Depictions of Football in American Cinema

[Rupert Patrick]

Until I saw that, I had no idea that Mike Webster lived in an SUV for the last few months of his life, and was shocking himself with a stun gun in order to give himself temporary pain relief. The movie made it appear like he might have shocked himself one time too many and his heart gave out, but I guess the authorities determined that from finding the stun gun in his hand when he died, and finding the burn marks all over his body.

With Webster, it was clear that something was wrong with him when he was inducted into the HOF. While every other inductee showed up in a standard suit, he showed up dressed like he was going out to pick up groceries.

Even before his death, I knew that Webster had problems after his football life, but I didn't know it was that bad. There were stories that he was homeless and he had lived in the Pittsburgh Greyhound Bus terminal for two years, and not long before he was inducted into the HOF, one of his teammates (Bradshaw?) bought him a room at a Red Roof Inn for a entire year if memory serves to keep him off the streets, but nobody realized at the time what he was dealing with and how to help him. Even the doctors were stumped.

[Ronfitch]

If you want to watch a historically accurate football movie 'We are Marshall' would probably be the one you would want to go for. 'Friday Night Lights' is fairly accurate also.

In the 2008 movie about Ernie Davis, The Express, Paul Brown doesn't even exist and the game in which he was introduced in Cleveland was supposedly televised nationally--which it wasn't.

Monday Night Mayhem is another movie with countless inaccuracies.

Yeah very few sports movies would be very interesting at all if they tried to be very historically accurate. Reason they were able to be (for the most part) historically accurate with movies like 'We Are Marshall' and 'Friday Night Lights' was because the films focus more on real life issues than they do the actual season. 'We Are Marshall' deals more with the plane crash and how the surviving members of the team and the community dealt with it. And Friday Night Lights focuses more on how crazy Texas is about highschool football.

Agree, the human story and struggle are universal themes. Even "The Longest Yard" is about finding/retaining dignity and camaraderie, with the game being a device.

I have long thought that the AFL All Star Game Boycott and Big Daddy Lipscomb might be the kind of human stories that make good film subjects.

[Citizen]

Is Bernie Casey the only NFL player to portray another real-life NFL player in a movie? (He was J.C. Caroline in ‘Brian’s Song.’)

[JohnTurney]

Is Bernie Casey the only NFL player to portray another real-life NFL player in a movie? (He was J.C. Caroline in ‘Brian’s Song.’)

good question...I do know Tom Candiotti played Hoyt Wilhelm in 61*--but would have to think about another football one

[Rupert Patrick]

Is Bernie Casey the only NFL player to portray another real-life NFL player in a movie? (He was J.C. Caroline in ‘Brian’s Song.’)

good question...I do know Tom Candiotti played Hoyt Wilhelm in 61*--but would have to think about another football one

I hadn't seen "Brian's Song" since I was a kid and checked the cast list on imdb.com and was shocked to see that 60's and 70's NBA star Happy Hairston played one of the Bears players.

I watched the movie "MASH" on cable recently and checked the cast of that on imdb and was shocked at how many current and former NFL players were in that movie. I knew about Joe Kapp and Fred Williamson, but didn't realize Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas were also apparently involved in the football scene, or that Howard Schnellenberger was one of the referees. There were upwards of a dozen pro football players in that game.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066026/fu ... cl_sm#cast

Brett Favre played Brett Farvreruruh in "There's Something About Mary", but I think he was actually playing himself.

[BD Sullivan]

Is Bernie Casey the only NFL player to portray another real-life NFL player in a movie? (He was J.C. Caroline in ‘Brian’s Song.’)

good question...I do know Tom Candiotti played Hoyt Wilhelm in 61*--but would have to think about another football one

Bernie Casey also played NBA star Maurice Stokes, who was practically the basketball version of Ernie Davis.

[sheajets]

It's hockey but, I think Vincent Lecavalier portrayed Jean Beliveau in a Canadian movie about Rocket Richard. At that time Lecavalier was in the prime of his career. Role was a small one I believe

[Saban1]

Pigskin Parade with Stu Erwin was pretty funny.

[fgoodwin]

If you want to watch a historically accurate football movie 'We are Marshall' would probably be the one you would want to go for. 'Friday Night Lights' is fairly accurate also.

As is usually the case, "Friday Night Lights" the book (by Bissinger) was much better (and more accurate) than the movie.

In the film, the Permian Panthers lost to the Carter Cowboys in the state championship game, but in reality, they lost to Carter in the semi-finals. I guess losing in the semis doesn't have quite the same dramatic effect as losing in the finals.

"The hell with historical accuracy, we have a movie to make"!