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Dell's Pointless Lists: Greatest Football Plays in Movie History

Thursday Movie Picks: Sports Movies

Hello Thursday. I'm back. As usual I'm armed with some suggestions based on a theme selected by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves as part of her weekly meme. I've had a great time participating in this. If not, I wouldn't still be doing it, silly. She's always open to having more bloggers take part, so check it out and join in.

This week's theme might be my favorite - sports movies. I'm a sports fan and yes, I do like sports movies. But what should I suggest? Just last Thursday, I suggested Bull Durham as part of "Movies Set Locally." On Sunday, I shared some of my favorite scenes from football movies. Rattling around in my head as I type this are titles like Raging Bull, Major League, Rocky, Rudy, Friday Night Lights, Hoop Dreams, He Got Game, The Fighter, Million Dollar Baby, The Bad News Bears, Little Giants, Hoosiers, Moneyball...and on and on. But you know all of these movies. Even if you haven't seen them, they are at least on your radar. When someone mentions them, you have an idea of what they're talking about. In other words, you know my style, let's journey a bit off the beaten path. Let's go with three movies that you may or may not have heard of.

Goon

(2012)

One thing to know about me right off the bat is that, while I don't hate hockey, I'm not really a fan. Another thing you should know is that, while I don't hate Seann William Scott, I'm not really a fan. So here I am recommending a hockey movie starring Seann William Scott. Well, it's that good. Scott stars as a guy with no ability to actually play hockey, or do much of anything else, but man can he fight. A minor league coach takes note of this due to an incident between the protagonist and one of his players. Next thing you know, our hero is suited up, thrown onto the ice and basically sent to fight whoever gets near the team's star player. However, despite the fact that there's plenty of fisticuffs with blood splattering all over the ice, it's a comedy. Scott plays against type, very well I might add, and we get an excellent turn from Liev Schreiber. (My full review)

The Heart of the Game

(2005)

When I say basketball documentary, most people automatically think Hoop Dreams. Believe it or not, there are others out there. A number of them are pretty good, too. That includes this one. In it, we follow the Roosevelt Rough Riders, a Seattle area high school girls’ basketball team. Their eccentric coach Bill Resler is infectious. He keeps things as loose as possible. However, the real heart of this documentary is star player Darnellia Russell and the trials and tribulations she goes through.

Rudo y Cursi

(2008)

I've already mentioned that I'm not much of a hockey fan. Well, I have no use for soccer other than games my own daughter is involved in. Even that's reluctantly. Okay, I'll occasionally watch the Women's World Cup whenever that rolls around because the US is actually good at that. Such an ugly American thing for me to say, but it is what it is. That said, I really am going with a soccer flick for my third sports movie. Though soccer is the vehicle through which it all plays out, this is really a movie about sibling rivalry. It's an entertaining ride with plenty of ups and downs as two brothers battle their demons, each other and themselves. However, as harsh as that sounds, this is no dark, brooding affair. It's light but builds nicely until we get to the appropriately heavy finale. It also includes a wonderful performance by fabulous Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. Subtitleophobes beware: we're speaking Spanish.

Football Scenes!

The NFL season is officially underway. Yay!

The college kids are finishing up their second week of games. Yay!

It's Sunday. Double Yay!

And I'm lazy. Triple...wait, what?

Yup.

But I must do something.

After all, even though this is a movie blog I always mark the beginning and possibly the ending of football season somehow. At the start of last year, I gave you my 11 favorite football movies. What I did at SuperBowl time turned into a pair of my most popular posts. I created my very own fictional football team.

Since I did say I was lazy, I'm not even going to try and top it this year. Instead, I'll shut up now and just share some of my favorite football scenes with you. Enjoy!

And one real life football scene, just because I can. To put it in movie terms, I hope this is foreshadowing...

Grudge Match

Rush

Directed by Ron Howard.

2013. Rated R, 123 minutes.

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth

Daniel Bruhl

Olivia Wilde

Alexandra Maria Lara

Pierfrancesco Favino

David Calder

Natalie Dormer

Stephen Mangan

Christian McKay

Alistair Petrie

Colin Stinton

Julian Rhind-Tutt

In the mid 70s, two of the up and coming names in F1 racing are James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Bruhl). Making things more interesting for fans of the sport, they hate each other. That only makes sense considering they are polar opposites. Hunt is a tall, good looking guy who parties every night and obliges as many groupies as possible. Sure, he loves racing, but he loves the lifestyle it provides him with even more. Niki doesn't seem to have any friends at all, nor is he looking for any. He eats, drinks, and sleeps racing. His goal is to win the F1 championship every year for the rest of his life. Lots of animosity between the two, on and off the track, ensues.

Hemsworth is in fine form, turning in a wonderfully charismatic performance. He perfectly embodies everything about James Hunt. The most amazing part of his work is that we admire and pity him all at the same time. On some level, we want to be him, to be that carefree, that confident, that attractive. We also realize his existence is almost entirely superficial. The one bit of substance he has is his burning desire to defeat Niki Lauda. Aided by a great script, Hemsworth lets us see both the man's bravado and his vulnerability.

As Lauda, Bruhl also gives us the goods, albeit in a less flashy role. He makes the ultra-focused, but seemingly less interesting person, a fascinating specimen. We don't really like Lauda, but come to understand him. Despite Hunt's best efforts, he never becomes the villain. He just isn't the life of the party. Still, we come to admire him as well for his resolve and his passion to be the absolute best he can be. We just wish he were a nicer guy about it.

While the two guys keep our attention off the track, what happens on it gets our blood pumping. The races are beautifully shot and the conversations between the drivers and their teams helps us get inside the competitors' heads. When there are crashes, we fully comprehend that life is hanging in the balance. It all adds to the feeling that each guy, no matter his approach, is a daredevil risking it all each time he gets behind the wheel. That understanding is key to the movie. Without it, we cannot grasp the gravity of decisions made by each guy at crucial moments. These moments are not only crucial to the race they're in, or even just their careers, but their lives.

Instead of being your typical underdog story, Rush gives us two such characters and pits them against one another. That these two are championship material is never really in question. Our doubt, what keeps us on the edge of our seats, is whether or not they will destroy each other in the process. In the end, we realize that this is truly the story of James Hunt, however it could not be told without Lauda. Furthermore, when the credits roll we are still conflicted in our feelings about Hunt and his accomplishment.

MY SCORE: 8/10

Million Dollar Baby

Directed by Clint Eastwood.

2004. Rated PG-13, 132 minutes.

Cast:

Hilary Swank

Clint Eastwood

Morgan Freeman

Jay Baruchel

Anthony Mackie

Brian F. O'Byrne

Margo Martindale

Michael Pena

Mike Colter

Lucia Rijker

Riki Lindhome

Maggie (Swank) has been boxing for a while and is looking for a trainer to help her learn the proper techniques and possibly take her to the big time. She walks into the gym owned by grizzled vet cut-man turned trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood). Dunn manages and trains Willie Jones (Colter), an up-and-coming fighter on the cusp of a title shot. The place is actually kept running by Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Freeman), Frank's bestest buddy. Frank tells Maggie he doesn't train girls and tries to ignore her. However, after Willie moves on to a new manager, and at Eddie's urging, Frank reluctantly takes her on.

Right from the beginning, Million Dollar Baby establishes that every relationship it depicts will be a battle of wills. The most prominent of these is that of Maggie and Frank. Frank is the immovable object trying to stave off Maggie's irresistible force. Irresistible being the key word. She is a big ball of warm and fuzzy. Frank is not. The differences don't end there. As a man whose been burned on numerous occasions by the sport he loves, Frank is overly cautious. His gruff exterior belies the fact he's deathly afraid of taking chances. this is something Maggie has no issues with. Being careful appears not to be in her nature. Consequences be damned, she's going after what she wants with both fists flying. It stems from her one true fear, ending up with a bushel of children and grandchildren while being dependent on welfare, like her mother (Martindale). I don't recall even a mention of her father. This makes seeking out Frank's expertise a matter of gravity, not logical thinking. Frank is similarly pulled. He sees qualities in her that he wishes he had. More importantly, she becomes a stand-in for his estranged daughter. Whatever happened in the past between he and his own child is something for which he desperately wants to atone. Maybe Maggie holds the key to his salvation. She is sure he holds the key to hers. It is their separate needs that binds them. However, Frank resists as best he can. This makes the exchanges between the two cinematic gold as each plays their role perfectly. Swank deservedly took home an Oscar for her work, here.

As I've alluded to, Frank and Maggie's battles is hardly the only one playing out before us. There is Frank and Willie, Frank and Eddie, and also Maggie against her own mother. Perhaps most intriguing, aside from the main event between our two leads, involves two seemingly expendable characters: Shawrelle (Mackie) and Danger (Baruchel). Shawrelle is a pro fighter who hasn't been terribly successful. Around the gym, though, he's a motor-mouthed bully. Danger is his exact opposite. He dreams of becoming a champion, but has no boxing ability whatsoever. He just hangs around the gym pantomiming his imaginary victory over fight legend Thomas Hearns. He's also Shawrelle's favorite target. On the surface, it's an extraneous, if fun, subplot. Juxtaposed with our protagonist, it becomes the breathing embodiment of the journey Maggie's spirit makes. The name Danger represents the arduous road she chooses to travel. They share highs and lows. her real life triumphs prove as fleeting as Danger's made up ones. Their defeats work in concert to illustrate the point Eddie makes to Danger after she suffers a very real and painful loss: "Anybody can lose one fight." This leads us back to Maggie. We know that she loses one fight. The question is does she lose the fight after that, as well. Whether she does isn't easily discerned. It could be argued both ways. Even if you accept her as victorious in the end, you know it's not an indisputable fact.

Eastwood's direction holds it all together in a tight package that never rushes, but also doesn't meander. It moves from setup to action to climax at a wonderful pace. the entire time it is pulling us deeper into Frank and Maggie's world. there is one little, but troubling plot hole for fight fans that might turn some off to the movie as a whole. It's the way our heroes first meet. Given all we're told of her skill level a short while later, it makes no sense. However, it's small enough that the removal and/or changing of just a few lines of dialogue would fix the issue. The bigger problem for those of us with a decent amount of boxing knowledge are the fight scenes. The choreography of them is just horrible in that all-too-Hollywood way. Each pugilist takes turns beating their opponent from one side of the ring to the other with seemingly endless successions of landed punches. Either that, or someone gets knocked in about five seconds. It just doesn't work like that. It's the one artificiality that snaps me out of the movie on several occasions. Thankfully, the narrative snags me from the brink of tuning out each time and swaddles me in layers of its fabric. Once we get beyond all the fight scenes, it never lets me go.

The Other Dream Team

Directed by Marius Markevicius.

2012. Not Rated, 89 minutes.

Cast:

Arvydas Sabonis

Sarunas Marciulionis

Rimas Kurtinaitis

Jonas Valanciunas

Bill Walton

Chris Mullin

Jim Lampley

Dan Majerle

David Stern

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, basketball was dominated by the U.S. Men's Team. Collectively known as the Dream Team, they were led by such household names as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. In addition to that trio was a roster full of players headed for the Hall of Fame. What I didn't realize at the time, and I'm not sure how many people did, was that there was another team that much more literally represented the hopes and dreams of their country. That team was from Lithuania. It was a nation that had just wiggled free from beneath the thumb of the Soviet Union. Their independence was so new that just four years earlier, at the prior Olympics, all of the country's athletes played for the Russians. This is the story of how the country gained its freedom and the role basketball played.

Our tale is told through the eyes of the gentlemen who were the stars of both Lithuania's team in '92 and the Soviet team in '88. Two of them, Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis would go on to play in the NBA, themselves. The others would have lengthy pro careers playing internationally. All of them still make their living within the sport in some capacity. Along with some other talking heads, they relay stories of what it was like living under Soviet rule. They speak of harsh and oppressive conditions. We hear of many Lithuanians being exiled to Siberia, a lot of whom never made it home. Through it all, they found joy in the sport they love. However, even that was tainted by being forced to play for another country.

As rough as it sounds, it's not depressing stuff. Our heroes are able to find humor in their despair. There is much laughter as they recount their trips to America while playing for the Soviets. They tell us how they managed to sneak out of their rooms at night despite being forbidden and closely watched by the Russians. We hear them marvel at the sheer availability of everything and the measures they took to smuggle home such illicit goods as blue jeans and walkmans. For you young'uns, the walkman was the iPod of the 80s. Go ahead, google it and have a laugh.

Things turn serious again when our attention is turned to the country's last days as a Russian annex. They speak of yearning to send a team of their very own to the upcoming Olympics once they were free. However, it was a bankrupt nation. We see the players, Marciulionis in particular since he was already in the NBA by that time, making huge efforts to make this happen. Eventually, we learn how rock legends The Grateful Dead took up their cause. It's all a heartwarming and uplifting documentary. You know what I'm saying: underdogs making good, triumph of the human spirit, and all that cheesiness. Thankfully, it's cheese that works and has plenty of basketball footage mixed in.

MY SCORE: 8/10

Pointless Lists: Fictional Movie Football Team, Part II

Yesterday, I gave you the special teams and defense for my fictional football team. Now, on Super Bowl Sunday, I'm going to give you the guys people come to see, the ones that put points on the board.

I did give myself some rules to go by. As a reminder, here they are...

1. I really do mean "fictional." None of these players are directly based on a real person. That means no Rudy, no one from Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, The Express, or any other "based on a true story" football flick.

2. This one goes hand-in-hand with the first rule and makes things even trickier. Characters played by people with NFL experience are not eligible. My apologies to Luther Lavay from Any Given Sunday (Lawrence Taylor), Deacon Moss from the remake of The Longest Yard (Michael Irvin), Bogdanski from the original The Longest Yard (Ray Nitschke) and all the other pros who took their talents to the silver screen.

3. The player doesn't have to be from a football movie, but there should be at least one actual football scene in their movie during which I can reasonably assume he/she is on the field. You're outta here, Johnny Utah from Point Break.

4. Players are to be judged as they are during the movie. Past success be damned, Jack "Cap" Rooney from Any Given Sunday is an old man!

5. The player should at least have a speaking part. Okay, this is more of a guideline than a hard rule.

Offense

Offensive Line

Starters:

Tackles - Bud "Lite" Kaminsky (Abraham Benrubi), The Program and Patrick "Madman" Kelly (Andrew Bryniarsky), Any Given Sunday

Guards - Billy Bob (Ron Lester), Varsity Blues and Andre "Action" Jackson (Michael Taliferro), The Replacements

Center - Manumana the Slender (Peter Tuiasosopo), Necessary Roughness

Back-ups - Jamal Jackson (Faizon Love), The Replacements...Jumbo (Ace Yonamine), The Replacements...Rudy "The Gas Man" Zoltek (Michael Zweiner), Little Giants...Turley (The Great Khali), The Longest Yard (2005)

Bud "Lite" Kaminsky will be an absolute anchor at left tackle. "Madman" Kelly, on the opposite side, is nearly as good. He also bears a striking resemblance to defensive end Steve Lattimer. Manumana is a massive center who can take on multiple blockers even while handling snap duties. We're taking some chances with our guards, though. Billy Bob isn't in the best shape and is prone to concussions, but he's hard to move. He also might be able to sneak out and catch a pass or two. "Action" Jackson works best when his brother Jamal is on the field, who isn't starting. However, due to Billy Bob's issues we can foresee him getting a lot of time. Jumbo will also see some time, if for no other reason than he's, well, jumbo. Turley has an extremely low football IQ, or regular IQ, for that matter. Still, he's a mountain of a man who can play some d-line, also. "The Gas Man" will fill-in if we really get in a pinch. He is undersized, but has a rather potent secret weapon.

Receivers

Starters:

Wide Receivers - Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Jerry Maguire and Jimmy Sanderson (Bill Bellamy), Any Given Sunday

Back-ups - Charlie Tweeter (Scott Caan), Varsity Blues...Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones), The Replacements...Phil Elliot (Nick Nolte), North Dallas Forty

Tight End - Brian Murphy (David Denman), The Replacements

Tidwell is a money receiver. Literally. His recent willingness to go over the middle has elevated him to elite status. All I have to say about Sanderson is that he was the go-to-guy on a team that included Terrell Owens, and T.O. didn't even complain about it. Tweeter will work the slots. We just need to make sure we keep him out of the bars the night before games. Franklin is a little iffy in the hands department, but can stretch the field. We're not sure how much we can get out of Elliot. He goes through more than seems humanly possibly just to make it onto the field, but age is catching up with him. He still has great hands, though, so he'll be out there in key third-down situations. Plus, we might line him up at tight end from time to time, a position he's more suited to these days. We will have to. Brian Murphy is the team's only true tight end. We think we've got a good one despite the fact that he's deaf.

Running Backs

Starters:

Tailback - Julian "J-Man" Washington (LL Cool J), Any Given Sunday

Fullback - Ray Griffen (Leon Pridgen), The Program

Back-ups - Earl Megget (Nelly), The Longest Yard (2005)...Darnell Jefferson (Omar Epps), The Program...Wendell Brown (Eliel Swinton), Varsity Blues

We are absolutely loaded at this spot! Washington will be our workhorse. This includes getting the rock in most short yardage situations. No worries, there will be plenty of carries for Megget and Jefferson who both have game changing speed. Megget is inexperienced so we might not have him in on too many obvious passing downs and we'll have to keep an eye on Jefferson who has some fumbling issues in the past. Brown will be there to spell Washington and get the bulk of the carries should Washington go down. At the fullback spot, Griffen is actually a former tailback. After a tenuous adjustment period, he's taken quite nicely to delivering some crushing blocks. Every now and again we'll reward him with a carry or two.

Quarterbacks

Normally, I favor drop-back quarterbacks. I have to begrudgingly admit times are changing. I need someone who can make plays with his arm AND his legs. Maybe we can even put in some read-option and other new-fangled stuff. For this, there is no better option than...

"Steamin'" Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), Any Given Sunday

To back him up, we worked out everyone available. Of course, they all had some issues. Levander "Bird" Williams (Mykelti Williams, Wildcats) had some character issues. Johnny Moxon (James Van Der Beek, Varsity Blues) is not really all that into football. Lance Harbor (Paul Walker, Varsity Blues went into coaching. Joe Kingman (Dwayne Johnson, The Game Plan) doesn't have his heart in it anymore. Frank Cushman (Jerry O'Connell, Jerry Maguire) wants too much money. Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) was too much of a wild-card. We even worked out two guys named Paul Crewe (Burt Reynolds and Adam Sandler, both versions of The Longest Yard). The older one was extremely close to locking down that third string spot. The younger one was just as good, but looks too much like linebacker Bobby Boucher for our tastes. In the end we went with...

Shane "Footsteps" Falco (Keanu Reeves), The Replacements and Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), Heaven Can Wait

Falco has shown some unbelievable leadership skills and has just gotten over his big-game jitters. Pendleton is also quite the leader. Like I said, he and the two Crewes were close. In the end, Joe gets the nod because he has divine intervention on his side. After all, not only did the guy win a Super Bowl, he came back from the dead to do it!

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Pointless Lists: Fictional Movie Football Team, Part I

It's Super Bowl Weekend! Weather permitting, of course, tomorrow is the final chance I will have to watch gladiators collide on the gridiron until fall rolls around again. Well, since I started the season with a list, I will end the season with one.This time, I've scrolled through my massive mental database, and did some good ol' internet research to remind me of a few things, and formulated my all-time team comprised strictly of fictional football players from movies. And since I'm a football nut, and injuries happen, I'm not only going to give you starters, but back-ups wherever possible.

To make it a challenge, I've imposed a few rules upon myself:

1. I really do mean "fictional." None of these players are directly based on a real person. That means no Rudy, no one from Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, The Express, or any other "based on a true story" football flick.

2. This one goes hand-in-hand with the first rule and makes things even trickier. Characters played by people with NFL experience are not eligible. My apologies to Luther Lavay from Any Given Sunday (Lawrence Taylor), Deacon Moss from the remake of The Longest Yard (Michael Irvin), Bogdanski from the original The Longest Yard (Ray Nitschke) and all the other pros who took their talents to the silver screen.

3. The player doesn't have to be from a football movie, but there should be at least one actual football scene in their movie during which I can reasonably assume he/she is on the field. You're outta here, Johnny Utah from Point Break.

4. Players are to be judged as they are during the movie. Past success be damned, Jack "Cap" Rooney from Any Given Sunday is an old man!

5. The player should at least have a speaking part. Okay, this is more of a guideline than a hard rule.

We'll save the glamour boys on offense for last. Let's start with the least heralded players on any football roster.

Special Teams

Place-Kicker - Lucy Draper (Kathy Ireland), Necessary Roughness

Punter - Derek Wallace (Larry Gilliard Jr.), The Waterboy

Kick/Punt Returner - Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump

One small issue, our team doesn't have a true punter. Wallace is really a place-kicker, but since punters are much more likely to be called on to actually hit someone, I'll slide him over instead of Lucy Draper and let him handle kickoff duties, as well. All Draper will have to do is keep putting the ball through the uprights, or Wallace will take over that job, too. These two beat out Nigel "The Leg" Gruff of The Replacements. Nice guy, but too willing to throw a game due to his gambling problems. Gump will handle the return game. He's not always locked in, but just hand him the ball and say "Run Forest, run!"

Let's move on...

Defense

Defensive Line

Starters:

Ends - Steve Lattimer (Andrew Bryniarski), The Program and Sgt. Engleheart (Kevin Nash), The Longest Yard (2005)

Tackles - Phillip Finch (Tab Thacker), Wildcats and Samson (Richard Kiel), The Longest Yard (1974)

Back-up - Andre Krimm (Sinbad), Necessary Roughness

Going with a 4-3 defense, here. Once you apply the criteria I'm using, the pool of linebackers thins out tremendously. That said, I'm excited about what we have up front. Sgt. Engleheart can be a little soft, but Lattimer more than makes up for him with his 'roided out insanity and passion for having a place at the table. Finch is a gentleman and a scholar, but at something like 400 lbs., he clogs the middle like nobody's business. Beside him, Samson is the d-line's secret weapon, but we have to be careful with him due to the fact he can go overboard. He might literally break your f'ing neck. Krimm will keep things light in the locker-room and get spot duty.

Linebackers

Starters:

 

Charles Jefferson (Forest Whitaker), Fast Times at Ridgemont High...Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler), The Waterboy...Daniel Bateman (Jon Favreau), The Replacements

Back-ups - Becky "Icebox" O'Shea (Shawna Waldron), Little Giants and Alvin Mack (Duane Davis), The Program

We have some issues with this unit, mainly a lack of depth and some odd mental quirks. Charles Jefferson is a certified stud and will man the middle. If he suspects the opposite team messed with his car then he is guaranteed to destroy them. Bates is just as vicious, even more so if we're playing someone wearing red. Bobby Boucher is the wildcard. As long as he can conjure up visions of all the things that have angered him, including his own mother, he's unblockable. He also has a thing about the water the team drinks. "Icebox" O'Shea is decidedly undersized, but she's also absolutely ferocious and will get plenty of snaps. As a bonus, she can fill in at fullback on offense, too, and maybe even play a little QB if we really get in a bind. We're saving a spot for Alvin Mack who suffered a knee injury that was thought to be career-ending. We're hoping the advances in medical technology since 1993 will get him back on the field.

Defensive Backfield

Starters:

 

Cornerbacks - Earl Wilkinson aka "Ray Smith" (Michael Jace), The Replacements and Trumaine (Wesley Snipes), Wildcats

 

Safeties - Guard Papajohn (Michael Papajohn), The Longest Yard (2005) and Stefan Djordjevic (Tom Cruise), All the Right Moves

Back-up - Spike Hammersmith (Sam Horrigan), Little Giants

We have four solid DBs. Earl...ahem...Ray and Trumaine are a pair of ball hawks at the corners. Ray can help return kicks, too. We might be a bit shy on technique at the safety spot since both Papajohn and Djordjevic are actually corners, as well. Still, they are good players so they should pick things up nicely. Depth is a bit of a problem. We're going with the humongous-for-his-age, but still small Spike Hammersmith. He's best known as a tailback, but he's logged plenty of time in the secondary, has a serious mean streak, and is already built like a safety which is where he'll get the most time. Sure, his habit of referring to himself in the third person gets annoying rather quickly, but there's no denying raw talent.




That's all for today. Tomorrow, I'll finish things off with the offense.

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Greatest Football Movies

42

Directed by Brian Helgeland.

2013. Rated PG-13, 128 minutes.

Cast:

Chadwick Boseman

Harrison Ford

Nicole Beharie

Christopher Meloni

Andre Holland

Alan Tudyk

Lucas Black

Hamish Linklater

Ryan Merriman

T.R. Knight

John C. McGinley

Max Gail

The story of how Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, transcended the sports world as it was happening to become part of American history. He’s the most important sports figure of the twentieth century. Even if you think that statement is false, you’d have to agree he’s on the short list of possible candidates. With that in mind, 42 takes on the daunting task of telling a tale where everyone know the outcome.

We meet Jackie (Boseman) in 1945 while he’s playing Negro League Baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs. A quick incident at a gas station with a “whites only” restroom shows him as the type of guy who doesn’t take racism lying down. We also meet Branch Rickey (Ford), owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’s looking for a man worthy of breaking baseball’s color barrier. He settles on Robinson even though those closest to him don’t think Jackie’s the right kind of guy. You should at least have a general idea of the rest. If not, just keep watching the movie.

Taken on its own terms, 42 is a fine movie. It does precisely what it wants to do, in the manner it wants to do it. We get a solid feeling of what our hero went through as he took the field more alone than any man ever had. His ordeal turns our stomach and we can’t help but root for him. Chadwick Boseman is good, if unspectacular, in the lead role. Far more impressive is his supporting cast. Of course, there’s Harrison Ford, just perfect as Branch Rickey. Nearly as good, in less flashier roles, are Nicole Beharie as Jackie’s wife Rachel and Andre Holland as reporter Wendell Smith. Smith is tasked with both chronicling Robinson’s journey and being somewhat of a personal assistant for the ballplayer. Others in the cast all shine when their time comes. Through their work and some adequate storytelling we hit some highs and lows en route to a welcome feel good story. The end. For most people.

For me, this is a very watchable, easily likable, but sorely lacking film. Most of my criticism is for what this movie isn’t. Maybe I’m being entirely unfair, but it’s not the Jackie Robinson story I wanted to see. This is 1947 visualized precisely as I’ve heard it, and read it, hundreds of times throughout the course of my life. The filmmakers play it far safer than Jackie himself ever did. For starters, it falls into the trap that nearly every telling of the story does. It’s not truly about the man. It’s about reactions. Somewhat, the reactions are his to whites, on an off the field, who felt compelled to shout epithets and/or put up obstacles to his success. Mostly, 42 is about white reaction to his presence. The movie also completely ignores the fact that a young black man named Larry Doby started his Major League career shortly after Robinson and dealt with the same garbage during the very same season. Then again, that part of the story almost always gets left out.

My biggest gripe is that the rest of our hero’s life is a story worth telling. This could easily have been a three plus hour epic going at least as far back as his days as a star athlete at UCLA, if not all the way to the beginning and going forward until his death. He did not just fade into oblivion once his playing days were over. In many ways, his baseball career was only the beginning of his public struggle for civil rights. The Jackie we get here is a fine conduit for our empathy, but much of that is due to our own sensibilities. The truth is that, as he is presented, he’s largely uninteresting. Giving us a fuller picture of the man would surely change that. As it stands, a movie focused on Branch Rickey, or Rachel Robinson, or Wendell Smith, could’ve accomplished the same thing with a more intriguing protagonist.

It probably sounds as if I don’t like 42 when that’s not the case. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s well put together and hits most of the right notes. I can nitpick the baseball scenes all day, but if you’re not an avid fan of the sport things are probably not bad enough to notice. I don’t even mind the totally fabricated finale. It’s a happy moment that fits so well into the movie that I can easily see why it was done. In the end, I had fun watching. I just want more than it’s willing to give me.

Undefeated

Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin.

2011. Rated PG-13, 113 minutes.

Cast:

Bill Courtney

O.C. Brown

Montrail “Money” Brown

Chavis Daniels

Manassas High School in Memphis, TN has no football history worth speaking of unless noting how remarkably bad they've been through the years. Even though the school has been in existence since 1899, yes 1899, they've not won so much as a single playoff game. Ever. In fact, when current Coach Bill Courtney took over, they hadn't won a football game of any kind in fourteen years. Over the handful of seasons he’s been there, the team has at least shown signs of life, winning a few games each year and visibly improving. He hopes this will be the year the school finally manages to get off the playoff snide.

By itself, a school with that athletic history reaching for loftier heights than they've ever attained would be worthy of a documentary. However, that’s merely the tip of the iceberg. Coach Courtney didn't just inherit a bad football program. He’s also inherited a roster full of kids with tough situations, poverty and broken homes among the most common problems. This doesn't even take into account that he’s a white coach at an all-black school. We follow him as he tries to make school history and simultaneously mentor his players, build up their character as young men.

Other than the coach, we spend most of our time with three players. There’s O.C., a lovable giant who is a gifted athlete but struggles in the classroom. Next is "Money," another nice kid. He outperforms his size on the field. Off the field, he’s an emotional wreck, sensitive almost beyond belief. Finally, we have Chavis. He’s the type of kid your parents warned you about. The chip seems permanently affixed to his shoulder. He’s perpetually angry and occasionally violent thanks to a hair-trigger temper. In fact, we only get to meet him after he’s finished a stint in juvie.

As it turns out, Coach Courtney is married with children of his own. We get a glimpse at how his spending so much time with his team is affecting them. Unfortunately, this is the one area where the movie feels like it doesn't go far enough. We hear from his wife, but never directly from his children. I suspect this is by the coach’s choice so I can’t knock the movie too hard.

Really, it’s hard to knock the movie too much at all. Each situation grabs us by the throat and doesn't let go. As a result, it’s easy to get choked up a time or two as certain things happen and other things don’t. It’s so wonderful as what it is, I hope no one ever gets the bright idea to make a scripted movie out of it. Whatever spit shine some writer applies to it will likely rub away the beautiful rawness of it and oversimplify until we have a tired sequel to The Blindside. Undefeated deserves better. It deserves to be left alone because it is magnificent as it is.