starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Walker from central Texas, America's most wanted football prospect. Should Johnny take one of the tempting offers from scores of talent scouts or should he attend the local state college with his babe (Uma Thurman), giving up his football dream? Paul Gleason plays his dubiously motivated coach while Robert Downey Jr. is on hand as his amusing bud. If you remember Hall from “Sixteen Candles” (1984) and “The Breakfast Club” (1985) you might think he would be too geeky to play a quarterback stud, but he’s older here and more beefed up, not to mention 6’2”. He and Downey Jr. have great chemistry and the movie scores pretty well on the feminine front with Thurman in her debut, as well as Jennifer Tilly, Hayley Ladner (Juicy Dorfman) and some other peripherals. On the other side of the spectrum, Steve James is a stunning example of masculinity as the coach at the state college (too bad Steve died so young from cancer of unknown origin). Jim McMahon has a quality cameo. While there’s some semi-serious drama, the tone is often silly, but the movie’s kinetic and offers numerous laughs. Anyone who criticizes the film for being goofy might as well criticize water for being wet. Unfortunately the story’s awkwardly uneven and there are curious lulls. If the script were tightened up this could’ve been a hit in the 80’s teen comedy genre. Lastly, the flick features a fun rockin’ soundtrack with the likes of Judas Priest’s “Johnny B. Goode,” which plays over the end credits. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 31 minutes and was shot in the San Antonio area (Georgetown & Alamo Heights) and Texas Stadium, Irving (near Dallas). GRADE: C+

Wuchak03 Apr, 2018