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Burt Reynolds stars as Paul Crewe, a washed up professional football player who lands
himself 18-months in prison after a night of reckless driving. Content to simply "do
his time", and leave, the Warden unfortunately has other plans for Crewe - when he blackmails
him into organizing a team of prisoners to play against the guards in a practice game
designed to boost the prison guards' confidence before the start of their semi-pro season.
"The Longest Yard" is your classic prison movie - you've got the angry murderer with
a heart of gold, the guy that can procure any item you want, the strong grunt that doesn't
say much, the lovable old guy that's been there for 40 years, and the corrupt prison
guards that you love to hate. This film doesn't break any new ground in the prison-genre...
and quite frankly, much of the situations in this film feel entirely unbelievable -- with
the prison feeling more like relaxing sports facility than a correctional institution.
Reynolds does a great job in the leading role, really embodying the carefree, tough-guy attitude
despite his circumstances, and despite his lack of facial hair... it doesn't make it
any easier to root for his character though, whom for most of the film, seems like a jerk.
This is a film about redemption, and overcoming adversity - and like any good sports film,
the climax comes on the field, in an exciting, well paced final act that is truer to the
sport of football itself than most movies. There isn't much under the surface here, with
only a few characters on either team receiving much development or back-story... but we learn
enough through one-liners and simplified gags to understand the gist of whom to root for.
In a film that amounts more to a feel-good prison drama than a comedy, I was disappointed
with the ending, which left a few too many unanswered questions, and unseen revenge for
the audience - but otherwise, "The Longest Yard" holds up well after 37 years, and will
easily delight fans of either prison movies, or the game of football. "Simple, but worth
rooting for." Well, that's what I thought, now lets see what you had to say in the YouTube
comments.
Here's the rate-o-matic now to show us how we scored "The Longest Yard"... a GOOD, and
a COOL. This 37-year-old film holds up surprisingly well, if slow at parts - but it just isn't
funny or memorable enough for me to give score it higher. But I did think it was above-average,
I gave it a 6 out of 10. Although many of you mistakenly reviewed the 2005-remake, many
of you enjoyed the original story, and the jokes - scoring it a 7 out of 10.