Main Cast: Jason Gedrick, Kiefer Sutherland, Meg Ryan, Tracy Pollan, Googy Gress
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Three friends face the disappointments of adulthood in this drama. Growing up in Ashville, Utah, a small town where traditional ideals still cling stubbornly to the hearts and minds of youth, Davey Hancock (Jason Gedrick) is the star of the high school's championship basketball team. Pretty cheerleader Mary Daley (Tracy Pollan) is Davey's girlfriend, and bright Danny Rivers (Kiefer Sutherland) is his best friend. Two years after graduating from high school, reality has dimmed their dreams; while Davey won a college scholarship to play ball, he washed out of the team and ended up back in Ashville, where he's now a police officer. While Davey still sees Mary, she wants more out of life than Ashville or her relationship with him can give her. And when Danny, who has spent much of his time since high school drifting in search of an ambition, returns to town to visit Davey and Mary, he brings along a surprise -- Bev (Meg Ryan), a drug-addled floozy with an unstable personality (and a gun) whom he married in Las Vegas three days earlier. Promised Land was also released on home video under the title Young Hearts. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Deborah Richter - Pammie; Oscar Rowland - Mr. Rivers; Sandra Seacat - Mrs. Rivers; Jay Underwood - Circle K Clerk; Herta Ware - Mrs. Higgins; Todd Anderson - Pat Rivers; Kelly Ausland - Ashville Basketball Player; Charles Black - Preacher; Cindy Clark - Vera; Walt Logan Field - High School Coach; John Garrison - Mr. Daley; Dave Jensen - College Coach; Michael Ruud - Cowboy in Casino; Victoria Holloway - Cleo; Lisa MacFarlane - Jenny; Spence Ashby - Flagman; Bob Bedore - Falcons Basketball Player; Troy Bench - Falcons Basketball Player; James Cash - Park Employee; Adam Christensen - Ashville Basketball Player; Dorothy Conrad - Mary's Grandmother; Gae Cowley - Mrs. Daley; Grant Gottschall - Bassford; Deborah Green - Kate; Matthew Karas - Park Employee Dultz; Tony Kruletz - Charlie; Jeff Lindsay - Falcons Basketball Player; Richard Matthew - Mel; Herb McGarvey - Riley Riddle; Gene Pack - Mayor of Ashville; Shane Perry - Ashville Basketball Player; Fenton Quinn, Jr. - Flagman; Theron Read - Hasting; Don Steffey - Rudy Riddle; Tom Thornquest - Falcons Basketball Player; Zeke Totland - Falcons Basketball Player; Greg Weichers - Ashville Basketball Player; L.L. West - Toy Store Clerk; Joseph Yeates - Kate's Husband; David Valenza - Glenn
Credit
Jim Dultz - Art Director, Mark Bentley - Associate Producer, Dennis Bishop - Associate Producer, Andy Paterson - Associate Producer, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Lora Kennedy - Casting, Risa Bramon - Casting, Victoria Holloway - Costume Designer, Matthew Carlisle - First Assistant Director, Michael Hoffman - Director, Andy Paterson - Second Unit Director, David Spiers - Editor, Robert Redford - Executive Producer, Andrew Meyer - Executive Producer, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina - Songwriter, Reba McEntire - Songwriter, Janey Street - Songwriter, Thomas Nellen - Makeup, Sheri Short - Makeup, Jim Dultz - Production Designer, Eugenio Zanetti - Production Designer, Ueli Steiger - Cinematographer, Alexander Gruszynski - Cinematographer, Robert Redford - Producer, Rick Stevenson - Producer, Andrew Meyer - Producer, Clif A. Davis - Set Designer, Michael C. Marcus - Set Designer, Bob Riggs - Special Effects, David Boushey - Stunts, Bob Miles - Stunts, Michael Hoffman - Screenwriter, Matthew Williams - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Michael Hoffman - Book Author
The film opens following two American high school acquaintances a few years after graduation now suffering from deep anger and anguish over the fact that they are not as successful as they thought they would be. Hancock (Jason Gedrick) is the high school basketball star, that got into college on an athletic scholarship only to lose the scholarship to a better player. Unable to succeed in college based on his academic merit, he returns to his hometown, becomes a police officer and is slowly moving into a middle-class mediocrity with his cheerleader girlfriend, Mary, who is in college and plans to major in the arts. Hancock is still stewing over the fact that he is no longer the sports star and that his girlfriend is not only reluctant to marry him but may end up being more successful than he.
Danny (Kiefer Sutherland) is the academic "nerd" who was supposedly destined to be so successful that he earned the nickname "Senator". It was felt by some that one day he would become a decent and just politician. He has returned home with his overbearing wife, Bev (Meg Ryan).
After a quick Christmas Eve reunion with his parents, Danny learns that his father is dying. He is unable to come to grips with the fact that while he left town with great expectations, he has returned a poor drifter. His desire to run from his problems again, however, prompts Bev to mock his manhood in front of some of his high school friends at a bar and the two decide to hold up a convenience store perhaps as a means for Danny to prove his manhood or because that is just what "Hollywoodwhite trash" would do.
Just then, Hancock, unaware that Danny has returned to town, drives into the store's parking lot arguing with his girlfriend about the future of their relationship. Interrupting the robbery, he fatally shoots Danny and wounds Bev. Hancock then suffers something of an emotional breakdown. Danny and Hancock are shown to really have little in common except that Danny once had a crush on Mary and perhaps a repressed crush on Hancock.
As other police officers and paramedics arrive on scene, Hancock drives with his girlfriend to an open field where he had previously shared, with his police partner, some of his frustrations. He screams to Mary how he feels he has been lied to while growing up. Later Hancock has to personally inform Danny's father that he has killed his son.
