Going All the Way

For the song by the Matthew Good Band, see Beautiful Midnight.

Going All the Way is a 1997 American comedy-drama film directed by Mark Pellington, in his feature film directorial debut. The film was written by Dan Wakefield, based on his 1970 novel and stars Jeremy Davies, Ben Affleck, Rachel Weisz, Amy Locane and Rose McGowan. The film was shot on location in Indianapolis, Indiana, the setting of Wakefield's autobiographical novel. It was the film debut of Nick Offerman.

Going All the Way
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Pellington
Screenplay by	Dan Wakefield
Based on	Going All the Way by Dan Wakefield
Produced by	Tom Gorai Sigurjón Sighvatsson Tom Rosenberg
Starring	Jeremy Davies Ben Affleck Amy Locane Rachel Weisz Rose McGowan Jill Clayburgh Lesley Ann Warren
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski
Edited by	Leo Trombetta
Music by	tomandandy
Production companies	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Lakeshore Entertainment
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures
Release date	19 September 1997 (1997-09-19) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$113,069

Going All the Way was nominated for two awards at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, winning a "Special Recognition" for production designer Thérèse DePrez. McGowan, who attended Sundance to promote the film, has alleged that Harvey Weinstein raped her while at the festival that year.

Plot

Two young men return home to Indianapolis after serving time in the Army during the Korean War and search for love and fulfillment in middle America during the conservative 1950s.

Cast

• Jeremy Davies as Williard "Sonny" Burns
• Ben Affleck as Tom "Gunner" Casselman
• Amy Locane as Buddy Porter
• Rachel Weisz as Marty Pilcher
• Bob Swan as Luke
• Rose McGowan as Gale Ann Thayer
• Jill Clayburgh as Alma
• Lesley Ann Warren as Nina
• Nick Offerman as Wilks

Soundtrack

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on Verve Records in September 1997 (Verve 314 537 908-2) including the song "Tangled and Tempted", co-written for the film by Indianapolis singer/songwriter/producer Tim Brickley.

Critical reception

Stephen Holden of The New York Times did not care for the film, especially Pellington's direction: "When a filmmaker feels compelled to pump up a story through caricature and expressionistic visual tricks, it's usually a sign of distrust in the inherent drama of the material. In Going All the Way, a flashy movie adaptation of Dan Wakefield's popular 1970 novel about growing up in the heartland in the repressed 1950s, Mark Pellington, a director from the world of music video, has inflated a realistic memoir into a garish, hyperkinetic social satire." Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and called it "a deeper, cleverer film than it first seems. Much of its strength depends on the imploding performance of Jeremy Davies."

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 65% from 23 reviews. The consensus summarizes: "Its themes may feel overly familiar, but Going All the Way is set apart from other period coming-of-age films by the strength of its performances."

Director's edit

A re-edit of the film was released in 2022, called Going All the Way: The Director's Edit. According to the announcement, "the new cut of the 1997 film was rescanned for 4K and features 50 additional minutes of never-before-seen footage. A new title sequence was also created by Sergio Pinheiro, along with 50 minutes of music from composer Pete Adams." Pellington says "this definitive edition of the film feels like a completely different, more character-driven and psychologically complex vision. It is a darker movie, but also far more sensitive and, ultimately, uplifting."

External links

• Going All the Way at IMDb
• Going All the Way at AllMovie
• Going All the Way at Box Office Mojo
• Going All the Way at Rotten Tomatoes