Dreamer

Tim Matheson plays a down-on-his-luck aspiring professional bowler. He has an elderly mentor who teaches him to believe in himself. He has a girlfriend who boosts him when he's low. He's got a whole bunch of down-to-earth buddies who support his quest. He triumphs over the mean-spirited bureaucrats who seek to deny him his PBA certification. He enters a national tournament as a last-minute add-on. He becomes a dark horse, striking and sparing his way into the finals, and finally taking the championship from one of his childhood heroes. Just like a thousand other sports-related movies, in fact. Rent Caddyshack or Kingpin instead.

Sleeper. "Dreamer" Tim Matheson, an actor I've always liked, is obsessed with exiting--even a ripped open hunk of flesh and a blood soaked bandage is little obstacle--the lower ranks of minor league bowling, and earning his pot-of-gold: his name on a P.B.A. card. Susan Blakely, an actress I've always liked, scores a three-strike turkey as Dreamer's pushy love interest. Old reliable Jack Warden is Matheson's surrogate father, a man who's own gargantuan-sized bag of dreams rivals those of Dreamer. A gaggle of goofy locals hang out at Warden's glitzy bowling emporium, a cheery place where no one is turned away. Comfy. Dreamer's route to stardom is cluttered along the way with squabbles with Blakely, unscrupulous P.B.A. executives and a past opponent with a vendetta. Real-life professional bowler Nelson Burton, Jr. and ABC commentator Chris Schenkel provide much needed color and authenticity. The tournament final is filmed in a crisp and clean style. A couple of promising scenes begin well but fall flat, otherwise the movie unwinds a refreshing look at a slice of life usually not projected on to the big screen. The kind of "little" film that Hollywood has, sadly, almost abandoned.

I thought this movie was one of the best. If you like bowling then you should love this movie. Tim Matheson presents a powerful performance of a struggling bowler trying to join the PBA. This movie puts Kingpin and others like it to shame. It isn't trying to demean the sport of bowling, but show a truer picture of bowling as a sport. I think it does a great job of this!

Gene Siskel was quoted by Bowlers Journal magazine as saying Dreamer just missed his list of the top-10 worst movies of 1979, and for good reason. It opens with the Tim Matheson character returning from the pro tour on a bus, carrying one bowling ball! For effect, director Nosseck might have had the guy climbing out of a tail-dragging car crammed with several other haggard pros--and several hundred pounds of bowling balls (in realilty, most pros travel by twos in vans or even motorhomes--and carry up to 15 balls from stop to stop). In due course, "Dreamer" meets and alienates the Big Star who happens to run the PBA, portrayed sans dialogue by the great Dick Weber. And for a climax, Nosseck kept the crayon well within the lines, with "Dreamer" facing the Big Star in the All-American tournament--where with each paid admission, fans are given a little flag to joyously wave.

It's always bugged me that Hollywood can't do a good film about pro bowlers, given that many live vagabond lives of sex, booze/drugs and the desperation that comes from being one tournament away from financial ruin. There are some great stories out there on tour.

I'm now 32. if your not a bowler you may not appreciate the movie. but being a bowler as a kid, this movie was awesome. the story of a typical bowling center employee aspiring to get out of his mediocrity through becoming a professional bowler. showing the usual idiocies dealt with in a bowling center by an employee. and the after hours work that goes on behind the seen at a bowling center, as well as the after hours practice involved in being dedicated to your sport. and of course trying to please the woman while trying to reach your dreams. and the appearances by Dick Weber, Chris Schenkel, and Nelson Burton Jr, just made Dreamer magical to me as a "bowlin alley runt". Dreamer in my opinion by way of integrity, was a million times better than Kingpin. Kingpin made me feel embarrassed to be grouped as a bowler.