Take Down (1979 film)

Take Down
Directed by	Kieth Merrill
Produced by	Kieth Merrill David B. Johnson
Written by	Eric Hendershot Kieth Merrill
Starring	Edward Herrmann Lorenzo Lamas Maureen McCormick Kathleen Lloyd Maxx Payne Stephen Furst
Music by	Merrill Jenson
Cinematography	Reed Smoot
Edited by	Peter Teschner
Production company	American Film Consortium
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	January 1979
Running time	107 minutes
Language	English

Take Down is a 1979 American comedy-drama sports film released by Buena Vista Distribution Company about an unqualified teacher who finds himself saddled with coaching duties after a small group of high school seniors form a wrestling team in a last-ditch effort to end a 9-year losing streak against a rival school.

Ed Branish (Edward Herrmann), a snooty English teacher who finds his situation at Mingo Junction High School far beneath him and barely tolerable, flaunts his air of superiority over all, including his supportive wife (Kathleen Lloyd), by frequently spouting platitudes from literary masters to validate his often contemptuous viewpoint.

His habit of having as little to do with his school as possible finally gets the better of him when his light schedule makes him the only staff member available to supervise the newly formed wrestling team. Cornered, he lashes out at the first student to cross his path – Nick Kilvitus (Lorenzo Lamas), a reserved 185 lbs. senior who's embarrassed by his near-poverty social status and who's also missed a lot of classes lately. No one realizes Nick's been filling in for his alcoholic father at a steel mill hauling I-beams when his dad's too drunk or hung over to show up (which is all too often), and which also keeps Nick busy at night fishing his embittered father out of bars – to be carried home across town because they don't have a working car.

Nick hopes he can make up the missed school work in Ed's class to graduate in Spring but instead gets a tongue-lashing on how he should be held back as an example of the consequences of laziness and irresponsibility. In turn, Nick calls Ed an egotistical snob telling him that he is more interested in proving how smart he is instead of teaching. Fortunately, because of the wrestling team, both will cross paths again and discover they each have much more to them than what they were previously aware.

This was the first "PG" rated film released by Disney's Buena Vista Distribution Company five years before they launched Touchstone Pictures to expand into the "adult" market. The movie was not produced by the Disney studio; the company acquired the independent film (made by American Film Consortium) and only handled the distribution rights, making The Black Hole the first PG-rated Disney film. Take Down was reportedly a critical and financial disaster. It has barely resurfaced after its original release, except for a VHS home video release by Unicorn Video in the 1980s, long out of print.