| Reach the Rock | |
| Director: | William Ryan |
| Producer: | John Hughes |
| Cinematography: | John J. Campbell |
| Editing: | Gerald B. Greenberg |
| Music: | John McEntire |
| Studio: | Gramercy Pictures |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $4,960 |
Reach the Rock is a 1998 American comedy drama film directed by William Ryan and starring William Sadler and Alessandro Nivola. It was the last film to be written and produced by John Hughes before his death in 2009.
A small-town troublemaker (Alessandro Nivola), directionless and alienated, ends up spending a night in a jail cell, where he and the police chief (William Sadler) engage in a battle of wills and wit.
Writer/producer John Hughes came up with the premise for Reach the Rock basing the character of Robin off "base kids" and "farm kids" he knew in his youth displaced by the transition of "rural communities" to "bedroom comunities" who while tough were also social outcasts among the wealthier residents of Chicago's North Shore.[4] Hughes compared the character of Robin to John Bender from The Breakfast Club calling him the natural evolution of Bender had he stayed with Molly Ringwald's character, Claire, and never moved on.[4]
Hughes originally offered the Reach the Rock script to director Chris Columbus at the same time he offered him Home Alone. Columbus opted to direct the latter.[5]
William Ryan, an assistant working under Hughes, would be given the script by Hughes to direct and although Ryan never directed again he did go on to run Hughes Entertainment.[6]
The soundtrack featured a compilation of Chicago-based post-rock artists, among them Tortoise and associated acts Bundy K. Brown, The Sea and Cake and John McEntire. It was released on Hefty Records, a label owned and operated by Hughes's son, John Hughes III. The film gets its title from a song by the band Havana 3am.[7] Reach the Rock would mark the final writing credit for Hughes in which he was the sole author.[7]
Filming took place in Chicago's Northwest Side as well as West Chicago from July through September 1996.[8] [9]
Richard Lightstone who worked on the film as a sound engineer stated the film was made out of contractual obligation Universal Studios who per the stipulations of a contract with Hughes were owed a film made by him.[10] Hughes only visited the set once and mainly left William Ryan in charge of the production.[10]
Universal Pictures gave Reach the Rock an extremely limited theatrical run in the United States on October 16, 1998 where the film only played in three theaters in three cities for a one week engagement grossing only $4,960.[9] [4] The film was given a home video release on July 27, 1999.[9]
The film received generally negative reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 38% based on reviews from 8 critics, with an average rating of 4.5/10.[11] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4 stars. He compared it negatively to Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and complained that the movie was "very sad" and felt like it was playing "in slow motion."[12]