Nick Di Angelo is working in a Las Vegas casino to earn enough money to pursue the woman of his dreams, Lady Victoria Wingate, to Oxford, England. He believes the only way to win her is to get into Oxford University and join the rowing team. After spending the night with a beautiful older woman, he collects enough money to make the trip and arrives at Oxford in his 1955 Ford Thunderbird, which promptly gets stuck between two walls along a very narrow street. Thus begin Di Angelo's troubles in Britain.
The coxswain of the rowing team that Di Angelo joins, Rona, is also an American. Di Angelo quickly finds Lady Victoria but also finds that she is deeply involved with another Oxford rower, Colin Gilchrist Fisher, a member of Christ Church (another college).
Eventually, Di Angelo comes to learn not only the value of friendship and love, but also the importance of keeping promises to teammates and to oneself as well as the importance of thinking beyond oneself.
The film was financed independently by Elliot Kastner. Kastner told Robert Boris he had between $2–3 million available to make a film in England and wanted to know if Boris had any projects which might be suitable. Boris pitched him the movie and Kastner paid him to develop a script. Kastner liked the script and financed the film, although he did not give Boris the funds the director requested to shoot additional films.[2]
Lowe suggested Princess Stephanie of Monaco for the role of Lady Victoria as he had a crush on her. Enquiries were made but no response was received.[3]
The film was almost entirely shot on location in Oxford.
MGM paid $6 million for the rights to distribute the movie even though the film only cost $1.8 million. Kastner was also entitled to a $1 million fee at the discretion of Frank Yablans then head of MGM. Peter Bart, an executive at MGM at the time, called the deal unprecedented.[4]
It opened eighth at the box office grossing $2.4 million in its first weekend. This was considered a major disappointment.[8]
Lowe says that, "For some reason my movies do real well in Canada," shortly after the film came out. "Oxford Blues is doing well here. It's making no money in the southern United States. In the suburbs I do well, in the cities not so well."
A colleague of his said at the same time, "Rob was very hurt about the critical reaction to Oxford Blues, because he really thought it would work. But he's tough and realistic. He knows it was a failure, and he knows it wasn't his fault. That last scene, where he strips and changes clothes like a paper doll – he fought against doing that, let me tell you."[9]
