Possums

I watched this film with my 11 year old grandson and we both enjoyed it a lot.

On the surface it is pretty similar to the standard Disney small town saga. There is the bumbling middle aged parent, the high school in-crowd looming over the new boy in town. There's the venal mayor and the greedy developer. There is the standard conflict of generations between father and son. And, of course, there's the cute girl whom the new boy is crazy about but is afraid to ask out.

But as things turn out the bumbling hero doesn't need any magic or duex machina to move things his way. He is quietly persistent, aware of his follies, and knows when to back off. The new kid in town is accepted in short order, both by the town's perennial loser of a football team and by the pretty girl. And wonder of wonders, the female teen love interest is an honest to goodness pretty girl, not some Britney clone.

The plot and writing stumble a bit toward the end but the ending is both satisfying and believable.

Now here's a true sleeper. Produced by HSX Films (aren't they the fake stock exchange folks?) and hidden on the back shelves of Blockbuster (except in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the nearest big town to Nowata), this turns out to be a charming and disarming tale of the morale of a city unlike anything we've seen since... well, I don't think I've seen anything like it.

True, Nowata's football team in the movie hasn't scored a touchdown in thirteen years, but hope lives in a few of the townsfolk. Hope does not live in the mayor, though, who rallies to have the football team disbanded and the field replaced by a mega-department store. However, in the puritan heart of one man, the announcer for the team, the spirit of the game will not die. Even once the team is laid to rest, he buys radio air time and announces fictitious games. Only this time, the team is a winner.

It is this aspect of the film - that you are what you believe you are - that endears itself to you. True, the dialogue is stilted, the direction is standard, and the acting is hokey, but you can't help but cheer for a bunch of losers who now have an opportunity to prove that they are winners in spirit.

Mac Davis plays a devoted fan and the radio voice of his alma mater Nowata High School. After a very long losing streak, the school administration decides to do away with the football team. Davis starts missing the Friday night games and decides to buy up commercial time and broadcast fantasy games featuring a winning version of his beloved Possums. Finally the small Oklahoma town takes pride in their dismantled team. The real Possums are challenged by the real State Champs. The Possums lose again, but score their first actual touchdown in years.

This is a charming, down home movie. You actually feel the heart warming and emotional accomplishments of Davis' character. The action scenes truly represent high school football play.

This movie leaves you in a happy, upbeat mood. And is really fun for the family to watch.

Davis was very believable. Others in the cast: Andrew Pine, Greg Coolidge, Monica Creel and a cameo by former famed Oklahoma University and Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer.

It's too bad that a movie with a good heart and some potential for being inspirational or even important would succumb to ridiculous screen writing. Don't get me wrong, I am firmly on the side of 1.) inspirational fantasy, 2.)rebels who do things differently than the mainstream and 3.) appreciating honest effort for its own sake and not just record-of-success.

These are the themes and attributes that could have been examined and enjoyed in Possums, but instead, we see one vigilante (Will Clark) who is too short-sighted and delusional to see the gaping hole in the credibility of his actions: he has not addressed the issue of training, tactics and development of a better football team!

Without the consideration of better theory, practice and performance for the Possums, the picture becomes a joke.

Another issue I have with the movie is: How do the individuals (pseudo players) named on the weekly broadcasts feel about having their names used and reputations fictitiously and permanently altered? Clark could have been sued for using these names to promote his hardware store business.

It was painful for me to see the young men in street clothes playing an informal game at the field, emulating the fake Possums as they listened to the phony-but-well-meaning broadcast.

Screenwriter Max Burnett did a severe injustice to all involved in Possums by creating one of the most un-believable movies of all time.

Not giving up is one thing... Creating a fantasy world of delusion is quite another: Hard work and innovative thinking, instead are the answer. Application, not vacation.

This movie could have been great had it been re-written with plausibility: Interaction of the coaches, players, and community.

Clark should have been coaching the players himself, all along, being a former player. Then again, did the players even want to become better, individually, and as a team? We will never know. (I can dismiss the one quitter at the town meeting).

Three years prior to Possums, Max Burnett reportedly worked, in some capacity, on the good film, The Tuskogee Airmen. I can not find any reference to him on the IMDb page for that film. I hope he was just "additional hair" or "assistant grip".

This movie sends a message to the audience that if you do not achieve success, then retreat: Give up: Do anything but work harder. This is inexcuseable and reflects a mentality that is so blinded as to be clinical.

I live in a town that's about 20 mins from where this movie was filmed. I had 2 friends that were used as extras. I rented it simply because I knew one of the guys that played a football player in the movie. I was very much impressed with what I saw.

This movie is sweet, uplifting, and fun. My friends and I got into it as if it were really a game. This movie should have been pushed more than it was. It's a nice lil film...

9/10