Knute Rockne All American

When Warner Brothers decided to produce the biography of Notre Dame's legendary football coach, Knute (pronounced Ka-Newt) Rockne, there were major hurdles that had to be faced. Rockne had only passed away nine years earlier, at 43, and his image and distinctive speaking style were well-known to football fans, nation-wide, through newsreels and radio, as was his Cinderella-like story (born in Voss, Norway, he and his family had emigrated to Chicago, Illinois when he was five, he worked to pay tuition to attend Notre Dame, then went on to revolutionize football as both a player and coach). Any film about Rockne had to secure the permission of his widow, Bonnie Skiles Rockne, and the cooperation of Notre Dame, and both wanted final approval of both the script, and the actor to play 'Rock'.

While the script, focusing on Rockne's devotion to 'his boys', making football more exciting, and his unshakable faith in the importance of athletics and education to America's youth, would win Mrs. Rockne and Notre Dame's support, casting the coach would prove a challenge. When stocky, darkly handsome 41-year old Irish American actor Pat O'Brien (best known as James Cagney's frequent co-star) was announced to play the craggy Norwegian American Rockne, there was some concern raised whether he was 'right' for the role. But in full makeup, O'Brien was quite convincing, and he could mimic the coach's staccato speaking style perfectly. Knute Rockne would become O'Brien's 'definitive' role, as well as his personal favorite, in a career that spanned over sixty years.

From his introduction to football as a boy (played by Johnny 'Tarzan's Boy' Sheffield), as he admonishes his father (veteran character actor John Qualen) to "speak American, Papa...We're in America, now", through his years working at a Post Office earning tuition money, to his courtship of Bonnie Skiles (Gale Page) and on-field partnership with 'Gus' Dorais (Owen Davis Jr.), who would toss Rockne the forward pass against Army that would revolutionize the game, the story is both entertaining and informative (Rock, it is revealed, could have made a "first class" chemist).

Then Ronald Reagan appears, as flippant, yet private George Gipp, and the film achieves it's legendary status. Coach Rockne and player Gipp, as portrayed by O'Brien and Reagan, have a 'father/son'-like bond that is irresistible, and in less than ten minutes of screen time, Reagan establishes himself as no longer a 'B' actor, but a star to be reckoned with. The "Win One for the Gipper" speech has become one of the best-loved in movie (and sports) history, and, while it has been parodied frequently through the years (particularly while Reagan was President of the United States), it is still quite moving.

While Gipp's untimely death casts a momentary pall on the film, his place is soon taken by the legendary "Four Horsemen", as Rockne introduces 'the backfield shift' to football. The coach becomes the spokesperson of College Football, defending both himself and such legends as Alonzo Stagg, 'Pop' Warner, Howard Jones, and Bill Spaulding (playing themselves), against charges of gambling and football's place in an academic environment.

Through it all, Bonnie Rockne offers loving support to her often preoccupied but devoted husband and their large family. The bond they share is so intimate that she 'feels' the airplane crash that takes his life, in the film's tragic finale.

Punctuated by Notre Dame's classic fight song, KNUTE ROCKNE ALL AMERICAN is certainly not a 'perfect' film (watch how frequently jersey numbers appear, disappear, and change, as vintage newsreel footage is used during big games), but the overall result is both rousing and sentimental. It's easy to see why "Rudy" Ruettiger would be inspired by it, and would want to add his own chapter to Notre Dame's illustrious history.

The film certainly deserves it's 'classic' status!

You don't have to be a Notre Dame football fan to enjoy this, because I am not....but, as a football fan in general, this was fun to watch. It almost makes me a Fighting Irish devotee. If you can't get caught up in the emotion in this film, gridiron fan or not, you better check your pulse because this is an emotional film with some very touching scenes.

As a sports fan, I loved watching the classic footage of early college games. They had some pretty wild plays back then with a lot of laterals. They interspersed that footage with Pat O'Brien shown as head coach Knute Rockne on the sidelines and some of the players, such as George Gipp (Ronald Reagan).

Reagan gets pretty good billing in this film but his part really isn't that large. O'Brien is the only actor with a large role in here. The rest - all playing nice characters - include Gale Page as Rockne's wife "Bonnie;" Donald Crisp, as the Notre Dame's "Father John Callahan;" Albert Bassermann as chemistry professor "Father Nieuwland" and Reagan, as Gipp, perhaps Notre Dame's most talented and famous player ever.

What this film does nicely is balance the personal story with the football. Neither angle is overdone. The characters in here all people you can root for, as there are no villains. On my last look, it was interesting to discover Johnny Sheffield - Tarzan's son - playing Rockne at the age of seven and to see George Reeves, TV's Superman, as one of the players.

There have been very few football movies made in Hollywood, for some reason, and precious few good ones. This is one of them.

This is the life story of probably the most famed football coach, Knute Rockne. 'Rock' gained fame with his pep talks that led to many memorable victories for his beloved Notre Dame football team.

Pat O'Brien probably turns in the best performance of his career as Coach Rockne. Ronald Reagan portrays the dying George Gipp of the "win one for the Gipper" fame. Also in the cast are Donald Crisp, Owen Davis Jr., Gale Page and John Litel. Johnny Sheffield, who played Boy in the Tarzan series, plays Rockne at age 7.

Father of the forward pass and backfield shift inspired even the non-football fans during his era in the limelight. This is a football classic you can enjoy watching again and again.

The true life story of perhaps the greatest football coach the game has ever known. Knute Rockne led the game of football out of the "stone age" with innovations such as the forward pass and offensive formation shifts. But he is probably best known for his motivational locker room speeches. Along the way, he brought fame and glory to a tiny, little, unknown Catholic school in Indiana. Pat O'Brien is incomparable in his role as Rockne. Terrific cast that includes Ronald Reagan who gives a great performance as Notre Dame's first, true superstar, George Gipp.

For Football aficionados, this is the greatest football movie ever made. Do yourself a favor and rent the black and white version. (Some versions have deleted scenes for some reason) If you got the good version, look for a brief cameo by the immortal Jim Thorpe as he sticks his head in the locker room telling Rockne and the team they only have a few minutes left before the 2nd half begins.

Knute Rockne, All American (1940 Warner Brothers) starring Pat O'Brien, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp, and John Qualan is technically and artistically a splendid movie, far better than its reputation in many circles as mainly a nostalgia movie about one of college football's grand old men (Knute Rockne, long time football coach for Notre Dame University in South Bend Indiana).

It is a movie of which displays the very best talents of Warner Brothers movie studio at the height of it's golden age in the years immediately before USA entry into World War II.

The camera work, the special effects provided by Hollywood cameraman and then future director Byron Haskin (he later directed Walt Disney's "Treasure Island" [1950] and also George Pal's "War Of The Worlds" [1952] movies in the early 1950's and in his old age was interviewed on camera in the 1970's by Kevin Brownlow for the "Hollywood: The Silent Era" documentary series which described Haskin's silent era cameraman days), the slick and wonderful newspaper headline montages which punctuate and advance the movie story (which covers the entire, rather long life of Knute Rockne from his childhood in Norway to his death following decades of service as Notre Dame's football coach of fame) are all breathtaking.

This is no "airhead" movie.

In addition to the great way it captures the physical part of college football, and the charismatic personality of Knute Rockne during his coaching years (and also during his undergrad years as a student football player), the movie takes on the question of what place football and "big sports" have had and should have in the college world, and in American culture generally, and provides viewers with thoughtful, worthwhile answers worth pondering and reviewing often.

But briefly, Knute Rockne, All American (1940 Warner Brother) starring Pat O'Brien and Ronald Reagan is an intelligent movie about a subject many people doubt is intelligent at all....football and other big time contact sports.

Ronald Reagan is given second billing in the beginning credits as the co-star of the movie, Pat O'Brien's main co-star. Yet Reagan's time on the screen (he plays George Gipp, a World War I era Notre Dame University football player of fame who sadly died in his senior year at Notre Dame) is relatively brief.

Reagan's actor performance is underplayed, and quiet to the point of being undramatic. His more hysterical performance as "Drake McHugh" in King's Row (1942 Warner Brothers) two years later is rightly counted his best and most skilled movie actor performance by movie historians (he plays a character in King's Row who has his legs amputated and is spectacular in the scene where he discovers in a hospital recovery room what has happened to him).

This movie is part of the USA Federal Government Library Of Congress National Film Registry List and placed among 475 movies (as of 2010) ranked as important and notable due to aesthetic, cultural, and/ or historical importance.

Knute Rockne, All American (1940 Warner Bros) starring Pat O'Brien and Ronald Reagan is important in all three areas, a sweetheart of a movie worth screening often, truly a cinematic masterpiece not ranked usually among "the great movies," but worthy and excellent in every way.

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Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Com and choose "Tex Allen" "resume" for contact information, movie credits, and biographical information about Tex Allen.

He has reviewed more than 42 movies posted on WWW.IMDb.Com (the world's largest movie information database, owned by Amazon.Com) as of January 2011.

These include: 1. Alfie (1966) 29 July 2009 2. Alien (1979) 24 July 2009 3. All the Loving Couples (1969) 17 January 2011 4. All the President's Men (1976) 16 November 2010 5. American Graffiti (1973) 22 November 2010 6. Animal House (1978) 16 August 2009 7. Bullitt (1968) 23 July 2009 8. Captain Kidd (1945) 28 July 2009 9. Child Bride (1938) 24 September 2009 10. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 22 September 2010 11. Destination Moon (1950) 17 January 2011 12. Detour (1945) 19 November 2010 13. Die Hard 2 (1990) 23 December 2010 14. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) 19 November 2010 15. Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) 26 July 2009 16. King Solomon's Mines (1950) 1 December 2010 17. Knute Rockne All American (1940) 2 November 2010 18. Claire's Knee (1970) 15 August 2009 19. Melody Ranch (1940) 10 November 2010 20. Morning Glory (1933) 19 November 2010 21. Mush and Milk (1933) 17 January 2011 22. New Moon (1940) 3 November 2010 23. Pinocchio (1940) 6 November 2010 24. R2PC: Road to Park City (2000) 19 November 2010 25. Salt (2010) 24 August 2010 26. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) 21 January 2011 27. Sunset Blvd. (1950) 1 December 2010 28. The Forgotten Village (1941) 21 January 2011 29. The Great Dictator (1940) 1 November 2010 30. The King's Speech (2010) 19 January 2011 31. The Last Emperor (1987) 20 January 2011 32. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 9 January 2011 33. The Man in the White Suit (1951) 5 August 2009 34. The Philadelphia Story (1940) 5 November 2010 35. The Social Network (2010) 19 January 2011

Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.

Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.

See Tes Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)