Well it’s almost football season again so I put together a list of my favorite films with the gridiron as the setting. In no particular order:
“Against All Odds” – Football is more the backdrop for this romantic thriller starring Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward (What ever happened to her?). Bridges plays a wide receiver that gets released because of a bad shoulder. He takes an assignment looking for the runaway girlfriend of a local bookie played by James Woods. Bridges finds her and they wind up getting involved. Then things get complicated. My favorite line is when Woods’ character, explaining his betting empire, says to Bridges “People love sports Terry.” Ex-Detroit Lion Alex Karis also co-stars.
“North Dallas Forty “– The film is based on the book by Peter Gent and loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys of the 1970’s. It features Mac Davis as the star quarterback and Nick Nolte as the disillusioned wide receiver. Think “Ball Four” for football. A little dated now but still worth a view if you catch it on cable. Ahead of its time in depicting the tenuous nature of a career in professional sports
“The Longest Yard” – Story of a penitentiary where the warden gets the prisoners to agree to form a team to play a guards’ semi-pro team in a football game. Catch the original with Burt Reynolds as the former pro quarterback and leader of the inmates’ team.
“The Blindside” – Based on the book by Michael Lewis, the movie is really two stories (told in alternating chapters in the book). The primary one is about Michael Oher, a young, essentially homeless, young black man who is taken in by a well to do white family who guide him toward an education and a career in football. The parallel story is about the evolution in pro football of the importance, and value, of the left offensive tackle protecting the quarterback’s left or blindside.
“Brian’s Song” – An early seventies TV movie and true story about the friendship between Chicago Bear teammates Brian Piccolo and hall of fame running back Gayle Sayers. They were the first interracial roommates in professional football. Piccolo develops a terminal disease, which cuts his career, and life, short. James Caan plays Piccolo and Billy Dee Williams plays Sayers.
“Rudy” – The sentimental favorite on the list. Even people who aren’t football fans love this movie about a Notre Dame practice squad player who dreams of getting into an actual game. Also a cautionary tale of how ruthless, win-focused and unsentimental are college football coaches.
“Remember The Titans” – Another film based on a true story, starring Denzel Washington as the new coach hired to integrate a Virginia high school in the early seventies. The new coach, who has replaced the former white coach, struggles to overcome the racial tensions between his players. Will Patton is excellent as the former coach who stays on as the defensive coordinator and Denzel is great in anything.
“Any Given Sunday” – This one is worth watching if only for Al Pacino’s “game of inches” pre-game speech, which ranks with the best of all film speeches. Directed by Oliver Stone.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Watching – “Three Billboards outside Ebbing Mississippi”. It took me a while to get to this one but this is one powerful movie. The performances of Frances McDormand, Woodie Harrelson and Sam Rockwell are exceptional and quite moving. The movie is a complex and layered tale of a woman embittered by the murder of her daughter. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it. One of the best of last year’s Oscar films.
Reading – “The Outsider”, Stephen King. I haven’t read one of his books in a long time. Not sure why because he is such a great storyteller. This one starts out as a pretty straightforward murder mystery in an Oklahoma town and then morphs into something else altogether as only Stephen King can do.
Listening – America. Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek founded the band in 1971. There was an article about this band in the Wall Street Journal recently in one of their ongoing “Making of a Song” series. This one focused on their first hit 1972 “Horse With No Name”(which sounded very much like Neil Young who also had a hit on the charts at the time with “Heart of Gold”). The band had a string of strong albums and hits up through the mid-seventies (e.g., “Sister Golden Hair”). They even got the legendary George Martin to produce a few of their albums. My favorites songs are on the earlier albums like “Ventura Highway” and “I Need You” and also the deep cuts like “Sandman” and “Another Try”.