"Friday Night Lights"

[southlandshari]

I'm about to watch this movie for the third time (Starz, 4:00 pm central) and am interested in comments from others who have seen it.

Review of the movie here:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041008/REVIEWS/40920012/1023

I started another thread on it in the BRAND NEW FOOTBALL DU GROUP (hint, hint) as well - yes that's a shameless plug for the Group, but I hope other football fanatics will join us there as the NCAA season gets underway in a few short weeks!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=345&topic_id=38&mesg_id=38

[democrat in Tallahassee]

1. Living in a college footballl-obsessed city, it rang very real and

true to me.I always hate it when a kid gets injured and tries to play. I don't think that the coaches ever over rule the doctors here, though. (cause the don't wanna get sued.)
The stakes and money are much higher on the college level though so you can't be sure what really goes on.

[southlandshari]

5. I live in (and grew up in) a college football obsessed town as well

And interestingly enough, I think that is the only reason my little Alabama town doesn't more closely resemble the town in this movie.

I find this film fascinating, because it shows the humanity of everyone involved in small town high school football obsession without glossing over anything. There are no heroes in this movie.

I don't want to post any spoilers for those who haven't seen it but might be interested, so I'll leave it at that!

[AlCzervik]

2. I liked it a lot, i thought it showed what Friday night in Texas

is really like and Billy Bob is really good it as well.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

3. I watched this the other night

after hearing this wasn't the typical sports movie following the expected formula. I am not a fan of sports movies and only mildly interested in sports so upon hearing this film was different I decided to give it a shot.

Well I have to say I don't really see the appeal of this movie. Maybe it's my lack of interest in sports movies, my lack of interest in sports or a combination of both that led me to feel this way but I just don't understand the raves this film got. I felt it was very cliche with the heroes obviously going to be the main characters who were so troubled throughout the film. When "Preacher" gave the "inspiring" speech at halftime it just seemed forced and somewhat ridiculous.

I know this is based on a book which is based on an actual season for Odessa Permian but really just didn't like this movie. I also found the portrayal of the African American coaches and one of the African American refs in the championship game to be somewhat offensive.

Just my two cents on this movie.

[southlandshari]

6. You just confirmed one thing I wondered about

As engrossing as I found this movie, I kind of suspected that it would hold little appeal to folks who aren't really interested in football (whether at the high school, college, or pro level).

I am definitely not dissing anyone who doesn't find the story as interesting as I did. I just don't think I would get all of the nuances and the emotion of the story if I hadn't been born and raised a football fan in the Deep South. There are plenty of sports movies that hold some appeal for broader audiences. I wasn't sure that this was one of them, which is part of the reason I tossed this out for discussion. I really appreciate your response.

On the issue of portrayal of the black coaches and administrators from Carter H.S. towards the end of the film - I see your point, but I'm not certain it is an unfair portrayal. The things they said and did in this re-telling of the story aren't negative within context. Can you blame them? I don't want to go into details and cross over into spoilers. Just saying there are few DUers here more sensitive to portrayals of people of a certain race, and while I thought about whether or not this movie might be seen as racist, I ultimately fell on the side of the fence that this is an accurate portrayal of events. There are no characters, major or minor, that emerge without some unflattering part of their character exposed, IMO.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

12. I wasn't raised in the South

but there was nothing more important to my high school than football.

I don't blame the Carter coaches for not wanting to play where Permian wanted to play but the way the coaches were portrayed made it appear as if they were whining more than presenting a case that Carter playing on Permian's turf would put them at a disadvantage before the game started.

I feel the characters were more well rounded, on a whole then some movies in general and sports movies in particular, and that made me connect with them slightly while not really getting into the football aspects of the story.

[southlandshari]

13. You are right, of course!

I shouldn't have posted in a way that made it sound like the Deep South had cornered the market on high school football obsession. Many high school programs in the midwest and other parts of the country dwarf that of my high school, that resides in the same small Alabama town as a major college football powerhouse.

I am very glad you are posting in this thread - I am interested in your perspective.

I don't know why in the hell this movie has so captivated me, but it has. I am watching it now, and the final segment of the film, the state championship in the the Astrodome is just beginning. From now until the final credits, I just find this movie to be incredibly tense and real.

:hi:

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

26. No offense taken

about the high school football thing.

I was expecting Odessa to fall behind by by a substantial margin to start, which they did, and eventually come back. I was surprised by the fact that they lost because in most sports movies the underdog wins.

[petronius]

14. I really enjoyed the movie

But I also found the race-oriented sub-story with the black coaches to be a bit troubling. The coach discussion of venue and officiating was fine, but the portrayal of the behavior of the urban black players and the black ref seemed seemed really off compared to the rest of the movie - stereotypical, one-dimensional, etc.

[southlandshari]

17. I understand your point...

...and believe me, all of this occured to me when I first saw this movie. It stayed with me so deeply that I did some research on the game itself, and whether or not the conversations on venue and the composition of the referee team were accurately depicted, and I believe they were.

One of the most powerful scenes of the movie, IMO, was the scene at halftime of the final game that flashes back and forth between both teams holding hands in their respective locker rooms and reciting the Lord's Prayer. There was absolutely no difference between the kids on both of those teams at that memorable moment in the movie.

While the Carter players and coaches weren't the central figures of the movie, I didn't find them to be unlikable at all. I liked the coaches from Carter better overall than those from Permian - I thought they were far more inspiring to their players than Gaines and his assistants were depicted as having been that 1988 season. And I don't think the behavior of the Carter players was based on negative stereotype at all. These were inner city kids who made up an absolutely untouchable football team that year, and they earned the right to be cocky, IMHO -- to depict them as otherwise would be disingenuous.

In fact, I actually found the Carter coaches and players to be more likable and less flawed than those involved in the Permian H.S. program, perhaps because the movie gave a deeper look into the Permian program, perhaps not. As I have said in previous posts, there are no heroes in this movie, in this story.

I really felt the movie simply gave as objective as possible a view of everyone who entered a frame of the film, and left it to the viewers to judge history. It would be too easy, to me, to try to see this story as a commentary on race relations - it goes far deeper than that, and actually illustrates how much alike we all are where it counts, deep down. Everyone wants to be a winner, and far too many of us, regardless of race, are quick to make decisions based on short term goals that may well have destructive repurcussions in the long term...

Sports metaphors and the meaning of life - someone shut me up if I'm getting ridiculously cliched here!

[petronius]

20. It's a very fine line

and certainly the movie can't show everything in equal depth. I didn't feel that anything unrealistic was shown, just that the balance of what was and was not included was a little off when it came to race.

The movie clearly wasn't a race commentary, except perhaps in the solidarity between all the Permian players. Then, a bit of race comes in with the coaches negotiation, followed by only two more race-specific occurences: the only bad refereeing decision depicted is by the black ref (sigificant in light of the earlier argument), and the Carter coaches and players are depicted as markedly dirtier (which strictly speaking doesn't have a racial dimension, except that the topic was introduced in the context of that game). Overall, it just felt a little skewed to me, and the unity among the Permian players as well as the similarities between the programs didn't quite offset it.

On the other hand, the Carter kids had to be a bit one-dimensional; it would have taken another movie to develop them fully. And the imbalance I felt is very slight - as a warts-and-all portrait of TX HS football I thought the movie was excellent. (And you're right - the Boobie story was wrenching...)

[muchacho]

4. well done...

and pretty much accurate portrayal of Texas High School football.

[texas1928]

7. My wife went to Central High in San Angelo.

So Permian leaves a bad taste in her mouth. We have not watched it yet cause some of the scenes bring back memories.

[B Calm]

8. I loved this movie. After watching my son play football

all through school and 4 years in college, this movie really brought back memories..

[southlandshari]

10. What position did he play?

I won't ask anything more personal, but anything you feel comfortable sharing about his football career will be soaked up eagerly by this football fan sponge!

[B Calm]

11. He was a running back. Had 2,200 yards his senior year in HS.

Blew out both of his knees, one in high school and one in college. He now teaches at a high school in Indiana and coaches football, track and swimming.

[southlandshari]

9. This is just heartbreaking

I refuse to post spoilers, and may just have to log off while I watch the movie. But egads, how painfully honest the portrayal of the Boobie Miles sub-story is here.

:(

[flamingyouth]

15. I really liked that film.

I watched it on a flight from Houston to Seattle earlier this year and it was very appropriate. I thought it was very well done, and I'm not exactly a huge football fan.

[pretzel4gore]

16. good movie

too bad i watched it w/out thinking i'd ever get to critique some of the things that...fell flat, let's say, and now rely on my bushmemory. what struck me about the movie was the sense everyone was up against an unforgiving enemy; it was 'failure is not an option' top down, from coach to family to the players themselves...few american movies really put that sense across, the feeling each 'actor in the drama' is alone with something that will not let go... and how dreary that feeling must be to those who are left behind! another thing was, the team seemed small, somehow, especially compared to the black team at the end. The black team 'Carter HS' came off as a grim, intent on victory machine (which sort of made the heroism of the home team more evident) that used the race fact like it was a given, and that was fascinating. They portrayed the carter reps as brutal businessmen, who'd rather not play at all then subject their kids to disadvantage: it wasn't good or bad, just was (and that seems to say black people are adapting and winning when once they were run over)
All in all, a perfect movie to come outta georgebushamerica (i plan to see it again, thank you!)

[southlandshari]

19. Wow - we really saw this movie differently.

"The black team 'Carter HS' came off as a grim, intent on victory machine"


I thought Permian came off much more as the grim, intent on victory machine of the two.


"(which sort of made the heroism of the home team more evident)"


I saw NO heroism depicted in the movie's characterization of the Permian program. Everyone was flawed, everyone was human, everyone was hurting in some way.


"(Carter H.S.)used the race fact like it was a given, and that was fascinating. They portrayed the carter reps as brutal businessmen, who'd rather not play at all then subject their kids to disadvantage"


I thought they were just being very realistic, knowing that high school football is king in rural Texas (like much of rural America), and how deeply fan support runs. I don't blame the Carter coaches for seeking a non-hostile venue for the game. I thought they came off as honest portrayals of men trying to do the right thing by the kids they coached. Race was an issue in the venue discussion, and to ignore it would have been pollyanish, I think.


": it wasn't good or bad, just was (and that seems to say black people are adapting and winning when once they were run over)"


I'm not sure I saw that theme in the movie. There were black players on the Permian team, and some of the most powerful substories in the movie involved their experiences during that 1988 season. Are you including them in your observation on this theme?


"All in all, a perfect movie to come outta georgebushamerica (i plan to see it again, thank you!)"


Texas is not "georgebushamerica", and I think it is insulting to millions of good Texans to assign this label to the entire state, which Bush no more represents than he does the rest of us across the country!

:hi:

[pretzel4gore]

21. georgebushamerica is anywhere where the media are ho's

lol
i thought the movie showed respect for the race factor by showing the black team as the dominant power, and not beholden to be 'nice guys' (this concerned the locale of the game to be played)...they took care of business, and i found that suggesting hope, so awful is the racism and bullying etc of the busheviks....remember, i no fan of sports, so the movie to me was about human beings facing monsters, which are always off screen. The subplot about the hometeam super player (just get the ball to ace!) was tragic; when he whispered 'this is the only thing i can do!' it is awful to think of it...
i take it you disliked the movie?

[southlandshari]

22. Did I really sound like I disliked the movie?

Yikes - am I being totally incoherent? I LOVED this movie - to the point of obnoxiousness, starting discussion threads on it and posting long, rambling dissections of the film!

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I appreciate your comments here, whether we agree on the finer points of the movie or not!


:D

[MrSlayer]

18. I watched it last night for the first time.

I thought it was a great movie. I found myself yelling at the TV as if it was a real game. Very emotional.

[merh]

23. Which college football team is your favorite?

Would it be the team that had the fellow in the hat as its hero?

:hi:

[southlandshari]

24. More info please...

Which fellow in which hat?

:hi:

[merh]

25. The mascot is a big old gray animal with a trunk!

:silly:

[southlandshari]

27. That's what I thought. Nope, just the opposite!

I'm a fan of that OTHER big college football team in my state. The one that went 13-0 last year!

;)

[merh]

28. Thank goodness - I so dislike that other team!

I was at one of the last games that the Bear coached when our little ole Mississippi university beat them at home 38-19. After we won, we stood in the stands and chanted "call your Mama, call your Mama" as Bear stood on the sidelines dazed and angered.

Sweet college memories :rofl:

[misanthrope]

29. You mean the drunk...

...that almost killed his players in Texas?

[merh]

30. I don't know?

I don't know about a coach that did that. At least, I can't recall the incident.

:shrug:

[misanthrope]

31. Junction, Texas...

...and a sot from Arkansas. There have been books written about it.

[merh]

32. What does that have to do with my

question to the OP? Are you trying to hijack this thread? If so, you are on your own. I try to show respect to folks. :hi:

[misanthrope]

33. Not hardly...

...You asked whether her favorite team was the one where they worshipped the guy in the hat.

What I posted was further clarification of the coach to which you referred and by a description that would more likely be given by someone who shared the original poster's allegiances.

[southlandshari]

34. Ok, I'm lost here...

Was Bear Bryant the drunk that nearly killed his players in Texas?

:shrug:

[misanthrope]

35. Yes...

...Ask some old Auburn fans, preferably those who remember most of Shug's era.