When the Game Stands Tall
August. 22,2014 PGA young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
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Reviews
That was an excellent one.
People are voting emotionally.
Highly Overrated But Still Good
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Following the true live events of the De La Salle High School Spartans and their epic coach Bob Ladouceur who at one time had a 151 game winning streak. What happens when the champions become the underdogs? A senseless murder occurs of a promising young player... Will the coach, players, alumni recover and soldier on? This film talks about brotherhood and family in ways that all athletes could stand to be reminded of. Fantastic movie.
Review: I couldn't really get into this film because I'm not a big American Football fan and I haven't heard of this team before. I was hoping that there was going to be some interesting individuals which I would find entertaining but it was totally about the game and how the team pulled together and became the best. Personally, I found the film quite corny and more like a HBO special than a cinematic movie. The performances were average and none of the team members really stuck out from the rest. As it's based on a true story, the achievements that the team made were very inspiring but for entertainment, we have all seen this very American type of movie before. There is obviously an audience for this type of movie, judging by the profit that it made at the box office but I personally lost interest after a while. Average!Round-Up: The only reason why I gave this movie a chance was because of movies like Any Given Sunday, The Blind Side and the Gridiron Gang, which I really enjoyed. You don't really need to be a American Football fan to enjoy those movies but you do with this film. There are a couple of scenes which deal with the individual players but they don't last that long. Jim Caviezel didn't really show that much emotion through the film and he seemed to have the same expression on his face most of the time but maybe that is down to the director who was trying keep the character as close to the real Bob Ladouceur as possible. Anyway, this movie wasn't really for me but I'm sure that the Spartan and American Football fans will love it.Budget: $15million Worldwide Gross: $30millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their true sports biopics about the Spartan American Football team and there record breaking achievements. 3/10
+ Story: Good + Game match thrills: Exciting - Script When The Game Stands Tall was one of the most under-rated film which will inspire and motivate you with head-strong story of a team who had continuous 151 games winning-streak within short span of time.When The Game Stands Tall tells the true story of legendary Bob Ladouceur who led De La Salle High School Spartans shattered all records incepting from obscurity to the winning streak Thomas Carter ( Coach Carter, Metro) does well in adapting the true story which is based on a novel of same name written by Neil Hayes. However, he fumbles upon in the initial reel for some time and story takes some to build upon you. The real fun begin when De La Salle High School Spartans wins a game after the continuous defeat. The choreography of this game is ultimate and deserves a thumbs up for the thrills and adventure.He succeeds in telling the story of the coach who, despite all odds,dares to dream and achieves the goal. The screenplay is like a roller-coaster ride keeping the audience alive in the second half coupled with beautiful background score. Editing could have been more crispy. Performances were fine.Jim Caviezel was just about OK. Probably, he could worked much on his expression.A nice , brave attempt with few thrills and adrenaline rush makes it a good watch. Good 3/5
My title line above is a quote toward the end of the movie, "When the Game Stands Tall." Bev Ladouceur, wife of Coach Bob Ladouceur, says that to an angry dad in the stands who wants his son to score one more touch down to break the state scoring record. But, the coach has let the quarterback on his team call the final plays as they are winning their last game for a championship. The team is in close scoring range. Chris Ryan is the running back who can break the state record. As the team huddles, Ryan notes that the team hadn't yet shown its gratitude to the coach. He had returned to lead them through the season after having suffered a stroke. The boys take their helmets off and raise them in a salute to their coach, and the whole stadium joins in. Then, for the last three snaps, and within easy scoring range and likelihood, Ryan takes the place of the quarterback. He takes three consecutive snaps of the ball and goes down on one knee to end the game. It was a class act for the team and the boys. And that's what this movie is about, more than anything. It's a true story of a coach, Bob Ladouceur, and a school, De La Salle High School in Concord, California. They hold many football records, including the longest winning streak ever. But, most importantly, it's about teaching and shaping teen males to become men. Of course, this film has a lot of football action. So, it keeps moving at a nice pace. The film is based on a book by the same title, about Coach Bob Ladouceur and the De La Salle high school football team he led to the longest winning streak in the history of high school football. De La Salle High School at Concord, CA, won 151 consecutive games over 12 years. The early part of the movie is a snapshot of the climb of the streak, and then goes to the day the streak was snapped when De La Salle played Bellevue, WA. The bulk of the movie from there is about what happens after that, and the coach and team losing two games and then going undefeated for the rest of the next season. I agree with the other reviewers who think this may be the most inspiring sports movie ever made. And, there have been some very good ones over the years – from all major sports. Apparently, California high schools aren't divided into competition classes by size. The largest high school is Long Beach Polytech that had 4,745 students in 2013. Only five schools in its area were over 3,000 students that year. But, the schools are organized by divisions that have a mix of all size schools. De La Salle is one of 19 high schools in the Concord, CA, area (10 public and nine private). Many of those don't have football teams. Eleven high schools have fewer than 100 students and two others have fewer than 500. Only five schools have more than 1,000 students, and De La Salle is the smallest of those with 1,051 students. De La Salle competes in the state's Division 1, which has 19 schools. It is the smallest of those schools, most of which are two to three times larger than De La Salle. The largest is James Logan H.S. in Union City, with 4,133 students. The next smallest, after De La Salle, is Antioch High with 1,970 students. It's the only other high school in the division with fewer than 2,000 students, and it's still almost twice the size of De La Salle. The movie is based on Coach Ladouceur and the teams before 2004 – up to that year. That's when the school's 151-game winning streak came to an end. But, it's also when the school's comeback began. And, after that, from 2004-2013, De La Salle under Coach Bob Ladouceur went 127-12-2. It never finished outside the Top 10 in California prep football, it finished No. 1 four times and it won four state championships in a row. Bob Ladouceur stepped down in 2012 but stayed on as a volunteer to help the head coach. In his coaching career, Ladouceur had a record of 399-25-3. His record gave him a winning percentage of .937. During his career, he was offered head coach positions at the college level. All would have paid him much more than he made as a high school teacher and coach. But he turned them all down. Newspaper articles about his amazing career, said he was a teacher first. Indeed, the film brings that out. Jim Caviezel is excellent as Bob Ladouceur in this movie. All the cast are very good and the script, direction, filming and all aspects of this film are very good. This is an inspiring movie for all, and sports enthusiasts, players, and parents especially should get a lot out of the film.