Well, it's time to make a stand for this gem of a sports movie. Many have criticized its non-surprising plot, its football scenes and the accent. I want to say I have to defend and protect this movie from such attacks. 1) The Plot: Hey it is a sports movie and I have never seen a movie of this genre which is not 100% foreseeable. After all, the fact that here David does not win against Goliath may be considered a relatively fresh idea in a genre, where it is usually exactly the opposite.
2) The football: I come from Germany, a country where they love football (especially me). Of course the movie shows only clips from the games. Hey there are 4 cup and 3 championship matches covered in this movie. Of course they could not be showed in full length (The final game alone would be 130 minutes plus the penalty shootout). The scenes shown are not better or worse than those you see in any match summary on sports TV., so it feels realistic
3) The accent: I think I have read in the IMDb that Robert Duvall is an American actor...so why arguing over his accent? Of course he sounds from real phony in the early shot scenes to almost nailing it in the later ones, but all in all he does a better job at sounding like a Scotsman than many other actors who tried and failed before (esp. Mel Gibson in Braveheart). More important is his acting and in that Duvall delivers a brilliant performance. He very reminds me of my great uncle who is a football trainer in Elgin, Scotland.
That to the most criticized aspects. In short, I love this movie for its realism (and such David Goliath myths happen in football, believe me) and love for detail. So I advise everyone to watch this with an open mind. The film is neither a realistic documentary about football nor is it an epic sports drama, but it never aspired to be one...
My tip: rent it and watch it...you could do worse.
2) The football: I come from Germany, a country where they love football (especially me). Of course the movie shows only clips from the games. Hey there are 4 cup and 3 championship matches covered in this movie. Of course they could not be showed in full length (The final game alone would be 130 minutes plus the penalty shootout). The scenes shown are not better or worse than those you see in any match summary on sports TV., so it feels realistic
3) The accent: I think I have read in the IMDb that Robert Duvall is an American actor...so why arguing over his accent? Of course he sounds from real phony in the early shot scenes to almost nailing it in the later ones, but all in all he does a better job at sounding like a Scotsman than many other actors who tried and failed before (esp. Mel Gibson in Braveheart). More important is his acting and in that Duvall delivers a brilliant performance. He very reminds me of my great uncle who is a football trainer in Elgin, Scotland.
That to the most criticized aspects. In short, I love this movie for its realism (and such David Goliath myths happen in football, believe me) and love for detail. So I advise everyone to watch this with an open mind. The film is neither a realistic documentary about football nor is it an epic sports drama, but it never aspired to be one...
My tip: rent it and watch it...you could do worse.