YMMV / Take Down

• Awesome Moments:
  • Branish throwing Yacabobich.
  • Whenever Palumbo's music starts playing.
• Awesome Music:
  • The main theme is beautiful and stirring, and gets a heroic, energetic remix during Nick's Training Montage.
  • It's easy to understand why Palumbo's Theme Music Power-Up makes him wrestle better. The brass band version that Randy plays during the final meet is also good.
  • The music for the final match against Baron alternates between epic and tense.
  • The victory theme at the finale features some awesome brass runs.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chauncey Washington isn't one of the main characters and doesn't have many speaking lines, but he is extremely competent, being the only member of the team who doesn't drop a single match the entire season.
  • Palumbo's totally unexplained ability to win his matches as long as his music is playing makes him one of the film's most memorable characters despite his relatively small screentime.
• Fair for Its Day: For a film released in 1979 and set in Utah, the Mingo Junction team is surprisingly diverse, featuring two African Americans and an Asian, and each one gets memorable moments and time to shine.
• Heartwarming Moments: During Nick's Training Montage, his dad, who's done nothing but discourage him up to this point, sees Nick doing sit-ups and comes to help by holding his feet.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Macgrudder's opponent on the Rockville team is wearing a hockey mask. Macgrudder's look of "Why me?" makes complete sense to modern audiences familiar with Jason, but Take Down actually came out three years before Jason first donned the mask.
• Narm Charm: The end of the final match between Nick and Baron has Nick trying to form a pin on Baron by closing his grip while Baron thrashes around. Baron's movements and facial expressions are awkwardly exaggerated, as is the droning music and dramatic way Nick slowly inches his hands toward each other. Still, the match up to this point and the celebration afterward are good enough that the moment doesn't detract too much.
• So Okay, It's Average: Granted, the film was already a pretty low-budget flick to begin with which got a very limited release, but while it doesn't do anything new or drastic to shake up the typical sports film formula, it remains a fun little movie with moments of heart and charm.
• Squick:
  • After his "cleansing bubble", Macgrudder doesn't wash his hands before giving Branish a double high-five.
  • How No-Toe lost his toe: he was riding his bike and it got caught in a sprocket and cut off, then eaten by his dog.