The Longest Yard (1974)
Sport: Football
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lautern
Available: Rent/Buy on Amazon Prime; Netflix
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lautern
Available: Rent/Buy on Amazon Prime; Netflix
The Damned United (2009)
Sport: Soccer
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colm Meaney, Henry Goodman, David Roper
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colm Meaney, Henry Goodman, David Roper
Available: Rent/Buy on Amazon Prime;
Summary
It's another 1970's versus 2000's combo here. And American Football versus World Football. :)
"The Longest Yard" from 1974 was remade in 2005, but again, I went with the original. It's the story of ex-football player Paul "Wrecking" Crewe (Burt Reynolds) going to prison, where the Warden (Eddie Albert) owns a semi-pro team with a lot of the guards as players. They make a deal of course which results in Crewe leading a team of prisoners against the Warden's team. A great cast here. A number of actual players, notably, Ray Nitschke of the Packers and Mike Henry of the Steelers who would also play Tarzan in three movies. I'd also call out Jim Hampton who played Caretaker, the prisoner team manager and scrounger. I recall naming some of my RPG characters over the years after Caretaker. I must have watched the TV version of this movie several times growing up. Watching the unedited version, I didn't recall the short scene with domestic violence or some of the racially charged dialogue. Two other interesting characters I want to mentioned. First, look for a young Bernadette Peters as the Warden's secretary. And second, Michael Conrad as Nate Scarboro, another inmate who acts as the coach. He would go on to be one of my favorite actors as Sergeant Estherhaus from Hill Street Blues. "Let's be careful out there." Fitting for the time.
"The Damned United" is more about a man than a team, more about obsession than a sport. It tells the story of Brian Clough and his stormy forty-four days at helm of Leeds United. The movie is well directed by Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) and leverages great performances by Michael Sheen playing Clough, Colm Meaney as Clough's rival Don Revie, and Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor the assistant and long time friend of Clough. Clough was a former player who's story I wasn't familiar. In contrast to the quiet Taylor, he talked; he talked a lot. So much that I loved how the movie incorporated an actual clip of Muhammad Ali saying Clough talks too much. The story reminded me of Moby Dick, with Clough's obsession in beating Revie in line with Captain Ahab's obsession over the whale.
Time to vote sports fans. Again, your vote, your criteria. If you haven't seen either, perhaps vote for the one you'd rather watch.
"The Longest Yard" from 1974 was remade in 2005, but again, I went with the original. It's the story of ex-football player Paul "Wrecking" Crewe (Burt Reynolds) going to prison, where the Warden (Eddie Albert) owns a semi-pro team with a lot of the guards as players. They make a deal of course which results in Crewe leading a team of prisoners against the Warden's team. A great cast here. A number of actual players, notably, Ray Nitschke of the Packers and Mike Henry of the Steelers who would also play Tarzan in three movies. I'd also call out Jim Hampton who played Caretaker, the prisoner team manager and scrounger. I recall naming some of my RPG characters over the years after Caretaker. I must have watched the TV version of this movie several times growing up. Watching the unedited version, I didn't recall the short scene with domestic violence or some of the racially charged dialogue. Two other interesting characters I want to mentioned. First, look for a young Bernadette Peters as the Warden's secretary. And second, Michael Conrad as Nate Scarboro, another inmate who acts as the coach. He would go on to be one of my favorite actors as Sergeant Estherhaus from Hill Street Blues. "Let's be careful out there." Fitting for the time.
"The Damned United" is more about a man than a team, more about obsession than a sport. It tells the story of Brian Clough and his stormy forty-four days at helm of Leeds United. The movie is well directed by Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) and leverages great performances by Michael Sheen playing Clough, Colm Meaney as Clough's rival Don Revie, and Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor the assistant and long time friend of Clough. Clough was a former player who's story I wasn't familiar. In contrast to the quiet Taylor, he talked; he talked a lot. So much that I loved how the movie incorporated an actual clip of Muhammad Ali saying Clough talks too much. The story reminded me of Moby Dick, with Clough's obsession in beating Revie in line with Captain Ahab's obsession over the whale.
Time to vote sports fans. Again, your vote, your criteria. If you haven't seen either, perhaps vote for the one you'd rather watch.
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