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The promise of Springtime and the Fields
of Summer are coming. It's time to get back outdoors
again.
April offers us all a chance to don our
spring jackets, prep our lawns, and dig into some those
over-due workouts. It’s also a chance for me to play
a little trick on you, in the form of a little April
Fools Day fun.
If you are the first to see the two obvious
mistakes in this month's movie reviews, and send it
into the SPORTS LORE page, you will win a mention on
the page that you are really Bright. I might even send
you a hat or something, compliments from my video store.
I am only going to keep the "mistake" up for 3 days,
or else the whole "April Fools" thing will be lost on
the standard reader. Read on, win a hat, and e-mail
us with if you find the Joke.
This month's picks feature a mix of good
baseball movies, a race car flick, some fringe sports,
family fare, outdoor flicks and one of last year’s favorites.
You can tell us what you think of these
films by voting for your favorite sports movie in this
month's poll. By year’s end, we’ll have another Top
Ten Favorite Sports Movie Poll for you to choose from.
Don’t forget to rewind!
Your Pal, Hal
PRIDE OF THE
YANKEES (1942) – The sentimental, true story
of Lou Gerhig. GARY COOPER plays the first "Iron Man"
of baseball, playing more than 2000 games in a row over
a career spanning 16 years.
The film starts out by telling Gerhig's
story from his youth, where his immigrant parents expect
much more from their son than a career in baseball.
We follow the humble, yet exceptionally talented Gerhig
through his college years, studying engineering, playing
ball, and meeting and eventfully marrying his college
sweet heart, beautiful socialite Eleanor Twitchell.
Noticed in college by sports-writer BRENNAN,
Gerhig gets an offer to play for the Yankees, but only
takes it because his family needs the money to pay for
Mama's doctor bills. He and his father keep his job
a secret for as long as they can. On the bench for a
while, Lou gets his chance to shine by substituting
for another player, and begins one of the most famous
baseball careers in history.
The film follows Gerhig's devotion not
only to his wife and family, but his dedication to the
game, his team and the fans.
Sadly, in the autumn of his career, ALS
(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) strikes Gerhig. The
disease is never mentioned in the movie, save for the
question: "Is it a strike-out Doc?"
Cooper is exceptional as he portrays Gerhig's
strength and character as he tries to keep the knowledge
of this disease from both team and, more importantly,
his wife. As his health rapidly deteriorates, family
and team members begin to realize and appreciate his
courage. The disease has been called Lou Gerhig's Disease
ever since.
A stadium of tear-filled eyes watch as
Babe Ruth, Mayor LaGuardia, et al, pay tribute to Lou
Gerhig in perhaps one of the most famous and inspiring
scenes in any sports film. PRIDE OF THE YANKEES is a
very moving portrait of one man's courage against the
odds.
Tidbits of Trivia: In the stadium scenes,
Cooper, a right hander, was filmed with backward lettering
sewn on his uniform as he ran to third base. The film
was then flipped over to make him appear as South-paw
Gerhig, maintaining an image of authenticity. Also,
not only did Babe Ruth star as himself, but other Bronx
Bombers were in the film as well. Can you name them?
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including
Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress. Unfortunately,
I had to see the "colorized" version; I'd have preferred
the original Black and White. (N/R) BW
GARY COOPER, TERESA WRIGHT, BABE RUTH, WALTER BRENNAN
BAD NEWS BEARS
(1976) – This movie is probably the first
in recent memory to capitalize on the format of "Crusty
Coach is Forced to Encourage a Band of Misfits into
a Winning Team". WALTER MATTHAU is the coach, and you
can't find a better actor to do "Crusty" as good as
MATTHAU.
Here's the scene: Coach Buttermaker, beer-pounding,
former minor league player, is hired to coach the worst
team in the local league. He's not that interested,
but it helps to pay the bills. The team has every misfit
stereotype depiction available: the fat kid, the brainy-math
kid, the black athletic-overachiever kid, and the kids
that don't speak English. The only characters missing
are the tomboy-pitcher and the cigarette-smoking greasy,
moped dude. Which he, of course, eventually recruits.
Buttermaker is really not much of coach.
He's drinking beer in the dugouts, promising how he'll
get them uniforms, (they eventually come – from a bail-bond
shop.) But he never notices how hard these kids are
trying. After a totally embarrassing first-game loss,
he steps up a bit, trying to recruit a pitcher, the
afore-mentioned tomboy. (Their relationship isn't clear,
I couldn't tell if she's his stepdaughter, or his real
daughter, but he's definitely a father figure to her.)
Either way, she's a real hard-nosed case, demanding
Ballet Lessons and Designer Jeans, to stop selling Star-Maps,
and join the team.
She’s a great pitcher…. But she can't
hit. So he convinces her to use her wily-14 year-old
charms to convince Greaseball-Guy, a great hitter, to
join the team. (Another part of the movie I didn't like.)
The formula follows through as expected.
The Drunken Coach softens up and leads them to Victory.
It's not the movie I have problems with
so much; it's the legend. It seems to be such a highly
regarded Family Movie, but Coach gives the kids beer,
while using them to clean the pools he is supposed to
be cleaning. The kids smoke cigarettes, curse like sailors,
etc. It just seems politically incorrect given today's
standards.
There is just too much cursing and other
behavior, by the little kids, for me to endorse this
as a family movie, which is where it's usually placed
in a Video Store. There's no really "bad" bad words,
no F-Bombs, that I can remember, but it seems a bit
crass for its intended audience. But that was PG in
the '70's, before there was a PG-13. So use your own
judgment.
THE BAD NEWS BEARS is a good sports movie,
but I strongly recommend that you don't pick it up,
pop it in at your 8-year-old's VCR at Slumber Party,
and leave the room. But, by all means, see it for yourself
with your PG-13-year olds. (PG)
WALTER MATTHAU, TATUM O’NEIL, VIC MORROW, JOYCE VAN
PATEN
THE LONGEST YARD
(1974) – While I may be back peddling a bit,
my 12-year-old son and I just watched this "R" rated
movie and we thought it was a riot! I know it's a complete
flip from my stodgy review of BAD NEWS BEARS, but the
difference here is we knew what we were getting ourselves
into.
Raunchy and funny film about an out-of-place
character facing unbeatable conditions, THE LONGEST
YARD is a movie that will keep your PG-13 year old tittering
away at the comedy and learning a moral lesson along
the way.
In prison, for stealing his girlfriend's
car, former Pro Quarterback Reynolds is forced to organize
an inmate team to play against the guards. He reluctantly
agrees and recruits some of toughest felons available.
Managing to integrate black and white
prisoners, not without violently losing friends along
the way, Reynolds constructs a team of prisoners who
are a force to be dealt with.
Some of the funniest football scenes on
film; infamous for the line: "I think I broke his #$%*ing
neck." Filmed on location at Georgia State prison. (R)
BURT REYNOLDS, EDDIE ALBERT, BERNADETTE PETERS
ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
(1999) – This was a tough one. ANY GIVEN
SUNDAY's story is complicated. It may be only one team
that this movie focuses on, but I think we're looking
everything that is wrong with Football. And everything
that used to be right.
It’s a typical Oliver Stone movie, looking
into the deep dark world of Any Given Subject. (THE
DOORS, JFK, NATURAL BORN KILLERS) His approach to filming
each and every story of each and every character put
me to the test. It's a very long movie, in other words,
and it didn't have to be. (I'm not saying long is bad.
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAII, THE
GREAT ESCAPE; all are very long, all are very great
movies.)
Here's a bulleted summation of the basic
story and characters:
-
Old School Coach is knocking heads
with new, media-savvy owner, who wants a winning
team at all costs
-
Team members, at physical risk, convince
Doctors to allow them to play for incentives
-
Injured player valiantly tries to
heal and get back into the game
-
Replacement QB tries hard to make
a name for himself. (Quick!)
-
Dirty Doctor is replaced by Rubbery-ethics
Doctor, lured by greed
Sound familiar? Pick 2 or 3 of these themes,
and it's the basis for a decent Sports Movie. Pick all
six, then add several personal sub-plots onto that,
and it just becomes too much to take in all at once.
All that being said from a critical point
of view, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY has some really good points.
It's a meticulously photographed film, with good character
development, and great performances. (FOXX stands out,
as does QUAID and DIAZ). The football-action sequences
totally rock. And the hip-hop/metal soundtrack is probably
worth picking up the Soundtrack CD on its own merits.
(And I'm an old fogey.)
ANY GIVEN SUNDAY is a beautifully shot
movie, with lots of great action sequences, compelling
performances, and morals-testing subjects. It stands
out as a Sport Movie that should be seen. Maybe more
than once.
The most disturbing and telling theme
for me was that through all of the sub-plot storylines,
we hear the same song: "It's all about the teamwork."
But Stone, delving into the heart of each character's
motivation, shows it's all about "ME, ME, ME!" (R)
AL PACINO, CAMERON DIAZ, DENNIS QUAID, JAMIE FOXX, JAMES
WOODS, LL COOL J, MATTHEW MODINE, ANN-MARGRET
BREAKING AWAY
(1979) – BREAKING AWAY follows four best
buds, recently graduated from high school, through the
summer after graduation. They live in Bloomington, Indiana,
a college town and also the center of a depressed Granite
Quarry.
Each young man has sort of a plan of what's
next in life, but the film quickly focuses in on Dave,
who dreams of becoming a bicycle-racer. The best racers,
he says are the Italians, so he immerses himself into
all things Italian. He learns Italian phrases, listens
to Italian Opera, and even develops an accent, calling
his folks "Mamma" and "Poppa." This confuses the heck
out of Dave's dad, former Granite "Cutter," as the college
kids call the townies. Dad, now a used-car salesman,
has hopes his son will go onto college right in town.
Dave's mom is supportive, even to the point of cooking
Italian food for the family. Dad is annoyed; wishing
his son would drop the act and start thinking responsibly
about the future.
While the Italian act doesn't go over
well, with either his friends or his Dad, Dave somehow
convinces a rich college girl, who is left over the
summer on-campus, that he is a real-life Italian Exchange
Student. They begin to fall in love, even though she
has a boyfriend. In a great scene, as we see Dave serenading
his new found love, we also see Mom and Dad getting
closer to each other with the help of one of his Italian
records of the same song.
Dave's Italian-act may be a posture, but
we see that he is entirely committed to racing. His
self-imposed, rigorous training schedule includes biking
every morning along the highway using the drag behind
truckers to help him along. They seem to have done this
before, as he pumps his bike to keep up under their
watchful eyes in the rear-view.
In a divine bit of scripted luck, Dave's
heroes, the National Bicycling Italians, are on-tour
and are scheduled to race Bloomington's college team.
Now Dave can actually race alongside the Italian racing
team across the highways and by-ways of Indiana, perhaps
garnering the attention of the team and succeeding in
his dream of joining them.
Competing fiercely, and pulling closer
to his beloved racing team than any of his college trained
counter-parts, Dave's dreams are pounded down hard when
the professional team resorts to unscrupulous methods
to keep him at bay. In other words, they cheat, laughing
all the way. The team he has so desperately aspired
to become a part of has shown un-sportsman-like conduct
that he cannot comprehend. Depressed, Dave wants to
give it all up.
His Dad, in a heartfelt scene on campus,
talks about the better life he tried to build for his
son, and encourages Dave not to quit, but to go on to
attending Bloomington, pointing out that the Quarry-working
town-folk were actually the ones that built the college's
buildings; proud, strong buildings, which Dave deserves
to be in.
His high school buddies rally 'round Dave
and support him by forming their own racing team, "The
Cutters." They enter the College 500 and help their
buddy to victory. They all feel vindicated as they band
together and beat the college boys, and realize that
while they now may be on separate paths in life, their
friendship will last forever.
BREAKING AWAY won the Academy award in
1979 for best original screenplay. (PG)
DENNIS CHRISTOPHER, DENNIS QUAID, DANIEL STERN, JACKIE
EARL HALEY, BARBARA BARRIE, PAUL DOOLIE, AMY WRIGHT
CADDYSHACK (1980)
– It’s the Slobs versus the Snobs at the
posh Bushwood Country Club.
Director Harold Ramis notes on the DVD
of Caddyshack, that the original concept for the movie
was to have been that of working-class caddies toiling
for the obnoxious upper-class members at a snobby Country
Club. The focus was to have been set on the trials and
tribulations of Danny Noonan, who is trying to win the
club's college scholarship. Soon after casting the adults,
that the filmmakers realized they had so much talent
to exploit, in the forms of CHEVY CHASE, RODNEY DANGERFILED,
BILL MURRAY, etc., that they quickly expanded their
roles in the picture, placing poor Danny's story on
the back burner. (Or should I say "back nine"?)
The result is that CADDYSHACK hasn't so
much of a plot, but is rather a feature length string
of sketches, many of them hilarious, each tailored to
the strengths of the various co-stars.
Chevy Chase is at his debonair goofiest
as Ty Webb, wealthy smart-aleck, whose Zen approach
to golf precludes him from keeping score.
Ted Knight, who we remember as Ted Baxter
from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, as Judge Smails, uncontested
ruler of the club and big snob who has to deal with
interloper…
RODNEY DANGERFIELD, nouveau-riche slob,
who threatens to take over the club and turn it into
condos.
Bill MURRAY steals the show with his portrayal
of the skanky groundskeeper Carl Spackler, who is instructed
to rid the course of gophers at all costs.
Thus, the story of the caddies takes a
back seat and the main plot turns into to be high-brow
rich against low-brow rich. After many funny set-up
sketches, low-brow Dangerfield challenges high-brow
Knight to a golf game to end all golf games. Money talks,
it seems, and it talks loudly.
The stakes for the game keep getting higher
and higher as they play, enticing Danny, caddy to Knight,
to change sides, and become a player for the other side,
since the bet is now more than the scholarship. The
contest boils down to a putting match between the Judge,
and his team mate vs. Ty and his newly recruited caddy/teammate
Noonan.
As always, it comes down to the last shot,
which is almost lost on a putt that finally rolls in,
thanks to Murray's explosive attempt to rid the course
of it's vermin gopher problem.
CADDYSHACK is a disjointed mess that is
funny as heck. I'll bet everybody has a favorite scene.
Whether it's the Baby Ruth floating in the swimming
pool, or the uppity priest getting struck down by lightning.
Or could it be the low-tech hand-held puppet of a gopher
that makes noises right out of "Flipper"?
We've all seen CADDYSHACK on TV for years,
which is why we all have our cleaned-up favorite scenes
in our heads. For family viewing of the original film
on VHS or DVD, be warned, there is nudity and sexual
scenes. CADDYSHACK is sophomoric and silly, but at least
there isn't any overtly gross sexual conduct, which
seems to be the extent of teen-age humor these days.
(R)
CHEVY CHASE, RODNEY DANGERFILED, TED KNIGHT, MICHAEL
O’KEEFE, BILL MURRAY, SARAH HOLCOMB
(A personal note: On the DVD Special Features
extra documentary, CHASE continuously refers to Bill
Murray as "Billy." "'Billy' was funny at this;" "'Billy'
and I had past problems." CHASE's continuous use of
the diminutive form of MURRAY's first name was a smug
and obvious put-down that really bugged me.
Well, guess what, "Chev": BILL MURRAY
was recently nominated for Best Actor this year (LOST
IN TRANSLATION), and has chosen his roles with some
dignity. MURRAY has some Class, but you, my friend,
will be forever known as the big dopey guy who played
Griswald in the National Lampoon Vacation Movies. Big
money, maybe, but No Class; and perhaps a real life
parallel to the movie.)
DAYS OF THUNDER
(1990) – It's almost too glib to say that
DAYS OF THUNDER is "TOP GUN" on wheels, but that's pretty
much what it is.
TOM CRUISE came up with the story idea
and co-wrote the script with ROBERT TOWNE. (CHINATOWN,
SHAMPOO, and THE LAST DETAIL) TONY SCOTT, who directed
TOP GUN, also directs this picture.
CRUISE plays Cole Trickle, is lured into
teaming with legendary crew chief and car designer Harry
Hogg, by used-car dealer Tim Daland, who wants to build
his own winning NASCAR team. Daland sees the fearless
talent and ambition in Trickle to win, but also understands
that in order to win the Daytona 500, that raw energy
must be tempered by the older, wiser Hogg.
As Cole continues to improve, he also
develops a not so healthy competition with opposing
team driver Rowdy Burns. Their side-scraping duels eventually
land them both in the hospital, where Trickle meets
his love interest, Claire, the physician who treats
them both.
Meanwhile, Russ Wheeler has taken over
for Cole while he was in hospital, and now is the favored
driver for Daland's team. So Cole is out.
When Dr. Claire determines that Rowdy
is unfit to race, Cole is persuaded by Rowdy to race
for him against teammate Wheeler in the final races
of the Winston Cup. Trickle has matured enough now to
convince his mentor Hogg to join him in the switch.
The action is Fast and Furious, as the
two drivers, who should be racing on the same team,
go against one another. That action is captured by director
Scott's placing of cameras in real race cars, in real
races, the first time that had been done.
In a last minute pit stop, now Competitor/Owner
Daland, displays the true spirit of sportsmanship, and
has his pit crew lend a hand to push-start of Cole's
car back onto the track. Let the best man win! (PG-13)
TOM CRUISE, ROBERT DUVALL, RANDY QUAID, NICOLE KIDMAN,
CARY ELWES, MICHAEL ROOKERS
FIELD OF DREAMS
(1989) – Fantasy meets reality in this Academy
Award nominated picture.
An Iowa farmer heeds a disembodied voice
encouraging him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfields,
bringing together the spirit of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
and the 1919 Black Sox.
Following the same voice, and with the
loving support of his wife, he travels the country,
where he meets and convinces a reclusive author and
a mysterious doctor to come to his field; a small place
in Iowa where magic can happen.
This is an absorbing film that may be
less about baseball than it is about family, trust,
commitment and the courage to follow a dream.
A short review for a great movie, I know,
but sometimes less it more. A Definite Must See. (PG)
KEVIN COSTNER, AMY MDIGAN, JAMES EARL JONES, RAY LIOTTA,
BURT LANCASTER
GRIND (2003)
– While most of his friends are using
their last summer out of High School getting ready for
college, skateboarder Eric Rivers has different plans.
Pro Boarding Star Jimmy Wilson's Tour is coming to his
own sweet home Chicago. If Eric can get close enough
to his idol Jimmy and show him his own wicked tricks,
it's a cinch that he'll be signed to join the pro tour
as well. Sounds like a simple enough plan, but Eric
and his friends Matt and Dustin can't get close enough
to the Pro to even drop off their sponsor video. It
is dumped, with hundred of others, into the bowels of
the tour bus, never to be seen by anyone.
And so a new plan is hatched: ROAD TRIP!
Using Dustin's college fund and new recruit "Sweet"
Lou's van, the boys invent their own sponsor and turn
"Pro". Now all they have to do is catch up to the Tour
and enter as Pros.
The rest of the movie is one comic misadventure
after another as the boys barrel across the country,
following but never hooking up with their hero's Pro
Tour. Along their way they meet such professional Skate
Vert Champs as Bam Margera, Bucky Lasek, and Bob Burnquist.
Catching up to the Tour in its last days
in Santa Monica, CA, our beloved slackers finally get
their chance to show their stuff.
I know I'm old, but I watch ESPN2, too;
these boy's tricks are not all that fantastic, and I
expected a little more harder-edged soundtrack. (PG-13)
MIKE VOGEL, VINCE VIELUF, ADAM BRODY, JOEY KERN, JENNIFER
MORRISON
DIGGSTOWN (1992)
– Garbiel Caine is a con man, in the joint,
where he's been running the betting on the "sweet science"
in stir for a number of years.
Fresh out of prison, our man Caine (JAMES
WOODS) beats a path to Diggstown, GA, a tiny Burg where
there is only one thing that the folks take more seriously
than their boxing; and that is their betting on boxing.
Before actually coming to town Caine sends
front man Fitz (PLATT) to drum up word that there is
a boxer that just can't be beat: "Honey" Roy Palmer.
Caine blows into town and quickly hooks
up with John Gillon (BRUCE DERN), another, perhaps more
sinister conman, who runs the town's unregulated boxing/betting
machine. Gillon owns Diggstown. No, he literally Owns
it: He won the whole town on a boxing bet, and rules
Diggstown with an iron fist.
It is Caine now touting "Honey" Roy's
talent and soon enough there is a huge wager being placed:
"Honey" Roy can beat any ten men in town in a day. This
is a bet that Gillon cannot pass up.
Now all Caine has to do is to convince
"Honey" Roy (LOU GOSSET, JR.) an ex-heavy-weight contender
to come down to Georgia to actually fight ten men in
one day, something that has seems to have slipped his
mind. But soon, the ego-massaging, money-promising Caine
has Roy in line.
From this point both con-men, Caine and
Gillon, are out recruiting challengers; Gillon recruiting
them to win, Caine paying them to take a dive. We can
see that each man is a hustler out to win at any cost.
As the matches begin, there are some final
considerations to be ironed out. Some semantics to be
perused, if you will, brought up by snaky town owner
Gillon. The bet was that Palmer has to beat ten men,
but nobody ever said it had to be ten in a row. (Whoops!)
Palmer, middle-aged former pro can get the crap kicked
out of him and still have to face a new opponent. Plus,
the bet goes for 24 hours. A "day" is 24 hours, another
bothersome tidbit that seems to have escaped Caine's
forward thinking mind.
Each fight won or lost by Palmer steps
up the stakes, now into astronomical amounts and the
suspense. Can the contenders, each bought and paid for
by one, if not both of the con promoters, be relied
on to dump and roll, or duke it out as though their
life depends on it? (As it does, in one instance, enough
said.) Can the pudgy, though hard as nails boxer stick
it out for 24 hours? And what about the surprise, last
contender brought in at the last minute?
DIGGSTOWN is a humorous con movie, a good
mystery, with well shot boxing sequences. The performances
by all of the main characters are right on the mark.
Sorry folks, I have to do this: DIGGSTOWN
IS A KNOCKOUT! (R)
JAMES WOODS, LOUIS GOSSETT, JR, BRUCE DERN, OLIVER PLATT,
HEATHER GRAHAM, RANDALL"TEX" COBB
BONUS FOOTAGE:
Some movies are Good, some movies are
Great, and some movies haven't even been invented yet.
In the place of our usual review of a "Guilty Pleasure",
here is an offering of a hypothetical short.
SPACKLER'S GOPHER DILEMA (Date: Never
Gonna Happen)
Here’s a recipe for a Classic Flick I
would like to see:
Take a black and white, "Three Stooges"
type approach to CADDYSHACK's groundskeeper Spackler's
"GOPHER DILEMMA" and make it into a 1930's short. Twenty
minutes max.
Start with head Grounds Keeper's instructions
to Spackler to rid the Posh Club's course of the Gophers,
not the "Golfers."
Cut out everything else from Caddyshack
and focus only on Spackler's task: GET RID OF THE GOPHER.
Begin with his plan of flooding him out;
pulling on his hose. Toss in the low-tech varmint, running
from his flood.
Add the rich playboy "playing-through"
Spackler's dilapidated hovel of a garage/home at the
Club.
Stir in Spackler's aspiring dream to become
Head Groundskeeper with his patented new "Grass". (You
can play on it and then you can smoke it!)
Mix the monologue he has while he builds
his plastic-explosive furry friends and his sneaking
up on the Gopher's hole, military-style, trying to befriend
the varmint, but being out-witted by the rodent at every
turn.
Serve up, and watch the hilarious results.
With the big bet scenes playing behind
Spackler, it would be like a working class ROSENCRANTZ
AND GILDENSTERN ARE DEAD.
Spackler's behind the scenes antics turn
out to create an explosive finish to the characters
that he is barely aware of.
Even the dancing puppet gopher is funny.
"SPACKLERS GOPHER DILEMA " is a classic
movie that I am sure never existed, nor ever will, but
it would have been a very funny short. (PG)
BILL MURRY, HAND PUPPET
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