Even better than the real thing: football movies!!!
Every year, we're told that everyone who's anyone
will be watching the Super Bowl. The commercials! The halftime show!
There's even a football game in there somewhere! Here are some movies about
football that are more fun than sitting through the five hours of manufactured
drama that is the Super Bowl.
The Longest Yard (1974 version) -
Burt Reynolds plays a
disgraced former football star who gets caught up in a ridiculous scheme
involoving football while in jail. The Longest Yard gets a little bogged down
in trying to balance drama with comedy at times, but the funny parts make it all
worthwhile. The movie climaxes with an inmates versus guards exhibition game
that hilariously turns typical sports movie cliches on their head. The guards
should have worn better protection down there!
Friday Night Lights -
This is a gripping tale about the religion that
is high school football in Odessa, Texas. I resisted watching this movie for a
few years because I love the book that it's based on so much. I was afraid they
would betray the harsh truths and topics that are dealt with in the book and make
it into a bunch of Hollywood nonsense. While they did change a few things, this
still stands out as an atypical sports movie, accurately portraying most of
what goes on in the bizarre culture of high school football.
North Dallas Forty -
Peter Gent, a wide receiver who played for the
Dallas Cowboys in the late 1960s, wrote a semi-autobiographical novel that
became the source material for this movie. It's a a behind the scenes look at a
much crazier era in the NFL. All of the main characters resemble real life
Dallas Cowboys players and coaches, and it shows just how insane things were
back then with unfettered drug use, locker room drama, and violence both on and
off the field. The NFL still has problems today, but this movie is a great look
at the league when there were virtually no regulations.
Any Given Sunday -
Oliver Stone has a go at portraying life behind
the scenes in the modern day NFL with Any Given Sunday. When it's dealing with
the realities of being a player in the NFL, where your next mistake or injury
could very well be your last, it's a very good movie. Stone tries to take on
too many issues, though, slowing the movie down a bit when portraying the power
struggles between owners, General Managers and coaches. Still, it's a very
intriguing, well made football movie with great action sequences.
Rudy -
I have to swallow my pride and admit that this is actually a good
football movie for people who don't like football. It features a Hollywood
portrayal of Notre Dame football (is that a redundant statement?) starring
Samwise Gamgee, AKA Sean Astin. He's a plucky little guy who's always dreamed
of playing for Notre Dame because it's a magical place where dreams come true.
He finally gets his wish, and Touchdown Jesus reaches down from his pearch and
carries him onto the field, when... Well, we're spoiler free here, so you'll
just have to watch it to find out what happens next. For the record, I attended
a rival school of Notre Dame's for four years, and they beat the crap out of us
every year I was there, so that might have something to do with the tone of
this synopsis. All apologies.
-Tom McDaniel