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WE ARE MARSHALL made Capone cry... almost... but in a good way!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. I'd been warned in advance that the story of the 1970 Marshall University football team was one that has made grown men weep openly for more than 25 years. On a November night, the chartered jet carrying the team, coaches, fans, and prominent members of the Huntington, WV community from a game in North Carolina that afternoon crashed just short of the airport where it was meant to land, killing about 60 people. The incident didn't just shatter the university's student body; it nearly destroyed the town of Huntington, where the families of many of those killed resided. So the question of whether to bother ever rebuilding the university's football program hardly seemed important to most.
In what was deemed by many to be the ultimate act of bad taste, the university's president (David Strathairn, in full nervous twitch mode) is convinced by the team's few surviving players (most of whom were injured and never made the trip) to keep the Thundering Herd" football program alive and rebuild it in time for the following season. Eventually, the team's one surviving coach, Red Dawson (played respectfully and respectably by "Lost's" Matthew Fox) is brought back to the field after swearing he could never do it. After going through the entire list of potential head coach's, the university president receives a letter from an outsider (apparently Marshall coaches are historically alumni).
Matthew McConaughey plays Jack Lengyel enters the picture full of excitement, talking out of the side of his mouth, and sporting a hideous '70s hairstyle, temporarily erasing all his sex symbol appeal. McConaughey has simply never been this good, and it is genuinely exciting to see him actually acting again and just smiling and looking tan. He creates a complete character in his portrayal of Lengyel, a man and coach who took some getting used to. Lengyel didn't really spend much time being somber or paying tribute to the dead players and coaches. He had to literally build an entire team in less than a year. And with so many of West Virginia's finest players opting to play for the state school West Virginia University, the pickings were slim.
McConaughey is a powerhouse in this film, leaving behind the obligatory beefcake scenes and massive appeal for a character that is far quirkier and less appealing than ones he has played in the past. I think he even leaves his shirt on in this film; I could be wrong on that. His Jack Lengyel is not about mourning for the lost players; he's about piecing together a team that the old team would be proud of, one that carries on the proud traditions of football at Marshal University. It's a near impossible job, but by putting aside sentimentality for the sake of putting together a worthy team, he slowly gains the respect of the community. So many of McConaughey's hunky roles are interchangeable, but this performance stands out as a shining example of what a strong actor the guy can be when he tries. He's riveting here.
But getting the Marshall students excited about the new team was simple compared to convincing the Huntington community, some of whom cried "Too soon!" to this new team. Ian McShane plays the father of one of the dead players, and his voice of descent is the loudest when the school leaders decides to keep the football program alive. Also on hand lending supporting roles are the always great Anthony Mackie as one of the three players who didn't die in the crash; Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Lengyel's supportive wife, and January Jones as the fiancée of McShane's dead son.
The football scenes give director McG (the filmmaker behind both Charlie's Angels films) really move his camera the way we're used to seeing him, but he shows impressive restraint when he needs to in We Are Marshall. The progression of that season's football games is unique, in that you actually see the team get better with each game. Every game is a struggle and, often, it's a struggle they lose. But as it will inevitably be pointed out time and again in reviews of this film, the object of Marshall's 1971 season was not to be champions but to simply play and stay alive. The movie has unexpected emotional impact, even to those of us not normally moved by sports films. We Are Marshall doesn't always aim for the heart or the tear ducts with obvious sentimentality, but it somehow manages to hit those spots anyway. For the players and the audience, the conclusion of the season is an emotional release that feels well earned and wholly appropriate.
Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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I know... hate me.
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maybe?
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I do want to see this. I liked Remember the Titans, and I'm a sucker for a good sports "pump up" feel good movie ala Karate Kid, Hoosiers, Vision Quest, or Dodgeball. And dammit, Matt Mc does, indeed, have a good movie in him. Fucking Failure to Launch?!?!?! I was forced to watch that shit. Even my girlfriend admitted it sucked. I then punched her in the face. Sahara was good - fuck you all!
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Yea the original Lionel. The funny one who also starred in 'All in the Family' He died of throat Cancer. I know he wasn't a huge star, but the guy made us all laugh and still is in rerurns. I thought someone should mention it.
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C'mon, Capone
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Another football movie...coooooool.
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Yeah - she thought it looked cute. At the 30 minute point she actually fessed up. Sorry to say, we own, er, she owns this G Paltrow flick called Swinging Doors and the newer flick with Uma Thurman when she dates the younger dude who is the son of her shrink. Can't understand why I'm admitting this .... feels good to confess.
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This film looks like McG took some prosac and decided to put his camera on a tripod. I really wanted to see this movie before hearing he directed it.
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Most word processors today have it. Just some advice. After reading high school essays all day, this was a step down. Thanks for the movie review anyway. Your taste in films is respectable even if your Composition 101 skills are not.
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I would have used Marshall Poultry Pops. This is a family oriented website. I'm fucking telling you.
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Kate Mara is the fiancee' of Ian McShane's dead son in the movie, not January Jones. Jones plays Matthew Fox's character's wife in the movie and she does great in her limited time.
McConaughey does decent in the movie, but Fox, Mackie and Mara steal the show in my mind! Fox is LEGIT! -
and I love a good football movie but something about this hasn't grabbed me, but Capone, I trust you, I TRUST you...can I saw that again I T-R-U-S-T you, so if you say this is good, I'll see it.Lebron, King Henrey, got you guys beat, my MALE, stright, heavy metal listening roommate love...THE NOTEBOOK and The Last Dance or Step Up or one of those lame "dancing" movies
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..."thundering into theaters this Christmas." Okay that was bad. Anyway, this looks like a worthy addition to my list of movies that I am curious about but will ultimately never free up time to see. Sigh. I did feel though that McConaughey was wasting his talent doing chick flicks, so it's good to see him in a more serious role. BTW, was anyone else freaked out by the engine trouble that the Marshall charter jet had in Greenville, NC (home of ECU) this past season? Thankfully that was not an exact repeat of that fateful November night.
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Sports movies are just softcore gay porn for straight men. So it's totally OK to openly weep on your best male friend's shoulder while he strokes your hair. You can still go to the strip mall later and remain your heterosexual pride.
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I don't like football (or any sports) movie, but this was a great film. It wasn't really as much about the football team as it is the people (the families, friends, and other town members) who were left behind after the crash. I wasn't that excited to see it, at first, but my fiance's family is from Huntington so she really wanted to see it. I really loved the movie. It's definitely a must see. Of course, I also got the inside scoop on places and people in the film, but I believe it was still a great, moving film beyond that. And, by the way, there were 75 people that died on that crash (not 60). Just a little fact correction.
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Not 60 or so, Capone. That's how many people died in the crash. Coaches, players, boosters and the flight crew. A truly tragic event and a pretty good movie.
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you know, hven't seen the movie but but based on posts above, the title says what this is about: you lose a precious group of people to chance, this kills hope in the communities that were bound by them and their feats, and then you set out rebuiding that symbol, against the "but that's not my puppy" syndrome. and you get to improve (or at least uphold) not just a dead team's standing, but to lay bare why it'd be worth busting your ass to keep that legacy alive. And even thought you ain't the guys, by the end, you can say, in an hirtherto unpredictably honest voice: We are Marshal. Sounds like the victory is in keeping a team's myth alive versus death and lack of talent and all. I will see this film and will be mehhed if the new team wins, and moved if they just about barely make it to become a potential, some-day maybe, second tier run at what the embryos of the players who died might have been. I don't like sports movies, but this title promises a special, I hope i get delivered.
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The new team wins their first home game (yes, that's actually how it went down and the game was listed as one of the 100 greatest football games of all time by ESPN). However, they only won two games that entire season and only 9 under Lengyel's 4-year tenure, which Kate Mara's character explains in the closing of the film. So, just know that the film ends with that first home game.
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