I know, it's old news now, but I finally got around to seeing it.

I gotta say, I don't like many sports movies so I went in a little biased. I thought this movie sucked. It took all of two minutes to find a ton of flaws, so it's obvious they didn't spend any attention to detail.

Where were the tailpads? Why were they using a pro football most of the time? Why did the kicker they recruited as a soccer player kick right footed when he was shown as a left footer?

There is no way it could have been that difficult to find a coach willing to take a job at a school like Marshall, regardless of the circumstances.

Mathew was irritating all movie long, and the attempts at Swearingen being an upset father were lacking. None of it made any sense. And of course, there were the Rockyesque football scenes where every play had about ten pancakes and the actual play would have taken about a minute in real time.

I was terribly let down by this flick. I got about an hour and a half in and almost turned it off, but stuck it out just to see if it could somehow be saved. Didn't happen.

Any of you guys have opinions on this? Am I being too tough, or was it really that bad?

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Any of you guys have opinions on this? Am I being too tough, or was it really that bad?

Dunno. I enjoyed it.

I didn't notice the stuff you did and that may have made it less enjoyable, but I still liked it.

Certainly not a classic or anything, but the scene where Dedmon approached the NCAA with his hat in his hand was kinda neat. Reminded me (the result) of Red Redding being told he was a free man.

Enjoyable flick that I'll never make time to watch again. Kinda like Hoosiers I suppose.

Beanpot

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Mathew was irritating all movie long, and the attempts at Swearingen being an upset father were lacking.

I pretty much avoid McConaughey. U-571 could have been brilliant were it not for him. Maybe not.

But I liked him in this roll.

Who is Swearingen? Is that the Paul Griffen character? I thought that guy was nuts on perfect.

Beanpot

Swearengen is the guy who was the central character of the show Deadwood on HBO. Probably one of the best actors I've ever seen, but his role as a bitter father over the death of his son just seemed to be lacking. Not really because of his efforts, but just the storyline in general.

This movie couldn't hold a candle to Hoosiers IMO, just not very well done. That's typical of Hollyweird, though.

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I pretty much avoid McConaughey. U-571 could have been brilliant were it not for him. Maybe not.

Now there's a guy whose potential dried up fast.
WSS

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Originally posted by Earthed Ice:
Swearengen is the guy who was the central character of the show Deadwood on HBO. Probably one of the best actors I've ever seen, but his role as a bitter father over the death of his son just seemed to be lacking. Not really because of his efforts, but just the storyline in general.

They mashed about 50 people into his role. Which makes him seem kind of distant, to me. He was actually my only gripe of the movie. I've seen it twice (once at the premier in Huntington, & once in my home on DVD. ) I was too wrapped up on the story to notice the tailpads, kicker, etc...

But yeah, it REALLY was that difficult to find the coach.

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Originally posted by Legacy Fan:

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Originally posted by Earthed Ice:
Swearengen is the guy who was the central character of the show Deadwood on HBO. Probably one of the best actors I've ever seen, but his role as a bitter father over the death of his son just seemed to be lacking. Not really because of his efforts, but just the storyline in general.

They mashed about 50 people into his role. Which makes him seem kind of distant, to me. He was actually my only gripe of the movie. I've seen it twice (once at the premier in Huntington, & once in my home on DVD. ) I was too wrapped up on the story to notice the tailpads, kicker, etc...

But yeah, it REALLY was that difficult to find the coach.

Leg, sounds like you have connections with Marshall.

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Originally posted by Earthed Ice:
Leg, sounds like you have connections with Marshall.

Yeah, my Grandad (Mom's dad) was the "G-D athletic director," (to quote the film) that was killed in the crash. The producers rented out the 18-screen plex the day of the premiere, 9 screens for the '70 team (crash) families & 9 screens for the '71 team (Young Herd), and the director & producer came in sat & answered questions in all 18 screens afterwards - it was pretty classy, I thought. My parents went to the "hollywood" premiere that night. Dad met Mattew Fox (Lost) said he was a real class-act but McConaughey was a space cadet. Red Dawson has spent about 10 thanksgivings with our family. We've got a few ties to Marshall.

I went back & watched the dvd again and noticed some Nike air Shark cleats (early to mid 90's shoe) kind of funny to see.

The coolest part is that my dad (who was a freshman @ WVU) knew some guys on the Marshall team that died in the crash from his hometown (Charleston, WV) & lived with some freshman on the WVU team (who were also from Charleston). He said the part about the "MU" symbols on the back of WVU's players helmets was legit.