My wife and I watched this movie at home on Netflix streaming movies. Judging by the paltry box office numbers and the very few IMDb votes far too few people have seen it. Mostly true, it would seem too melodramatic if it were fiction, and wonderful story of a football player that to this day, almost 50 years later, inspires University of Texas football players.
Most of the movie involved the 1968 and 1969 college football seasons. Even though I now live in Texas (for 30 years now) back then I was a student at Purdue University and a Big 10 fan, so I don't specifically recall what UT was doing in those years.
The movie starts in 2010 when a young lady is interviewing old coach Darrell Royal who would have been about 86 at that time. She asks about who his favorite All-American was and after a brief pause he says "Freddie Steinmark". The reporter is taken aback, Steinmark was NOT one of UT's All-Americans but Royal says "He was MY All-American." And that is what the movie is about.
Aaron Eckhart is good as Coach Royal and Finn Wittrock (looking too much like Matt Damon) is Freddie Steinmark. We first see him in high school in Colorado, hoping to get a chance to play at Notre Dame. Or somewhere, because he wasn't very big at 5'9" and 165 pounds. He is surprised with a visit offer to University of Texas at Austin where Coach Royal offers him a full scholarship to play football.
The story is about how Freddie always had a positive attitude and a work ethic, both on the field and in the classroom, that set the bar for everyone else. He became the star on defense and in punt and kickoff returns and as Coach tells him later, they would not have won the national championships without Freddie.
Good story, good movie. The recreation of football action is very realistic.
SPOILERS: During that 1969 season when UT went undefeated, was voted #1, and won the Cotton Bowl over Notre Dame, Freddie began to experience increasingly painful discomfort in his left leg. At the end of the season Coach made him see a doctor and he was ultimately sent to MD Anderson in Houston where he was diagnosed with bone cancer. They had to amputate his leg at the hip, the prognosis was not good. Freddie disregarded doctor's orders and learned to use a walking device so that he was able to attend the Cotton Bowl game and help inspire his teammates to victory over Notre Dame. He died less than 2 years after his surgery.
Most of the movie involved the 1968 and 1969 college football seasons. Even though I now live in Texas (for 30 years now) back then I was a student at Purdue University and a Big 10 fan, so I don't specifically recall what UT was doing in those years.
The movie starts in 2010 when a young lady is interviewing old coach Darrell Royal who would have been about 86 at that time. She asks about who his favorite All-American was and after a brief pause he says "Freddie Steinmark". The reporter is taken aback, Steinmark was NOT one of UT's All-Americans but Royal says "He was MY All-American." And that is what the movie is about.
Aaron Eckhart is good as Coach Royal and Finn Wittrock (looking too much like Matt Damon) is Freddie Steinmark. We first see him in high school in Colorado, hoping to get a chance to play at Notre Dame. Or somewhere, because he wasn't very big at 5'9" and 165 pounds. He is surprised with a visit offer to University of Texas at Austin where Coach Royal offers him a full scholarship to play football.
The story is about how Freddie always had a positive attitude and a work ethic, both on the field and in the classroom, that set the bar for everyone else. He became the star on defense and in punt and kickoff returns and as Coach tells him later, they would not have won the national championships without Freddie.
Good story, good movie. The recreation of football action is very realistic.
SPOILERS: During that 1969 season when UT went undefeated, was voted #1, and won the Cotton Bowl over Notre Dame, Freddie began to experience increasingly painful discomfort in his left leg. At the end of the season Coach made him see a doctor and he was ultimately sent to MD Anderson in Houston where he was diagnosed with bone cancer. They had to amputate his leg at the hip, the prognosis was not good. Freddie disregarded doctor's orders and learned to use a walking device so that he was able to attend the Cotton Bowl game and help inspire his teammates to victory over Notre Dame. He died less than 2 years after his surgery.