I did a search and didn’t find a thread for this movie yet so I’ll start one myself.
I was a fan of the book and was a little concerned about the movie. I thought they might turn it into a conventional Hollywood sports movie alavarsity Blues.
This movie surpassed my expectations. It’s a mesmerizing film which jerks at the emotions every which way, which has exhilerating football scenes, incredible tension in the final game, great acting throughout, especially by Billy Bob Thorton, and a rivecting style of direction that makes the movie seem almost like a documentary. The characters don’t seem like characters and don’t feel like they’re acting. Watching the movie you feel like you’re watching a reality show about a real high school football team (which is exactly what the book was).
The movie also does a good job of showing the excessive, unhealthy degree to which the town obsesses about its high school football team, the unfair pressure to which they subject the kids and the constant sword which hangs over the head of the coach. Thorton is wonderful in the way he must deal diplomatically with the townspeople. His facial expressions say volumes. Notice the slight, involuntary wince when a booster uses the N word while talking to him, notice his measured, careful responses to veiled threats about what will happen if he fails. It’s a subtle, Oscar caliber performance. Even his obligatory half-time speech is underplayed, yet somehow more resonant because of it.
Other good performances include Tim McGraw as an abusive father to one of the players and Lucas Black (who played the kid in Sling Blade) as a quarterback with the world on his shoulders and sick mother at home.
This is probably the best high school football movie I’ve ever seen. It goes right to the top of the list with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Napoleon Dynamite as one of my favorite movies of the year.
Did they have unrealistic but exciting football action? That is what is putting me off the movie from the commercials. Too many of these movies have one giant hit after another, hits that would cripple a pro. I can try to turn my mind off and enjoy it but I keep thinking, “This isn’t like any high school game I have seen”.
I thought it was realistic but maybe slightly to good for high school athletes. Stylistically it was similar to Any Given Sunday…lots of close-ups and loud hitting.
Haven’t seen it yet, but have heard it is very good. A friend of mine worked on the film and told me that despite a bad reputation, Billy Bob was a great guy to work with, whereas Tim McGraw played an obnoxious drunk both on, and off, the set.
I was also told that they brought in a lot of the original football team members from the high school to make sure they were sticking to the facts, and that those guys agreed that the rough and tough action on the field was pretty much an accurate portrayal. This was not your average high school team, in your average small town.
I am not fond of football but loved this movie. (I cringed during the hard hits!)
I liked that while Thornton had some good scenes (esp the one in which he talks about winning and losing) the movie was mostly an ensemble piece.
Lucas Black was a stand-out.
I also enjoyed the soundtrack. Can anyone tell me who is playing during the closing credits (and occasionally during the movie)?
Definitely will read the book.
My thoughts on the movie from another thread. As evidenced by the quote, I didn’t like the movie at all. The only character I liked was the large silent black guy and no one else managed to make me care about them in the least, especially the sullen quarterback or the obnoxious running back.
Everyone else, including the coach, was just so bland as to not even warrant attention.
Maybe I should have said, “This is like no other high school ever.” Or ever possible. Mind you I am not commenting directly about this movie, I have not seen it. I was asking because similar problems have put me off similar movies in the past. I can still enjoy them but my suspension of disbelief is strained. Sort of like watching Rocky and Clubber Lang hit each other over and over with no defense in a way that would have killed any real figher.
I read the book a few years back-it was excellent, so I want to catch the movie. Really, Permian HS must be a damn depressing place…these kids want sp much to win (and the chance of getting a college scholarship and getting the FUCK OUT of Midland/Odessa Texas). The really pathetic thing are the former “golden boys” who didn’t make it ib college football…they hang around, and are so happy if somebody actually LISTENS to their tales of when THEY were the starting team of Permian High. I wonder how good you fell when you are 40 years old and your hips hurt like hell from all the tackles you’ve taken in HS…is it worth it?
ralph124c - The father of one of the players said it best. He was on one of Permian’s State-winning teams. He’s drunk and abusive to his son. In one of his rages he says something along the lines of, “You only have one year to make memories that will have to carry you for the rest of your life. One year. Then it’s over and all over.”
Wow, I didn’t get a sullen vibe from the quarterback at all.
The “large silent black guy” did come off that way in the beginning of the movie, but that was just his character’s schtick.
I enjoyed the fact that this was a football movie which managed to tell its story without fists pumping in the air, Motown oldies, or inspiring, uplifting music during the team’s cinematic gridiron exploits.
I thought the movie was pretty good. The only thing about the football action is that the players were all too old and too big to be high school players. Even players at top-flight high schools.
And sometimes the players executed their plays too well. Even the best high school teams don’t execute that well.
And neither did the real Odessa Permian team. The movie made the game with Dallas Carter look like an exciting, well-played game in which Odessa Permian came up juuuust short, and lost 34-28. In reality, the game was a snoozer, one in which neither team played well (the Odessa Permian QB was 4 of 24 passing), and Carter won 14-9.
Now, that said, I enjoyed the movie, but I was sorry they concentrated so much on the action on the gridiron and spent so little time on what I thought were the most interesting aspects of Bissinger’s book- which had to do with the town itself and the school itself, and how warped their priorities seem to be.
Rented the movie last night, so I want to resurrect, rather than start a new thread.
I thought the prologue made a far more interesting movie than the one I was watching. Yeah, this team made it close, but still lost. HOWEVER, the next year’s Odessa Permian went on to win the title.
What made it more remarkable is they did it with a new quarterback (QB was a senior) and without two of their best defensive players (seniors Chavez and the sullen black guy).