When the Game Stands Tall

This was inspired by a true story.

California High School football coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) takes the De La Salle high school to 151 straight victories. This movie starts when the streak is broken and how everyone handles it.

This is one of those movies that gets better and better as it goes along. Bob Ladouceur insists that it not about scoring touchdowns and winning. But he has a method of teaching that actually insures that scoring touchdowns and winning will result. He says his main goal is to prepare his young players to be able to handle life after school so whatever happens, they can be counted on. Simply said, it works. Because of his belief in how he teaches and what he believes, he turns down offers to coach college football.

This is well acted all around and the hard-hitting (ouch, ouch, ouch) scenes on the football field appear to be quite real (Hey, Bob, it's movie magic). Well, I hope so, but I checked with my doctor anyway. So far he says I am good to watch more of these hits. Ouch!

The father of the Quarterback wants his son to achieve the record for the most touchdowns in High School competition nationwide. And, it is here the ending is nothing short of Pure Gold. You will be touched.

Also, you will understand why the title is perfect. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Responding to the overtly religious criticism/ This movie was about a team that won 150 games in a row. It was based on real life coaching. (This was not a made up part of the story but intrinsic to the coach's point of view).

To leave family/faith values out of the movie would have been like telling the story of a journey without any information about how the characters were able to get from point A to point B when no one else in history had ever done so.

Nevertheless the movie wasn't just about the overall journey, but also included the individual stories of the coach and black and white students facing their own challenges.

The many football scenes through-out the movie were great fun to watch!

Following the true live events of the De La Salle High School Spartans and their epic coach Bob Ladouceur who at one time had a 151 game winning streak. What happens when the champions become the underdogs? A senseless murder occurs of a promising young player... Will the coach, players, alumni recover and soldier on? This film talks about brotherhood and family in ways that all athletes could stand to be reminded of. Fantastic movie.

First, let me say, I LOVE sports movies--any sport, even if I'm not a fan. Pro, College, High School--even "The Sandlot" (a GREAT movie, by the way). Having lived in the Bay Area during "The Streak," and seeing the previews a few times, I was REALLY looking forward to seeing this film and went with a pocketful of Kleenex.

I am beginning to wonder if filmmakers put TOO much of the good stuff in their trailers. There weren't many other big moments in this movie that I hadn't seen in the weeks prior. It's a GREAT story, but just a good movie. I don't agree with some others that it's "too preachy." This is a Catholic High School, where kids are required to take religion classes. They aren't always about scripture, but about morals and ethics and leading a good life (regardless of your religion or no religion). Without this element, I don't think Coach Lad would have been as successful as he was. (And yeah, he probably "recruited" a bit, too).

The football scenes were very well done and exciting--not sure how much creative license was given there to create the nail biting finishes. I just felt the family dynamics and the player comraderie could have been delved into a little more deeply. Why tease us with bits and pieces and then not follow through? I also enjoy, at the end of such "real life" movies, to find out "where are they now?" It would have been nice to see what some of boys-who-became-men-through-football are up to now.

Out of curiosity, I did a bit more research and found that 2 of the main character/players were composites, which bothered me not because of the creative process, but because the most unlikable kid in the film is black. It bothered me when I watched the film, but I thought, OK, that's a real person. But it isn't. We don't need Hollywood to fuel racial bigotry.

So go see it--you'll come out of the theater a little bit better of a person. It's no "Brian's Song" or "Field of Dreams," but it's not The Bad News Bears" either.

I found it entertaining and it left me with a warm feeling. Solid performances help to enhance this incredible story of sport and courage. This one is an austere, gripping movie about surviving against the odds. It tells the journey of legendary football coach Bob Ladouceur, who took the De La Salle High School Spartans from obscurity to a 151-game winning streak that shattered all records for any American sport. What I like best is how the director lets the actors breathe and the music lets the atmosphere live. It reminds me of some of those sombre Japanese films that were popular back in the 1990. By the end, we feel that we have learned a great deal about the characters and the community that produced them.