Rustin

I just got the DVD and I was blown away by the cast of Rustin. I saw some familiar places in the movie (since it was filmed in my hometown) and I believe even though it was over 100 degrees during filming in the dead of summer, everyone seemed to have fun being a part of it. Our town of 20,000 appreciates the work Rick Johnson, Meat Loaf, Ashley Johnson, and my favorite two fat buddies Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey, (aka Rick and Bubba) put into the film. Thank you Rick Johnson for putting high school football into perspective without going overboard like "Varsity Blues" did. I wholeheartedly suggest going out and buying this film for yourself.

I rented this movie thinking it was about high school football plus the fact it was mostly (if not all) filmed in Alabama. I was pleasantly surprised - so much in fact, I will probably wind up buying my own copy on DVD. I don't know who Rick Johnson is (or was) and I presume that Ashley is his real-life daughter playing the part of "Lee". I didn't even recognize "Meatloaf" as the Coach until I saw the closing credits and the kid from TVs "Home Improvement", Zachery Ty Bryan, played a spoiled, rich football "star" player. Having lived in Birmingham, I kept looking for locales and familiar faces. Two radio personalities (Rick & Bubba) had small parts as bartenders and Michael Papajohn (makes me think of the pizza chain) played a redneck character named Trent that loved to drink and party with the students, most of whom didn't look old enough to drink. Still, the script is good even though probably unseen by many since it was independently produced.

How could you have a part in this movie? I saw this movie because it was filmed in some of the places I grew up in. I can't believe the amount of stereotyping went into this movie, and what makes it more sickening is that some of the actors claim to be natives of the area. Not only did I find some of these stereotypes much too exagerated and just unbelievable, the story itself wasn't anything new and to be absolutely honest, pretty boring. All the classic movie cliches were there, the hardened cop, the cocky football player, the coach that doesn't care about anything but football, basically all the movie characters that could never exist in real life. Why good talent like Meatloaf Aday and the girl from Growing Pains would even be in this movie boggles my mind. The music in it was almost descent, but then it got to a song written for the movie that sounded like it was from an after school special, definately not feature film quality. This movie hasn't found its way to a distributor yet, and for all of you throughout the country I hope that it isn't picked up.

Rustin is a great film from beginning to end. What starts off as quite a light, easy watching film takes an unexpected dramatic turn and pulls it off beautifully. The screen play is entertaining and thought provoking and the direction solid but the performances make the film - particularly from the two leads, Rick Johnson and Ashley Johnson. Definitely worth a look.

While I will say that some of the stereotypes are out of whack i.e no a/c in the church, I must argue with the comment "HORRIBLE" posted earlier in this thread regarding the worshipping of the football coach. Sir/Ma'am, you obviously do not live in the state of Alabama, particularly near the Birmingham/Hoover metro. If you did, you would definitely know that Rush Propst, Hoover High School's coach is almost equal to God in many people's eyes and he is often viewed as infallible to Hoover people. Therefore, in many controversial cases regarding HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL recruitment and the magical corrections of grades to make players eligible to play in games, he has miraculously come through without a scratch. Rustin VERY accurately describes the obsession/worship of football, both high school and college, in this state and the ability for anyone connected with certain football programs to get off of criminal charges. Overall I thought that this was a very enjoyable movie with a very good vision of football in Alabama, and that Michael Papajohn, Rick Johnson, Meatloaf, Zach, and others did a great job in accurately portraying Alabamians, albeit in a somewhat cynical view