OK, well, reading through the bad reviews there are some grudges here based on, well, how the other teams were depicted because 1971 wasn't long enough for some of the people that played them to pass on their mortal coils.
I can relate to that. I grew up countryfied and have tasted the salt of playing against a school that was three or four times our size, schools that could afford to cherry-pick who played. Schools where the defense could rest when the offense was on the field...apparently T.C. Williams was one of those giant schools.
I can sympathize with some of the negative reviews here...because, honestly, if they made a movie like this about Woodstock, I'd give it 1 star out of principal. Seriously, no, we might be hicks, but we rotate from linebacker to offensive tackle. When you faced off against schools that had an actual student body, you knew you were going to lose, the only question was how hard were you going to make their victory. Sounds like T.C. Williams was one of those giant schools.
OK, rant done.
I caught this on TNT and the music drew me in right away. Hear a good song it catches your ear and drags you in.
And this has the acting to back it up. It's very... nice seeing Washington NOT playing the smart-cop role or a variation there of. He can act, he can act well, and this is one of the movies where he's not playing the same role over and over again. So, when he comes out of that shell and gets a gig playing a role he doesn't always play... it's kind of a treat isn't it?
Of course the highlight was really Hayden Panettiere, not because she was absolutely adorable in the film (which she was), but more because she did a great job of turning a little girl into that parent, on the sidelines, that thinks he's Ditka, so she was not only adorable but hysterical.
The Hippie, Ryan Gosling?, was another little gem, not because he did a particularly good job acting, though it was fair enough. No, he stood out because anyone that's payed football knew someone like him. It gave it a bit of an authentic feel.
The only real downside was that, by 1971, schools were integrated and been for a while. It kind of lost that authenticity when they went that route. But, you know what, who cares, it was entertaining enough despite that.
It was a solid football movie.
And for all the 1 star reviews, particularly those written by people from the smaller schools that had to go up against the Titans... I feel for you. I remember being in that situation and I'd be bitter too if the giant school had a movie made about them that suggested they were in anyway the under-dog.