The film Going All The Way (Going All The Way, 1997) is based on the 1970 book of the same name by Dan Wakefield; the writer also wrote the script for the picture. The 50s. After the Korean campaign, young Americans are returning home. The train goes to Indianapolis, Indiana. Skinny and shy Sunny (Jeremy Davis, I remember him from the TV series Lost and Justified) meets his school friend Gunner (Ben Affleck) in the dining car, a popular handsome man who is popular with women and respected by guys.
This is a film about friendship. And about growing up. “Going All The Way” is deeper than it seems at first glance. Sunny is an inconspicuous uninteresting nerd. Ganner is a star of the school sports team, confident in himself, adheres to free views: he can go to a bar in the afternoon and have a drink, or easily come up and meet the girl he likes. A friendship is formed between these two dissimilar guys.
Sunny has an ordinary family: his mother insistently takes care of him and wants him to get married, although she still considers him a child. The father is on the mother’s side and offers his son to find a stable job – after all, this is the main thing in life. Ganner is a golden boy so much so that even his mother looks very young, and Sunny is staring at her. And she somehow very ambiguously kisses her son and is jealous of his girls.
Sunny doesn’t understand what Ganner found in him, but he appreciates him for certain outstanding qualities: once at school, Sunny took a cool picture of Ganner in the game. Ganner tells Sunny about Zen Buddhism and about the fact that he didn’t really think about anything until he visited Japan. Sunny, in response, teaches a friend to take pictures and pay special attention to details. Both are interested in art. Ganner wants to leave his hometown for New York, Manhattan, to be in the center of all events, but what about Sunny? Of course, he’s on his way with Ganner. Going all the way. Go all the way. Be all the time.
And they really spend a lot of time with each other. At the same time, of course, both are primarily concerned with the opposite sex and have affairs with girls. Oddly enough, Buddy (Amy Locane, the star of Crybaby), the girl next door, spiritually and physically accessible, is in love with Sunny. He’s dating her, but he can’t reciprocate her, because only the cover girls really attract him. For example, the fatal beauty Gail Ann Thayer (Rose McGowan) is a friend of the quarrelsome intellectual Marty Pilcher (Rachel Wise), Gunner’s chosen one. And now the evening of meeting the girl of his dreams is coming, but Sunny already has a date with Buddy. What to do? What if femme fatale favors him and he succeeds?
In the film, there is a lot of jazz, blues and some rock and roll songs of the 50s in the background. The soundtrack was released on the famous jazz label Verve Records. The official edition, however, does not include many of the songs that are present in the film, according to IMDB. I had to collect potrekovo, but I still couldn’t find some tracks – for example, music by Tomandandy and the song Tangled And Tempted by The Sonny Burns Orchestra. A couple of things had to be replaced with similar ones: You’ve Changed is Dexter Gordon’s version, not Bobby Dukoff’s, and the traditional bluegrass Farther Along was performed not by The Burroughs Family, but by the Stanley Brothers.
Going All The Way Soundtrack (1997)
02 Bobby Smith – Bess’ Boogie
03 Roy Brown – Mighty, Mighty Man
04 Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats – Rocket 88
05 Cozy Eggleston – Big Heavy (Blue Lights Boogie)
06 The Harptones – A Sunday Kind of Love
07 Willis Jackson – Hoot and Holler Saturday Night
08 Perez Prado & His Orchestra – Skokiaan
09 Jimmy Coe – Fast Blues
10 Bobby Smith – Mopsticks
11 Dexter Gordon – You’ve Changed
12 Bobby Smith – Blue Keys
13 Vic Damone – Why Was I Born
14 Stanley Brothers – Farther Along (Live)
15 The Flamingos – Golden Teardrops
16 Bobby Smith – Poodgy
17 The Orioles – It’s Too Soon to Know
18 Roy Brown – Hard Luck Blues
Download OST Going All The Way Soundtrack (Going All The Way) 1997 (mp3, rar, 95 Mb)
The film is quite serious, but it looks easy and in one breath. Going All The Way was nominated for a special jury prize at the Sundance Festival. This is the directorial debut of Mark Pellington, who has been known since the mid-80s as a music video maker working with world rock stars. It is noteworthy that his first music video is “Dance Me To The End Of Love” by Leonard Cohen, and it is very good. Pellington’s other works include video clips for famous tracks “One” by U2, “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam, “Beautiful Girl” by INXS, many songs by Jon Bon Jovi, as well as REM, Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Kid Rock and even Michael Jackson.
Going All The Way is definitely Jeremy Davis’ finest hour. And Ben Affleck is also good here, fit and young. The film Going All The Way is definitely worth your 100 and a little minutes, leaving a good aftertaste for a long time.
