READ THIS FIRST: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Laserdisc Title: "PROMISED LAND"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single Disc)
Directed By: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan
Special Features: ---none---
Production / Year: 1988 Vestron Pictures
Running Time: 110 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, Stereo, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Rated R
Distributed By: Image Entertainment
Catalog / Spine Number: ID6024VE

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Very Good - Few very light to very minor hairline surface swirls or very light fingerprint marks
Jacket: Very Good - Normal shelf wear, creases, light scuffs, slightly worn-out corners or edges but no signs of spines splitting

Synopsis:
It is set in a small midwestern town where high school basketball is king. Sounds rather like Indiana, doesn't it? This gave the initial appeal to me, as films like this can help me understand the people in the area better -- at least, this is my hope, since I am not an Indiana native. The plot is a rather simple one. Four characters -- a high school basketball star (Hancock), a cheerleader (Mary), a dropout (Danny), his wife from a western state (Bev)-- all get tangled together in a final blow-up in the small hometown. The film opens during the all-important last moments of a basketball game. Of course, our guys win; the basketball star announces he's leaving for college, and the dropout announces he's leaving town. The cheerleader is left behind, but has hopes of her own. Fast-forward two years. The basketball star is back home, working as a policeman. We slowly discover during the course of the film that he didn't make it as a college basketball star, and couldn't stay in college any other way. Mary, meanwhile, has gone off to another college, but has come home for the Christmas holiday, and as Hancock tries to rekindle old feelings, probably largely derived from hoping to recapture feelings of past glory, she feels pressured. The production quality of the film is fairly good, but as one of the earliest of the Sundance productions, it lacked a budget for the final, Hollywood polish. The director, Michael Hoffman, does not have an extensive filmography, but has directed such diverse films as Soapdish, Restoration, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. A little editing. The acting is good, but not great. The script is sometimes lacking, but passing fair. The characters are people who begin to spark an interest, but are ultimately unsustainable. Had there not been the emotional and violent ending (very uncharacteristic for the town, one imagines), there would be little memorable. This is a slice of American life in the middle; not the top, nothing glitzy or glamourous here, but not the bottom either. A very different view of high school and college-age years than typical Hollywood fare -- hopes have been dashed, if there were hopes at all, and the future stretches out in front, but as a rather bleak picture of sameness.

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