The Longest Yard (1974)
Yet another "ooh -- I love this movie, so my teenage son who's never seen it will probably love it too! Let's watch it!" experiments. Reasons this experiment didn't go too well: 1) I don't love it as much now as I did when I first saw it 20 years ago 2) My son will, apparently, never love it and I don't really blame him.
It's far darker and quite a bit less funny than I remember. Burt Reynolds is a washed-up football player who everyone knows fixed a big game. He's thrown in jail after stealing his girlfriend's car and making fools of the local police force by leading them on a ridiculous (and rather boring) chase. The inmates don't like him because of his ballplayer disgrace and the warden doesn't like him because he won't play ball -- literally.
Of course he redeems himself and becomes one of the guys. Of course he winds up playing ball. Unfortunately, the big game that serves as the film's finale is shot confusingly and actually looks like some cheesy '70s-era college game outtakes. What a mess.
I used to have it listed as a B+, but it's getting downgraded.
C+
It's far darker and quite a bit less funny than I remember. Burt Reynolds is a washed-up football player who everyone knows fixed a big game. He's thrown in jail after stealing his girlfriend's car and making fools of the local police force by leading them on a ridiculous (and rather boring) chase. The inmates don't like him because of his ballplayer disgrace and the warden doesn't like him because he won't play ball -- literally.
Of course he redeems himself and becomes one of the guys. Of course he winds up playing ball. Unfortunately, the big game that serves as the film's finale is shot confusingly and actually looks like some cheesy '70s-era college game outtakes. What a mess.
I used to have it listed as a B+, but it's getting downgraded.
C+
posted by MeMe | 11:04 PM
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