The Mighty Macs

First let me confess, I fell in love with Carla Gugino in the first 'Spy Kids' movie. She is absolutely beautiful and she can act, too!

Here she is Cathy Rush , only 23 and just married. Her husband is an NBA referee thus travels a lot. Cathy had played some basketball but no coaching experience. To give her something to do, rather than just stay home when her husband was on the road, she applied for the girls basketball coaching job at a small Catholic girls college in the Philadelphia area. This is the true story of how she took this rag-tag bunch of girls, taught them principles of achievement, and went on to establish a winning basketball program.

David Boreanaz is her husband, Ed Rush. Pretty Marley Shelton (of 'Pleasantville' fame) is Sister Sunday who is having grave doubts about her vocation, but becomes the assistant coach. Ellen Burstyn is super as the mother superior of the college, Mother St. John .

The DVD also has an interesting extra which includes not only the real Cathy Rush but also some of the members of her early 1970s championship basketball teams.

Aside from just a good story, Cathy Rush and her teams represented the leading wave of the transition from the old style girls basketball (3 forwards and 3 guards, each set only playing half-court) to the new style that we know today.

Good movie!

Edit June 2019: Just watched it again on Amazon streaming, it was just like seeing it fresh, totally enjoyable viewing.

This is a must see show - especially for every woman that thinks she is hitting against all odds and will amount to very little. I hope and wish that, anyone feeling discouraged, they choose to watch this heartfelt movie and be empowered by it. Cathy Rush is to basketball what Clara Barton is to nursing and was truly amazing. Get your young children before this show and let them become inspired by the story of this woman who encouraged her team to grow through believing in their dreams. Every dream may be slightly different on a team, but the end result comes together when a team acts like a true team. Cathy Rush did for women's basketball in a time that it wasn't popular for women basketball teams to exist what the Jody Conradt's, etc. do for the women basketball teams of today -- definitely a woman ahead of her time. Don't worry, if you aren't necessarily a basketball fan, you'll still be amazed because the lessons learned can be applied to just about any area of life.

As I wrote in the review of "McFarland USA" I enjoy always the films based on a true story and specially when the film tells how people give the best of themselves in a sport (Cross-country,basketball, soccer,baseball,etc). That's is the case in "The Mighty Macs" when Cathy Rush will encourage the girls of the Immaculata College to build a team and to fight for a national basketball championship. Basketball is above all a team sport and the film shows the long way of this tiny team towards the glory. Also this film is about friendship, friendship between the nuns and Cathy and friendship between the players and Cthy.

Many movies today even ones promoted as "family" movies contain such severe hints of innuendo and subtext that parents can hardly be sure if any of them are actually appropriate for their children. This movie gives what even Disney hasn't done in a very long time, and that is offer a film with morals, a message and humor that parents can actually feel good about letting their kids watch. A lot of movies called "kids movies" have PG ratings because of the presence of some crude humor and possibly suggestive behavior. This movie is rated G for a reason and anyone going into this should be aware of that. This rating means there isn't really going to be anything rude or vulgar at all so audiences be aware, if you're looking for something with bad language or innuendo then this movie most likely isn't a good bet.

This is a great film!!!! Take the Family !! This was very similar to what happened in my all girls school that I attended in 1960. My whole family loved this film!! I wish there were more films like this one!! The perseverance of the girls and the Mother Superior and also especially the coach is remarkable.We were moved to tears at times. Why can't Hollywood make more movies like this??? Maybe they will wake up and make some classic movies again. We would go to the movies more often if they would make them like this one. There are some independent film makers out there maybe we will see more of these kind of movies lets hope so!! I will be watching to maybe see some change in our movies.