'Rudy' Leads Football Roundup
Burbank, California—As the professional football season begins—with strong ticket sales for Invincible starring Mark Wahlberg as a bartender turned Philadelphia Eagle—the voluminous backlog of related DVDs offers a surplus of pigskin-themed pictures and juicy archival stuff.
Sony's three-disc Football Collection consists of Radio, Jerry Maguire and Rudy. Radio and Jerry Maguire each feature the charismatic Cuba Gooding, Jr. and strong characters in triumphant stories, but nothing beats the rousing Rudy, for which Sean Astin deserves an honorary Heisman trophy.
Astin scores in play after play as Dan "Rudy" Ruettiger, a real person whose likeness goes from bad grades at Joliet Catholic to intense, goal-driven action toward something better than working in a steel mill like his dad (Ned Beatty). Rudy worships the University of Notre Dame.
That is the core of Rudy's success. Astin's clean, honest performance, writer Angelo Pizzo's winning script and David Anspaugh's flowing direction adopt a deeply reverent tone for an institution of higher learning—i.e., for setting the highest possible standards and achieving one's personal best. Capturing changing seasons, classrooms and the line of scrimmage, this 1993 winner is unabashedly straightforward.
From the moment pint-sized Rudy sits on a Greyhound bus bench—New York's rising Twin Towers on a poster behind him—to strike out on his own to his lone figure sitting on a bench in South Bend, Indiana, clinging to his wish to play for Notre Dame's Fighting Irish—in their 24 karat gold painted helmets—Rudy is one steady scoring drive.
Recruited by nerd Jon Favreau ("who's the wild man, now?!?") as an irreplaceable ally, boosted by janitor Charles Dutton ("don't know nothin' about it,") doing what Rudy's father should have done and aided by Jason Miller as Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian and Robert Prosky as Father Cavanaugh, a Catholic priest with one foot planted in reality, Rudy's unassuming tale finishes in a single game against Georgia Tech. Look for Vince Vaughn—billed as Vincent—as the quarterback who scores one for the mini-Gipper.
Less about winning an athletic competition than about adopting winning—the attainment of one's goals—as a way of life, Pizzo's lines sparkle and sting. By the time Sean Astin—talented like his mother, Patty Duke—grabs a stool in the team's locker room and mimics a favorite childhood recording—"we're gonna get 'em on the run!"—we're already well invested in his emotional journey. Jerry Goldsmith's score captures the cost, thrill and excitement of football. As an added bonus, Brian's Song, the powerful made for television 1971 movie about the friendship between Chicago Bears Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) and Brian Piccolo (James Caan), is sampled in an extensive trailer on the Rudy disc (it's also on DVD).
The team Rudy idolized is the subject of a new DVD, The History of Notre Dame Football, which covers ND's eleven national title championships, the Four Horsemen and, of course, Knute Rockne (Knute Rockne, All-American is now on DVD). Also available: The History of USC Football, from before 1968's Heisman winner Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson to 2004's Trojan winner, Matt Leinart.
Two of the NFL's greatest teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers—the only pro football team to adopt an emblem representing American industrialism—are covered in Super Bowl Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers (Collector's Series) (worth the price for those immaculate Franco Harris and Lynn Swann plays), Super Bowl XL Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers: The Complete History and Super Bowl Champions: San Francisco 49ers. While they don't include enough Super Bowl game footage, they're stocked with player profiles (Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Terry Bradshaw, John Stallworth, Jerome "the Bus" Bettis), clips and more.
The truly devoted pro football fan must have the Pro Football Hall of Fame: 85 Years of Greatness, an outstanding triple-disc collection of stories, speeches, photographs, statistics and highlights from the Hall of Fame located in Canton, Ohio. The collection's 30 induction speeches offer a rare glimpse at yesteryear's heroes, such as quarterback Johnny Unitas, running back Walter Payton and Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Chuck Noll.
$
RELATED ARTICLE
• Review - Invincible
RELATED LINKS
• Football Collection (Rudy, Radio, Jerry Maguire)
• The History of Notre Dame Football
• The History of USC Football
• Super Bowl Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers
• Super Bowl XL Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers
• San Francisco 49ers: The Complete History
• Super Bowl Champions: San Francisco 49ers
• Pro Football Hall of Fame: 85 Years of Greatness
Sony's three-disc Football Collection consists of Radio, Jerry Maguire and Rudy. Radio and Jerry Maguire each feature the charismatic Cuba Gooding, Jr. and strong characters in triumphant stories, but nothing beats the rousing Rudy, for which Sean Astin deserves an honorary Heisman trophy.
Astin scores in play after play as Dan "Rudy" Ruettiger, a real person whose likeness goes from bad grades at Joliet Catholic to intense, goal-driven action toward something better than working in a steel mill like his dad (Ned Beatty). Rudy worships the University of Notre Dame.
That is the core of Rudy's success. Astin's clean, honest performance, writer Angelo Pizzo's winning script and David Anspaugh's flowing direction adopt a deeply reverent tone for an institution of higher learning—i.e., for setting the highest possible standards and achieving one's personal best. Capturing changing seasons, classrooms and the line of scrimmage, this 1993 winner is unabashedly straightforward.
From the moment pint-sized Rudy sits on a Greyhound bus bench—New York's rising Twin Towers on a poster behind him—to strike out on his own to his lone figure sitting on a bench in South Bend, Indiana, clinging to his wish to play for Notre Dame's Fighting Irish—in their 24 karat gold painted helmets—Rudy is one steady scoring drive.
Recruited by nerd Jon Favreau ("who's the wild man, now?!?") as an irreplaceable ally, boosted by janitor Charles Dutton ("don't know nothin' about it,") doing what Rudy's father should have done and aided by Jason Miller as Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian and Robert Prosky as Father Cavanaugh, a Catholic priest with one foot planted in reality, Rudy's unassuming tale finishes in a single game against Georgia Tech. Look for Vince Vaughn—billed as Vincent—as the quarterback who scores one for the mini-Gipper.
Less about winning an athletic competition than about adopting winning—the attainment of one's goals—as a way of life, Pizzo's lines sparkle and sting. By the time Sean Astin—talented like his mother, Patty Duke—grabs a stool in the team's locker room and mimics a favorite childhood recording—"we're gonna get 'em on the run!"—we're already well invested in his emotional journey. Jerry Goldsmith's score captures the cost, thrill and excitement of football. As an added bonus, Brian's Song, the powerful made for television 1971 movie about the friendship between Chicago Bears Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) and Brian Piccolo (James Caan), is sampled in an extensive trailer on the Rudy disc (it's also on DVD).
The team Rudy idolized is the subject of a new DVD, The History of Notre Dame Football, which covers ND's eleven national title championships, the Four Horsemen and, of course, Knute Rockne (Knute Rockne, All-American is now on DVD). Also available: The History of USC Football, from before 1968's Heisman winner Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson to 2004's Trojan winner, Matt Leinart.
Two of the NFL's greatest teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers—the only pro football team to adopt an emblem representing American industrialism—are covered in Super Bowl Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers (Collector's Series) (worth the price for those immaculate Franco Harris and Lynn Swann plays), Super Bowl XL Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers: The Complete History and Super Bowl Champions: San Francisco 49ers. While they don't include enough Super Bowl game footage, they're stocked with player profiles (Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Terry Bradshaw, John Stallworth, Jerome "the Bus" Bettis), clips and more.
The truly devoted pro football fan must have the Pro Football Hall of Fame: 85 Years of Greatness, an outstanding triple-disc collection of stories, speeches, photographs, statistics and highlights from the Hall of Fame located in Canton, Ohio. The collection's 30 induction speeches offer a rare glimpse at yesteryear's heroes, such as quarterback Johnny Unitas, running back Walter Payton and Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Chuck Noll.
$
RELATED ARTICLE
• Review - Invincible
RELATED LINKS
• Football Collection (Rudy, Radio, Jerry Maguire)
• The History of Notre Dame Football
• The History of USC Football
• Super Bowl Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers
• Super Bowl XL Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers
• San Francisco 49ers: The Complete History
• Super Bowl Champions: San Francisco 49ers
• Pro Football Hall of Fame: 85 Years of Greatness
