June 19, 2024
'The Longest Yard'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan agree to shave 21 minutes off this podcast in order to rewatch the 1974 classic 'The Longest Yard,' starring Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, and Ed Lauter.
Cast
Burt Reynolds as Paul Crew
Eddie Albert as Warden Hazen
James Hampton as Caretaker
Michael Conrad as Nate Scarborough
Bernadette Peters as Warden's Secretary
Ed Lauter as Captain Knauer
Richard Kiel as Samson
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Notes
- Budget of $2.9 million, grossed $43 million – massive hit for 1974. Only Oscar nomination: Best Film Editing.
- Shot on location at Georgia State Prison with the cooperation of Governor Jimmy Carter.
- The football game runs approximately 47 minutes. Aldrich shot as wide as possible with multi-picture/split-screen techniques for the theatrical experience.
- Aldrich used 'stick takes' – keeping cameras rolling and letting Burt improvise. 70% of that improv ended up in the film, a precursor to the Judd Apatow approach.
- In the original script, Crew was supposed to get shot in the back at the end – they decided against it.
- After cast and crew left the prison, the inmates played the troopers for real – convicts were up 66-0 at the half and the game was stopped. Rick Telander wrote about it for Sports Illustrated.
- Reynolds loved the prisoners and would sit with them during meal breaks despite being told not to.
- James Hampton was originally supposed to play Unger but pushed to play Caretaker instead – a great career move.
- Real football players appeared: Joe Kapp (NFL quarterback) and Ray Nitschke (Hall of Fame linebacker). Sonny Sixkiller (University of Washington QB) played the Native American player.
- Pauline Kael loved it: 'Reynolds is perfect in this brutal comic fantasy... the picture's almost irresistibly good-natured and funny.'
- The Adam Sandler 2005 remake grossed ~$200 million but the hosts feel it stole the thunder of the original.
Categories
Most re-watchable scene
- Consensus: The entire 47-minute football game, particularly the final 20 minutes from the Warden's 'you're going to throw this game' through the end.
- Bill: Also the car chase and arrest at the beginning.
- Van: The stretch where Crew turns into 'Michael Vick' running the ball himself to win back the team's trust.
- Chris: His favorite part of the game: the huddles.
What aged the best?
- The split-screen/multi-picture technique during the football game.
- Burt Reynolds as the most believable sports movie QB actor ever.
- Caretaker's murder as a plot twist – devastating and effective.
- The game announcer (Michael Fox) – first time a movie used an announcer as a sports movie device, copied through Dodgeball.
- The 1970s car chase – Apex Mountain for the genre.
What aged the worst?
- Domestic violence in the opening scene – 'pretty jarring.'
- Reusing the same shot of the Warden standing up in shock during game scenes (looped footage).
- The remake existing at all – 'don't remake something that's perfect.'
- Smelling salts on knocked-out football players. Brass knuckles on the football field.
Most cinematic shot
- Chris: Crew crossing the goal line followed by split-screen/freeze-frame showing 5 different angles of reactions.
- Bill: The football stadium location itself – 'magnificent.'
Best needle drop
'Saturday Night Special' by Lynyrd Skynyrd – 'It's never been an easier decision.' Unanimous pick.
Weak link of the movie
Crew could have told his team about the Warden's threat – 'if we lose by 21, I'm dead.' They probably would have understood.
The hottest take award
- Bill: Burt Reynolds is the greatest car chase driver ever in film history – better than Steve McQueen and Popeye Doyle.
- Chris: The movie is just as much about America as sports – people from different backgrounds united by hating the boss and loving football.
- Van: Bernadette Peters' character got pregnant during her scene with Crew in prison.
Casting what-ifs
- James Hampton was originally supposed to play Unger but pushed to play Caretaker instead.
- 2024 recasting: Glenn Powell as Paul Crew – he's got the Burt Reynolds vibe, good athlete, could grow a great Fu Manchu.
Best "that guy"
- Charles Tyner as Unger – 'super creepy.'
- Harry Caesar (Granville/Granny). James Hampton (most people know him as the 'Teen Wolf' dad).
Apex Mountain
- Burt Reynolds: Not quite – probably Smokey and the Bandit, but he was #1 on the movie star list for ~5 years starting here.
- Football movies: This is still the best football movie ever.
- Michael Conrad: Hill Street Blues.
Cruise or Hanks?
Cruise wins
Cruise movie. Unanimous. Chris: 'There was a point where Cruise could have played Crew and Hanks could have played Scarborough.'
Picking nits
- Van: Why doesn't the Warden just pay off the refs?
- Chris: Why are two former NFL players in the same Florida prison and nobody mentions it?
- Bill: Massive timeline/clock issues in the comeback – 2 defensive stops, a dropkick drive, and throwing the ball at Bogdanski's balls all in under 2.5 minutes.
- Captain Knauer called the worst game manager of all time for not running out the clock.
Best (or worst!) life lessons from the movie
Nate Scarborough: 'You spend 14 years in this tank, you begin to understand that they've only got two things they can't sweat out of you or beat out of you – your balls.'
Best double feature for this movie
- Bill: Smokey and the Bandit (Burt double feature).
- Chris and Van: North Dallas Forty (70s football double feature).
Who won the movie?
Burt Reynolds – clearly, unanimously.