''Dreamer'' is a 1979 American sports film directed by Noel Nosseck, written by Larry Bischof and James Proctor, and starring

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated '' Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 19 ...

Susan Blakely Susan Blakely is an American actress and model. She is best known for her leading role in the 1976 ABC miniseries '' Rich Man, Poor Man'', for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Blakely also ha ...

and

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait' ...

. It was released theatrically on April 27, 1979, and was released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

through

Magnetic Video Magnetic Video Corporation was a home video/home audio duplication service that operated between 1968 and 1982. History Magnetic Video Corporation was established by the co-founder Andre Blay, an American film producer in 1968 with Leon Nichols ...

on home video.

Story

A young man dreams and struggles to become a championship bowler, knowing that determination and sacrifice must come first. Tim Matheson is the Dreamer in this story which many saw as heavily inspired by ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burges ...

''. "Dreamer" is a

ten-pin Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...

whiz in his small town of

Alton, Illinois Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is a p ...

, but wants to make it in the big time on the professional tour. Ultimately, he does, with the help of irascible manager Harry (

) and faithful girlfriend Karen (

). As if to underline the resemblances between ''Dreamer'' and its cinematic role model, the musical score is by ''Rockys

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

. Bowling legend

Dick Weber Richard Anthony Weber (December 23, 1929 – February 14, 2005) was a ten-pin bowling professional and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Along with Don Carter, Weber is widely regarded as professional bowling's fi ...

appears at the movie's beginning and end as Johnny Watkin.

Cast

as Harold "Dreamer" Nuttingham *

as Karen Lee *

as Harry White *

Richard B. Shull Richard Bruce Shull (February 24, 1929 – October 14, 1999) was an American character actor. Biography Early life Shull was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Zana Marie (née Brown), a court stenographer, and Ulysses Homer Shull, a manufa ...

as George Taylor * Barbara Stuart as Angie * Owen Bush as The Fan * John Crawford as Riverboat Captain * Marya Small as Elaine *

Matt Clark Matthew Clark is a United Kingdom-based drinks distributor. Matthew or Matt Clark may also refer to: *Mat Clark (born 1990), Canadian ice hockey defenceman *Matt Clark (actor) (born 1936), American actor and director *Matt Clark (baseball) (born 19 ...

as Spider *

Morgan Farley Francis Morgan Farley (October 3, 1898 – October 11, 1988) was an American actor on the stage and in films and television. Career His theatrical career began in 1918 in the stage adaptation of Booth Tarkington's '' Seventeen''. He recre ...

as Old Timer *

Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez (May 24, 1925 – February 6, 2006) was an American character actor best known for his appearances in a number of John Wayne movies. Life and career His father was a trumpet player, and his mother was a dancer. His brot ...

as Too * Speedy Zapata as Juan *

JoBe Cerny JoBe Cerny (born December 5, 1947), sometimes credited as Jo Be Cerny, is an American actor. He is best known as the current voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, succeeding Paul Frees and Jeff Bergman, and as Procter & Gamble's silent spokesman, The C ...

as Ralph Patterson *

Azizi Johari Azizi Johari is the pseudonym of an African American model and actress who featured as ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month in June 1975. Career Azizi Johari was born in New York on 24 August, 1948. After some years of wandering, due to ...

as Lady *

as Johnny Watkin *

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and ...

as Himself *

Nelson Burton Jr. Nelson "Bo" Burton Jr. (born June 5, 1942 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States) is a professional ten-pin bowler, PBA Hall of Famer, and former longtime analyst for the ''Professional Bowlers Tour'' on ABC Television. He is the son of Nelson Bu ...

as Color Man * Julian Byrd as Red Harper * Rita Ascot Boyd as Grandma

Production

Producer Mike Lobell felt there would be an audience for a film about ten pin bowling, considering the popularity of the sport. He raised finance from 20th Century Fox. Tim Matheson had not bowled since the age of 10 when he got the starring role. To prepare for his part he spent four to six hours a day for two weeks bowling with Dick Weber's son Rich and also studied videotapes of top bowlers such as

Mark Roth Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

Earl Anthony Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his car ...

and

Marshall Holman Marshall Holman (born September 29, 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and retired professional ten-pin bowler. He was known for his flamboyant, fiery demeanor and his success on the PBA Tour from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s. He i ...

. Principal photography took place in

and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

from July 31 to September 12, 1978. The picture's production budget was reported at $2.9 million plus $3.54 million for marketing.

Reception

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated, "I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie that was supposed to tell a story and managed to be as uneventful as 'Dreamer'."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "There could no doubt be a good movie made about bowling or about the human elements in any professional sport. But 'Dreamer' doesn't even try to do that. It just takes a routine old formula, one that could apply as well (or as badly) to any sport from soccer to wrestling, and plugs in bowling as the subject matter."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the '' Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' also awarded 1.5 stars out of 4 and called it "hopelessly predictable." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "Shamelessly attempting to be a 'Rocky' of the bowling world, 'Dreamer' is a preposterous, colorless down-home fantasy about a youth who makes the jump from unknown bushleaguer to national champion in three easy lessons." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' declared the film "a nice little movie" and "a pleasant piece of Midwestern Americana, refreshing in its lack of gratuitous sex and gore but also likely to be too mild for some tastes." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' called it "a pleasant, inconsequential sports melodrama."Arnold, Gary (May 22, 1979). "Fitful 'Dreamer'". ''

''. C7.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreamer (1979 Film) 1979 films Films set in Illinois Ten-pin bowling films Films scored by Bill Conti Films shot in Illinois 1970s sports drama films Films shot in Missouri 20th Century Fox films American sports drama films 1979 drama films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Noel Nosseck 1970s American films