Rewatchables Reference

• Bill and Mallory: The deliberation/honor code sequence (secret ballot vs. open vote).
• The Smokey Joe's Cafe scene (dorm room, shirtless Affleck, casual anti-Semitic jokes).
• Damon and Fraser on the dock ('I envy you' scene).
• Dylan finding out David is Jewish at the cocktail party.
• The naked shower fight.
• The swastika/cowards scene.
• Cole Hauser's speech in the pow-wow: 'He's a good guy, I wouldn't cheat.'
• Fraser's 'You used me for football, I'll use you to get into Harvard.'

• Seeing Damon, Affleck, and Hauser before they were famous (connecting to 'Good Will Hunting').
• Matt Damon as a villain – foreshadowing Talented Mr. Ripley.
• Damon laying in the grass after the Saint Luke's win (iconic potential meme).
• Honor codes as a movie device.
• The tweed and menswear.
• Ed Lauter as Fraser's dad – sports movie staple.

• The football scenes: poorly filmed, stationary cameras, no sense of field position, the 120-yard throw.
• The car prank sequence (feels like it's from a different movie).
• Casual racial slurs (Damon drops the N-word).
• Amy Locane (currently in prison for DUI manslaughter).
• HBO Max poster featuring Affleck as one of four stars (he has maybe 8 lines).
• The first 10 minutes of the movie (Scranton opening montage).
• None of the actors are Jewish despite being one of the most important Jewish movies.

• Bill: The French meltdown scene – essential to the plot but grinds the movie to a halt on rewatch.
• Mallory: The Cleary car prank sequence (exactly 2 minutes, feels like a different movie).

• Juliet: The cowards scene isn't that good – too short, rushed, built up more in memory than it delivers.
• Mallory: If you're going to set the confrontation in a naked shower, you MUST bring circumcision into it.
• Bill: Charlie Dillon's cheating isn't that bad – he needed to get into Harvard, it's a crib sheet.

• Kyle Chandler read for David Greene and screen-tested with Randall Batinkoff.
• Matthew Perry read for it.
• Chris O'Donnell was offered Charlie Dillon but wanted a more likable role.
• Stanley Jaffe considered Matt Damon for the lead but decided against it.

• McGivern (Andrew Lowry) and Mr. Cleary (Zeljko Ivanek) – both nominated.
• The history professor: 'Whoever has done this has robbed you of your honor.'

• Zeljko Ivanek (Mr. Cleary) – most famously the warden in Oz.
• Kevin Tighe (football coach) – Eight Men Out, Roadhouse, Newsies.
• Anthony Rapp (Magoo) – originated Mark Cohen in Rent, blew the whistle on Kevin Spacey.

Ben Affleck – maybe 8 lines in the entire movie, stands out by going shirtless, dancing, doing whatever it takes.

• Joaquin Phoenix as McGivern.
• Drew Barrymore or Courtney Thorne-Smith as Sally.

• Filmed at Middlesex School in Concord, MA.
• Fraser: production ran out of hot water during shower fight.
• Damon said director called them 'the next Brat Pack.'
• Jersey number 42 = Jackie Robinson's number (likely intentional).
• Anthony Rapp couldn't see out of Magoo's glasses while acting.
• Fraser: 'I faked most of the football. I didn't like getting hit. It hurt.'

• Brendan Fraser: Debatable – The Mummy made $300M, but this launched him.
• Randall Batinkoff: Yes.
• Amy Locane: Both apex and nadir.
• New England boarding school movies: 'Dead Poets Society' still holds apex.
• Naked shower fights: Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen remains #1.
• French class in movies: Yes.

• Rex Benson 'class of 1875' makes him 98 in 1955, when life expectancy was in the 60s.
• How did they get Cleary's car inside the dorm?
• David's QB number 42 is wrong for 1955 – should be something like 7 or 12.
• The 120-yard throw in the first game is absurd.
• Dylan doesn't even wait for Rip to fall asleep before stealing notes.

• Bill: Set at a New England prep school in the 1950s, make everyone 11th graders, build Season 1 around Fraser turning the football team around. The secret is kept all through junior year. Seasons 4-6 get into the 1960s with Mad Men-style elements.
• Mallory: Follow Jack Connors (Cole Hauser) to the Yellowstone ranch.

• Mallory: 'Good Will Hunting' (seeing Damon go from villain to hero).
• Juliet: Liberty Heights (foundational Jewish movie).

• Bill: The Band-Aid box where David hides his Star of David necklace.
• Juliet: David Greene's football helmet.

• Cole Hauser's speech: examine your own prejudices before being prejudicial.
• 'You used me for football, I'll use you to get into Harvard.'
• Do a better job hiding your crib sheet if you're going to cheat.

• Juliet: Matt Damon – brilliant as the villain, long view of career.
• Bill: Brendan Fraser – the film doesn't work without him.
• Mallory: Pat McCorkle and the casting team – assembling this cast is an all-time feat.

• Craig watched for the first time and loved it. One critique: the ending wasn't fulfilling enough for David Greene – he just calls Dillon a 'prick' and walks back. 'Wealth and privilege win.'
• Thought the football scenes were terrible.
• Said young Damon as an asshole is changing his opinion of Damon overall.