FILM · 1983 · USA
All the Right Moves
19 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (19)
- #001
The director had Lea Thompson and Tom Cruise go undercover to remember what high school was like. They attended separate schools; Cruise was recognized after only one day because someone knew him from Taps (1981), while Thompson attended for four days, was asked out by many boys and was caught smoking.
- #002
The quarterback Rifleman and the receiver Shadow are almost always referred to by their nicknames, including in the credits, with one exception. In the pep-talk scene where Riley tells Stef that Tracy is pregnant, if you listen closely while the players are being introduced, you can hear Coach Nickerson off-camera in the background. Rifleman's name is Clarence Oliver and Shadow's name is Austin Williams.
- #003
This was cinematographer Michael Chapman's first directing effort.
- #004
Tom Cruise suffered a mild concussion during filming.
- #005
The film's music receives notably top billing in the closing title sequence. Unusually, each track is listed in the credits alongside the scene in which it is played in the film.
- #006
Stef is recruited by Syracuse. Syracuse is Tom Cruise's actual hometown.
- #007
Most of the scenes were shot in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Slap Shot, another sports film about a minor-league hockey team, was also shot in Johnstown.
- #008
This was Craig T. Nelson's first major role as a football coach; he would later become known to viewers as the football coach Hayden Fox in the television series Coach (1989).
- #009
The film was made and released three years after sportswriter Pat Jordan's source article about the Duquesne High School football team in Pennsylvania, "Duquesne, PA," was first published in Geo Magazine in 1980.
- #010
Chris Penn and Lea Thompson appeared together again a year later in The Wild Life (1984).
- #011
Three schools were used to portray Walnut Heights. Votech in Johnstown is seen when the Ampipe bus arrives for the big game. The locker room scenes were shot at Westmont High School, about twenty miles from the Vo-tech. The scene in which the team boards the bus to go home after the game and Stefan is not allowed on it was shot in the parking lot of Westmont Middle School.
- #012
The film was shot during the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League football season.
- #013
Tom Cruise's character is said to have been inspired by real-life Pennsylvania coach Donald A. Yannessa and two members of his staff.
- #014
In the scene where Ampipe's team bus heads toward Walnut Heights for the big game, Johnstown's Vo-Tech School in Richland Township was used as Walnut Heights School, which was actually about five miles from where the game was played (Point Stadium in downtown Johnstown).
- #015
Walnut Heights' uniforms were provided by another Johnstown school: Westmont Hilltop High School.
- #016
Real-life field coach Donald A. Yannessa played a football coach in the film and also worked as the film's field technical adviser.
- #017
The film was shot in the spring, not the fall.
- #018
The film was produced by Lucille Ball's production company. Although Lucille Ball Productions received recognition on screen, her role in the production was minimized in terms of publicity out of concern that the film's content would damage her public image.
- #019
Coach Nickerson was named after a Jesuit priest who was one of writer Pat Jordan's English professors at Fairfield University.
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