''Take Down'' is a 1979 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

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 Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

team in a last-ditch effort to end a nine-year losing streak against a rival school.

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

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. Nick is kept busy at night fishing his embittered father out of bars and carried home across town, since 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 that 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 previously knew.

Cast

* Edward Herrmann as Ed Branish * Kathleen Lloyd as Jill Branish * Lorenzo Lamas as Nick Kilvitus * Maureen McCormick as Brooke Cooper *

Maxx Payne Darryl Peterson (born October 3, 1961) is an American musician, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling as Maxx Payne, and in the World Wrestling Federation as Man Mountain Rock. ...

as Ted Yacabobich * Stephen Furst as Randy Jensen * Toney Smith as Chauncey Washington * Salvador Feliciano as Tom Palumbo * Boyd Silversmith as Jack Gross * Nicolas Beauvy as Jimmy Kier * Kevin Hooks as Jasper MacGrudder * Scott Burgi as Robert Stankovich * Lynn Baird as "Doc" Talada * Ron Bartholomew as Warren Overpeck * Vincent Roberts as Bobby Cooper * David M. Thorne as Hood #2 * Ray Perry as The Masked Wrestler

Production

''Take Down'' was filmed primarily at the old American Fork High School in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, prior to the school's demolition and rebuilding. Scenes at other schools include a

match shot at Murray High School in Murray, Utah. It was also filmed in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Utah, Provo, Lindon, Utah, Lindon, and Vineyard, Utah, Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the pri ...

. The movie was the first film produced by the American Film Consortium and had a budget of $2 million. 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. This was the first film with a PG rating released by Disney, five years before they launched

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures was an American film distribution 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 ...

to expand into the "adult" market.

Release

''Take Down'' was initially released January 1979 in the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

area by American Film. Disney then bought the film rights and released it March 2, 1979 in Northern and Southern California, the

Carolinas The Carolinas, also known simply as Carolina, are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the southwes ...

and the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and grossed $2 million, which was not in line with Disney's expectations. Taft International Pictures later acquired the film.

Home media

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

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0078358, Take Down 1979 films 1979 independent films 1970s sports comedy-drama films Sport wrestling films Films directed by Kieth Merrill American sports comedy-drama films American independent films Films shot in Utah Films distributed by Disney 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Films scored by Merrill Jenson English-language independent films 1979 comedy-drama films English-language sports comedy-drama films