Madison
(2001/2005)

The Ohio river port of Madison, Indiana, in the summer of 1971 was in a free-fall economic decline. The town’s pride and identity were wrapped up in a hydro-plane racing boat, “Miss Madison”, owned by the town of Madison. The craft had never won but was the obsession of the town. Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel), an air-conditioner repairman and once hydro-plane pilot, devoted his time to keeping the boat operational. Due to a near-fatal racing accident, McCormick must overcome personal struggles and fears to help save the town’s chance at the Gold Cup.

Directed by:
William Bindley

Written by:
William Bindley
Scott Bindley

Partial Cast:
Jim Caviezel (Jim McCormick)
Mary McCormack (Bonnie McCormick)
Jake Lloyd (Mike Mccormick)
Bruce Dern (Harry Volpi)
Paul Dooley (Mayor Don Vaughn)

This past weekend, I watched “Madison” for the first time … don’t know why 🤷‍♀️ I had never taken the time to watch – most likely because it was about boat racing and, I’ve said before, I’m not a big sports fan … anyway ….

As with most of Jim’s projects, the film is about much more than the main topic, hydro-plane boat racing. There is a lot of “heart” ❤️ in this film … you are transported back to the Summer of 1971 to what now seems like a simpler time – however, at the time, it wasn’t simple at all … the struggles of people living in a declining town, the struggles with fear of losing the life you know, the struggles of relationships, the struggles of confronting one’s “demons”, the struggles of being true to one’s self are all encompassed in this film. It is definitely a “feel good” film by the end. If you like seeing Jim play a “good guy” character this is definitely a movie for you. Jim is so cute as this character … you just want to grab him, give him a big hug and say “everything is going to work out” … 🤔 possibly that’s just me 🙄🤷‍♀️🤪😉

I’m often amazed at all the people Jim has worked with though out his movie career. I was thrilled to see Mary McCormack played Jim’s character’s wife – I loved her in “In Plain Sight”. There is also Bruce Dern a wonderful actor. Then, the narrator voice of the son as an adult was John Mellencamp. I grew up loving Mellencamp’s music.

Irrelevant Trivia: Have any of you heard of the “Degrees of Kevin Bacon Game” – where you connect an actor to Kevin Bacon via industry associations? Well, Jim has a 2 Degree association to Kevin through Woody Harrelson. Not really a relevant fact … but a little fun.

In the comments, there is a video of Jim being interviewed by Craig Ferguson (I miss him as a late night host) for “Madison.” This is where I need to explain (2001/2005). When you see the movie listed in IMDB, the year is 2001. The movie was released in very limited distribution in 2001. It had a wider release in 2005. The distribution was due to financial issues the movie had. During the interview, Craig talks to Jim about both “The Passion” and “Count of Monte Cristo” … “Madison” was actually filmed prior to both films but released after … It confused me at first until I looked up the issue.