The Longest Yard (1974) User Reviews

A classic of the genre.

[MovieAddict2016 · 8/10 · 15 June 2005]

You just can't get away with this stuff anymore. In the first ten minutes, Burt Reynolds has beaten his girlfriend, stolen her car, gone on a massive police chase, dumped the sportscar off a bridge, then attacked two cops. Oh, and he's the hero of the movie, too.

Nowadays the remake -- starring Adam Sandler -- is rated PG-13 and he's a total wimp. Back in the '70s you could get away with being vicious, sexist, homophobic and racist and live to tell about it. In 2005, Adam Sandler says the F-word in one of his movies and parents are banning the film companies.

Yup, this film is clearly racist, homophobic and misogynist. Women are treated as sexual objects throughout, from the opening to the part where a prison warden's intern requests sexual favors from Burt Reynolds in return for handing him a movie-reel he needs.

African-Americans are portrayed as racist tough guys who are better than the whites at football, and they call whiteys "honkies" and other such words. In return all the whites are racist towards the blacks and it creates an interesting tension.

The homophobia sneaks into play when it's suggested one of the inmates is in love with Burt Reynolds. Quite a funny scene, actually.

"The Longest Yard" was one of Robert Aldrich's most successful films and many claimed it was him "selling out," but viewed 30 years later this really does stand apart from many of the other sports-comedy films of the decade. What is so special about "The Longest Yard" is probably that it plays like a mix between "Cool Hand Luke," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Smokey and the Bandit" -- it's got car chases, it's got sports, it's got funny stuff, BUT it also spends a lot of time developing its characters and creating some very dramatic sequences.

This is well directed, gritty, and fun -- not as much a "comedy" as you might expect, it is actually more serious. By the end of the film we've come to root for a bunch of murderers and rapists and even Burt Reynolds, and let's face it -- when was the last time you saw Burt Reynolds in a movie and actually LIKED his character?! A classic of the genre.

"Hey Pop, the time you hit Hazen in the mouth, was it worth 30 years?/ For me it was./ Then give me my damn shoe!"

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 15 October 2008]

Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a reprehensible character discovering, in a prison, dignity and esteem… You see him, at the beginning of the movie—as a rising star—beating up a woman, stealing her car, drunken driving, insulting cops in a bar, resisting arrest… He's seen so funny when he insulted the miniature cop who's about to arrest him, while the cop's partner is laughing openly…

Eddie Albert was very charming when he meets Paul Crewe at his arrival to Citrus State Prison… Aldrich wanted to play Warden Hazen as the guy who had the veneer of normalcy, the veneer of being a good executive, the veneer of keeping it all together till it starts unraveling… He really was just a despicable, oily, warden type… In one game scene, we see him over and over again, getting up just with that same look of shock on his face…

Ed Lauter (Captain Knauer) is wonderful… He runs the football team… He is a bad guy and he represents everything that is wrong with that prison system and everything else… He changes as a result… And to see that is just so delightful… He's got the classic Ed Lauter's scene at the end… James Hampton plays Caretaker, the character who brings the team all together and pushes Burt's character ahead to win the game…

Ray Nitschke plays the toughest, meanest linebacker in football… Richard Kiel, Bob Tessier, Charles Tyner, Michael Conrad, and Harry Caesar give the film a certain veracity, you almost thing you are in jail

better version

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 23 December 2018]

Bitter former football player Paul Crewe (Burt Reynolds) gets into a physical fight with his girlfriend and gets sent to prison. Everybody dismisses Crewe for suspected point shaving. Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert) manages a semi-pro football team of prison guards. Captain Knauer (Ed Lauter) leads the team and orders Crewe from joining. Hazen is not happy with Knauer's result. Crewe reluctantly agrees to organize a prisoners team and play an exhibition game.

I don't mind the Adam Sandler version but it's nothing great. This version is so much better. It is darker. It's not as jokey but the black comedy hits so much harder. It starts dark with Crewe hitting his girlfriend. At first, it doesn't even seem like a comedy except for Burt's casual sly mannerisms. It reminds me of other serious prison dramas until it turns more into a sports movie. So it works as both genre. It has great emotions and touching relationships. It's a good drama and has a great feel good development. It essentially works in all areas.

Has aged well after 25+ years

[ZR RIFLE · 13 February 2001]

After seeing this flick again last year after I don't know how long, at first I wondered why I used to really like this film. But after watching the whole thing to the end, I remember why. This is one of those films that generated a whole bunch of "copy-cat" movies, none which are even worth remembering (or seeing). Sure, it's a macho-man movie, but it works, and to see the talent (both actors and ex-pro ball players) on the screen, this is a movie you can watch over and over. By the way, it was refreshing to see the widescreen DVD version which was just released.

You Gotta Be A Football Hero

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 31 October 2009]

The Longest Yard refers not to the territory gained and lost in a football game. For Burt Reynolds its that prison yard that he's in for the next 18 months.

Reynolds isn't one of the noblest athletes ever to grace the National Football League. He was a quarterback who was thrown out of the game in a point shaving scandal. Now he's doing time for stealing his mistress's Maserati and causing a lot of havoc and mayhem when she called the cops on him.

The Longest Yard starts to look a little like From Here To Eternity where Monty Clift's company captain Philip Ober wants him to box for the post championship. Reynolds really isn't interested in playing football any more or helping warden Eddie Albert out with his semi-pro team of prison guards. But he's got less redress than Clift did in the army and Reynolds is not a person to make too fine a point of resistance.

What Reynolds suggests is a tune-up game with a squad of the inmates to play the guards to keep them in a fighting edge. Sounds real good to Albert who has a mean streak in him that Reynolds is slow to realize. There's a lot of possibilities to inflict some legal pain and for him to reassert his authority.

The Longest Yard is first and foremost about what Reynolds will do when the crisis comes. His track record doesn't suggest any heroics, but some people do surprise you.

The antagonists Reynolds and Albert are given good support by director Robert Aldrich's picked cast. Foremost among them are Ed Lauter as the chief guard, James Hampton as the team manager, and Charles Tyner in a particularly loathsome role as a prison stoolie. He will really make your skin crawl.

Bernadette Peters is also in The Longest Yard as Albert's secretary with the delightful name of Miss Toot who takes advantage of her position with a little sexual harassment of the prisoners. I do love that Dickensian name that was given her for this film. The only other female of note is Anitra Ford who is Reynolds mistress and whose Maserati he appropriates. When Burt says he earned that Maserati you can well believe it.

The Longest Yard is in a class by itself, a sports/prison movie. A film that created it's own genre. That has to count for something.

I Don't Know Why I Like It

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 14 September 2001]

If there ever was a manipulative film, this is it. By the end you are rooting for the prisoners (the nice guys, you know, armed robbers, murderers, rapists, child molesters) against those awful guards. Those poor sweet prisoners, being taken advantage of by those sadistic guards. Then there's the warden, Mr. Douglas from Green Acres, Eddie Albert. Rotten to the core. Bert Reynolds is his mugging best, first selling out, then winning one for the Gipper. It is violent, raucous, ridiculous from the stolen uniforms to the cross dressing cheerleaders. I am a non violent person, I knew everything was designed to work over my prejudices and my primitive feelings of revenge. And yet, when the game started, I was transfixed. I don't get it. Have I no taste?

Jokey jock-brutality

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 11 June 2005]

Disgraced ex-pro football player Burt Reynolds is sent to prison after dumping his lover's car in the drink and assaulting two police officers; once behind bars, the oily warden coerces him into turning the other inmates into football players to compete with the guards in a game. Great story for a funny farce from screenwriter Tracy Keenan Wynn, working from Albert S. Ruddy's treatment, but "The Longest Yard" isn't completely on the cartoony side. Director Robert Aldrich attempts to give the narrative some dimension, but it's mostly an exhaustively gut-crunching exercise in comedic masochism (on that note, these inmates look rather long-in-the-tooth to be playing an extended, bruising game on the gridiron). Reynolds' comic double-takes are very amusing, and the supporting cast is full of colorful characters (particularly James Hampton as Caretaker, Michael Conrad as Scarboro and Bernadette Peters as a secretary whose beehive hairdo is a punchline all its own). However, there's too much emphasis on what a jerk warden Eddie Albert is, and too many shots of him looking aghast. Ed Lauter's menacing act as the chief guard is likewise tiresome, yet the movie is surprisingly involving and gritty in appearance. Aldrich is a rather low-keyed filmmaker who doesn't allow things to get too silly or stupid; he shows a keen eye here, especially with the use of split-screen visuals once the game gets going (it's a terrific touch). The game itself seems to go on forever--these players would be passed out from sheer exhaustion!--while the warden's threats still hang in the air, unresolved. One Oscar nomination: Best Editing. Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy; Reynolds was also nominated in the Best Actor category, Albert as Best Supporting Actor, and Hampton as Best Newcomer. *** from ****

Football and prison is a recipe for brutal mirth.

[hitchcockthelegend · 9/10 · 13 July 2008]

Disgraced former pro football quarterback Paul Crewe is sent to prison after a drunken night to remember. The prison is run by Warden Hazen, a football nut who spies an opportunity to utilise Crewe's ability at the sport to enhance the prison guards teams skills. After initially declining to help, Crewe is swayed into putting together a team of convicts to take on the guards in a one off match, thieves, murderers and psychopaths collectively come together to literally, beat the guards, but Crewe also has his own personal demons to exorcise.

This violent, but wonderfully funny film has many things going for it. Directed with style by the gifted hands of Robert Aldrich, The Longest Yard cheekily examines the harshness of gridiron and fuses it with the brutality of the penal system. The script from Tracy Keenan Wynn is a sharp as a tack and Aldrich's use of split screens and slow motion sequences bring it all together very nicely indeed. I would also like to comment on the editing from Michael Luciano, nominated for the Oscar in that department, it didn't win, but in my honest opinion it's one of the best edited pictures from the 70s.

Taking the lead role of Crewe is Burt Reynolds, here he is at the peak of his powers (perhaps never better) and has star appeal positively bristling from every hair on his rugged chest. It's a great performance, believable in the action sequences (he was once a halfback for Florida), and crucially having the comic ability to make Wynn's script deliver the necessary mirth quota. What is of most interest to me is that Crewe is a less than honourable guy, the first 15 minutes of the film gives us all we need to know about his make up, but much like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the following year, The Longest Yard has us rooting for the main protagonist entering the home straight, and that is something of a testament to Reynolds' charm and charisma.

The film's crowning glory is the football game itself, taking up three parts of an hour, the highest compliment I can give it is to say that one doesn't need to be a fan of the sport to enjoy this final third. It's highly engaging as a comedy piece whilst also being octane inventive as an action junkie's series of events. A number of former gridiron stars fill out both sides of the teams to instill a high believability factor into the match itself, and the ending is a pure rewarding punch the air piece of cinema. 9/10

Cons play ball like pros

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 17 July 2002]

Good comedy with Reynolds playing a chain gang convict who is coerced into using his skill as a pro quarterback to help a crooked warden lead his team to greater heights. Loads of laughs as Burt and the boys lay the screws - get it? - to the sadistic guards and their psychotic leader. One of Burt's best.

the greatest football film ever... period

[movieman_kev · 10/10 · 17 May 2005]

Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe a real man's man. After showing his woman who's boss, he splits in her car and after a great chase scene, the police find him in a bar. So the ex-football player is sent to prison, where the warden offers to shave off some time if he makes a team of the convicts to fight (and lose to) the guards' semi-pro team in a pre-season game. Every part of the movie screams greatness. From the excellent acting all around, to the superb casting (Adam Sandler can't hold a candle to Burt in this movie, that remake is gonna be horrid) Ed Lauter is a great heavy , to the great tension-filled football game that comprises a good deal of the latter half of the movie. This is one of the exceedingly too few MAN's movie and they sadly don't make them like this anymore.

My Grade: A

DVD Extras: Commentary by Burt Reynolds and Writer Albert Ruddy (Among the best I've heard); 11 minute "Doing time on the Longest Yard" featurette; 11 minute "Unleashing the Mean Machine" retrospective; an exclusive look at the re-make (looking absolute crap); Theatrical Trailer;Trailers for "The Longest Yard" remake, "Coach Carter", "Macgyver: Season 1", and "Tommy Boy"

Eye Candy: Anita Ford in a red see-thru number

Cons Vs. Guards equals a good movie

[saint405 · 7/10 · 3 July 2005]

The Longest Yard is about former pro quarterback Paul Crewe who is sent to jail and is challenged by the mad Warden to put together a football team of cons to play against his guards so they can tune up for the pro's. Paul must pull together a victory with the help of his manager Caretaker, Coach Nate, and football team of inmates with attitudes against the guards. But when Caretaker gets murdered, at half time of the big game the Warden threatens to pin the murder on Crewe unless he throws the game for the guards to win. Now under orders, Paul must decide on helping his team or helping himself. Now this film is a drama with sports and comedy thrown in. Burt Reynolds is cool as Paul 'Wrecking' Crewe and Hampton is great as Caretaker. Eddie Albert is wonderful as the sadistic Warden and I loved Richard Kiels performance as one of the football cons, Samson. The plot is well made up with a great cop car chase at the beginning to the tense hardcore football game at the end. The acting is great from all the cast and the action is packed. But there are down sides, like some of the scenes are so slow and boring you loose interest in the story. But the story picks right up after the scene is over If you enjoy dramatic sports movies like Rocky or Raging Bull, you'll love The Longest Yard. Longest Yard gets the big 7, a bit slow in half the film with some cheesy camera angles but a good film overall. You'll have a good time, enjoy!

Real men; no schtick

[JulieKelleher57 · 9/10 · 3 January 2000]

"The Longest Yard" does not depend on the tiresome innocent-man-behind-bars schtick to evoke the inmates' humanity. Crew, Caretaker, et al are not men because they have been falsely accused, but because they maintain their manhood under conditions of mental and physical cruelty. Their humanity isn't a plot or script convention, but the core of their character. It's refreshing to discover that you're cheering for criminals despite their unapologetic bravado. IMHO, the best "prison" film ever made.

Punt!

[kenjha · 6/10 · 26 December 2012]

Inmates take on the guards in a football game at a prison. In the opening scene it is established that Reynolds is an arrogant and misogynistic ex pro football player. And he's supposed to be the good guy. The film is supposed to be a comedy but any attempts at humor fall flat. The script and direction are both inept. There's a football game that takes up about 45 minutes of the film and it's clichéd and poorly executed, with random and distracting use of split screen. The final drive by the convicts doesn't even make sense, as Reynolds purposely garners unsportsmanlike penalties on two consecutive plays while trying to win the game.

35 Minutes of a Fake Game

[dalewmiller · 4/10 · 1 February 2020]

I was so bored I fast forwarded through over half of the game in the end. It was so dragged out I was bored to tears and I like sports movies. I even love 70's sports movies such as the original Bad News Bears.

How is this a comedy? The best I got was a slight chuckle from time to time. In fact, the first scene made me cringe. There was no need for that violence. Simply making him an alcoholic, has been football player would have been enough to establish his character.

I have no idea why this is such a classic.

when Burt was a star

[blanche-2 · 15 August 2011]

Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest stars of the '70s, but like a lot of '70s stars (Faye Dunaway, Michael Serrizan, Karen Black, etc.) other decades have not been so kind to him. Here he stars in one of his finest films, "The Longest Yard," made in 1974, directed by Robert Aldrich, and also starring Eddie Albert, Michael Conrad, Ed Lauter, James Hampton, and Bernadette Peters.

Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a football player who goes to prison after he hits his ex-girlfriend, steals her car, and runs it into the river. He's a football player with a scandal in his past, when he was suspected of shaving points off of a game.

The sadistic warden (Eddie Albert) wants him to organize a football team for the prisoners so that they can play the guards. The real agenda is that on the football field, the guards will be able to practically beat the prisoners senseless. With the help of Caretaker (James Hampton), Paul chooses a football team and starts training them. On the day of the big game, he gets an offer that he should refuse but might not be able to.

This is a really fine film. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it's one of those movies where you wind up rooting for the bad guys. Reynolds' character learns self-esteem, pride in his work, and also a sense of camaraderie. The football game itself is very exciting.

"The Longest Yard" is a film that holds up well, and not the usual type of prison movie you'd see today. And Bernadette Peters' hairdo is a no-miss!

Comedy-Drama-Guy-Satire-Sports Film Somehow Wins

[ASuiGeneris · 6/10 · 4 June 2018]

The Longest Yard (1974) Director: Robert Aldrich Watched: June 2, 2018 Rating: 6/10

A Has-been Football star Earns redemption Serving time leading prison inmates' team; Tested when the warden blackmails him To throw the game. The cons are misfits, But With Guidance Play like pros. Fun characters, But endless game with split screens was no fun. Clichéd "guy film" achieves wide appeal by Crossing genres- Satire, Drama, Sports, With Real-life Football stars, Real-life prison. Unlike the story, the pros beat the cons.

Tetractys poems stem from the mathematician Euclid, who considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have a mystical significance because its sum of 10. He named it a Tetractys. Thus, these poems follow a 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllable format, with additional verses written in an inverted syllable count. #Tetractys #QuintupleTetractys #PoemReview #GoldenGlobesBestPicture

All Pro Cast Supports Predictable Material

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 2 March 2005]

Casting is the strength of this football comedy. Burt Reynolds is at the top of his game. Eddie Albert does very well, James Hampton is at his best, & the supporting cast is strong. Add to this several top notch football players including Joe Kapp (who people forget was the first QB to take the Vikings to the Super Bowl) and you understand why the game sequences look real.

A strong cast like this deserved a little less predictable material. I do like this film a lot because of the cast but if the script had a surprise or two in it, the film would have even more impact. Worth watching but could have been better.

A harsh look at prison life.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 7/10 · 23 June 2017]

You could be forgiven for believing that Burt Reynolds can only play comedic characters and not capable of drama. Well, you would be wrong. He is very comfortable here in a serious drama about prison life in general - with emphasis placed upon the harsh reality of being a convict. "The Longest Yard" is definitely one of the better films from Burt Reynolds. The plot, dialogue, acting, direction and photography fit the bill. The supporting cast includes Eddie Albert and Ed Lauter as two great villains. There is some humour once in a while but the film is uncompromising regarding the harsh treatment to which the convicts are subjected. The football game section is undoubtedly the highlight of "The Longest Yard" but the film is well made on all fronts.

Very good prison drama

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 10 May 2010]

It is admittedly manipulative and quite violent, and being filled to the brim with references to The Dirty Dozen and the corrupt regime of President Nixon, it can be a little heavy-handed. These aside though, it is very well made with crisp cinematography and an imposing building for the prison, and the comedy is boisterous and comes by thick and fast, and it is pretty hard to beat with this on showing loyalty, dignity and liberty. Robert Aldrich directs with panache, the music is very good, the story is gripping, the script is sharp and the acting is excellent. Burt Reynolds exudes star quality as the imprisoned football professional who is forced to organise a team of convicts against their own guards, and it was nice to see Bernadette Peters as the Warden's secretary. But it is Eddie Albert who steals the acting honours as the sadistic warden. Overall, a very good prison drama, and definitely recommended. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Influenced by M*A*S*H

[smatysia · 6/10 · 19 March 2018]

I saw this film years ago, and remember thinking it was OK. It's a little hard to imagine now, what a big deal Burt Reynolds was in the Seventies. No other movie star came close. On a recent viewing I found this this movie to be a bit better than I remembered. Still not a classic or anything, but pretty good. The depiction of prison life is harsh, as it surely is, but it seems a different world from today's prisons, with their racial gangs and constant strife. The football game is quite reminiscent of the one in M*A*S*H, from only a few years before.

Game Ball

[RNMorton · 10/10 · 26 September 2013]

Gets my Game Ball for the best football movie of all time along with The Best of Times. Always out there lurking just outside my list of ten favorite movies of all time. Burt, run out of pro ball for fixing games, goes loco on his bitchy girl friend and her exoticar and gets sent up the river for some hard time. His state prison guards boast the best football team in the state, and the warden (exquisitely played by Eddie Albert) would like Burt to give his championship team a nice warm up game. Burt puts together a better team of inmates than anyone expects and the fun begins. One of Burt's best performances, helped along by Albert, Michael Conrad and some former NFL stars, including Ray Nitschke, Joe Kapp and Sonny Sixkiller. His-tor-eee

Go Deep.

[Cloud20 · 7/10 · 5 February 2006]

The Longest Yard (1974)

Burt Reynolds, Ed Lauter, Eddie Albert, Michael Conrad, James Hampton, Richard Kiel, Harry Caesar, John Steadman.

Spoilers herein.

"The Longest Yard" has been classified as one of the greatest sports comedies ever made. There is just one thing I don't understand - is it really meant to be that funny? The only comedy I found in the movie was just dark humor during the prison scenes, but that couldn't add another whole genre to the film, could it?

Former pro quarterback Paul Crewehas been arrested for grand theft auto and assault on a police officer and has been sentenced to do time prison. Warden Hazen of the prison wants to give Crewe a chance to help his guards in football, and is inspired by Crewe's idea of getting a team of inmates to face off against the guards. Crewe accepts the offer and becomes the quarterback of the team that he knows he cannot let down.

Burt Reynolds does good as the rebel against the guards, though his character isn't particularly likable. This worked in films like "Raging Bull", because the film wasn't supposed to be sweet or funny at all. In comedies, main characters are supposed to have something to like about them, and Paul Crewe isn't a character that you can have much sympathy for, which is one of elements that fails in "The Longest Yard". He does play a much more convincing Paul Crewe than Adam Sandler does, however.

This film does have something that the original was missing though- it was much fresher. The script does a lot better here than it did in the silly remake, which added in too many dumb references to McDonald's and homosexuality. The rest of the cast is pretty good, and I especially enjoyed Richard Kiel's role as the giant Samson. "I think I broke his f****'in neck!" Overall, I just felt like this film was somewhat dated and runs at a pretty slow pace. But the final half hour of the movie, like the remake, is entertaining enough to be watched at least once for fun. I found this slightly better than the new one because it has a much more real feel to it, and it just succeeds for being a good film. If you want a great film about the teamwork of football, see "Friday Night Lights". 3.5 stars out of 5.

I gotta be a football hero!

[clydestuff · 8/10 · 17 March 2004]

If one were to look at a Burt Reynolds film resume from over the years, he would have to look long and hard to find many gems. In comparison to some of his films such as Smokey And The Bandit II, Cannonball Run, and Stroker Ace for example, The Longest Yard is not only a gem, it's the Hope Diamond.

Reynolds plays down on his luck, ex-NFL quarterback Paul Crewe. Seems he was kicked out of football for shaving points in the game, and is now relegated to servicing his rich girl friend. One afternoon, when the girlfriend makes the mistake of interrupting his football viewing, Crewe steals her Maserati and drives it into the nearby bay. After a quick car chase and a funny scene when Crewe is arrested in a bar, he is sent off to prison. As it turns out it is just not any ordinary prison. It seems Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert)hires the guards on their ability to play football. It also seems Hazen has arranged for Crewe to be sent to his particular prison so that Crewe can organize a football team of the inmates, quarterback them, and play a game against the guards. A totally preposterous plot it is, but that's part of what makes this film so enjoyable.

The Longest Yard works so well is not because the acting is Academy Award stuff, it's because Producer Albert Ruddy and Director Robert Aldrich seemed to have found the perfect cast for the roles they inhabit. Having played football in college, Reynolds fits the role of quarterback Crewe perfectly. Eddie Albert as sleazy Warden Hazen, will make you forget about that thing he did called Green Acres.

James Hampton, who has floundered around in Hollywood as a character actor, has his best role ever as Caretaker. Crewe makes Caretaker his manager because it seems he has a knack for obtaining certain contraband that would otherwise be out of Crewe's clutches. Some of the items he acquires are not only funny, but there's also a certain service Crewe has to perform to get some of them. I'll not tell you what it is but leave it to you to see the film.

Michael Conrad, who plays aging ex-football player Nate Scarboro, also joins in the fun when he agrees to help coach Crewe's team on the slim chance that the inmates might pull an upset. Let's just say some of his coaching ideas are unique, as our many of the coaching ideas in this film. That's OK because it only serves to add to the fun.

Harry Caesar as Granville, the first black player to join the team, shows there are more than enough reasons for him to play football. It takes Granville being humiliated by the guards trying to discourage him from playing before the other black inmates join in the fun. In the scene where the guards are demeaning him, he doesn't get rattled, yet we can sense his rage beneath the surface. There's also Pop(John Steadman)who has been lingering in prison for a few extra years because he once punched a certain guard who became a Warden. He becomes the team's trainer, and has one brief but memorable moment with Crewe during the football game.

What most people remember about The Longest Yard is the big game, but everything leading up to it is just as enjoyable. There is the favor that Crewe has to do for the Warden's secretary (Bernadette Peters with the strangest hair do I've ever seen). The scenes where Crewe is recruiting the inmates are classic, especially when he interviews a couple of inmates named Samson(Richard Kiel), Shokner (Robert Tessier) and Indian (Sonny Sixkiller). When the team begins practicing, how they go from being really really bad to fairly decent is as entertaining as the rest of the film.

As for the football game itself, it is undoubtedly one of the most hilarious sporting events of any kind to be put on the big screen. Aldrich takes each moment of the game and makes it count. If you have never seen the film, it'll have you rolling on the floor. If you have seen it as I have many times, just thinking about it will bring a smile of recollection to your face. You'll see things in this game you'll never get the chance to witness on Monday night football.

If there are any missteps in this film, they are minor. One is a detestable slimy inmate named Unger (Charles Tyner) is introduced into the story when it is not necessary. He is here only as a plot device to do two things, the first is to carry out a despicable act, and the second is because of Unger, Crewe is forced into a bad decision late in the film. It would have been easily to find a way to do this without introducing Unger into an otherwise enjoyable film.

Despite that, there is no doubt that you'll enjoy The Longest Yard, even if you don't like football. Aldrich, Ruddy, and Reynolds have scored a touchdown and a two point conversion. When you score like that you get my coaching grade, and for The Longest Yard it's an A-.

Fairly entertaining prison / action comedy

[Skragg · 7/10 · 16 April 2006]

I' ve seldom been a great fan of "guy movie" kinds of comedies (the "rowdy" kind), but even I have an idea of "good" vs. "bad" vs. "merely okay" ones. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think of this one in that third category. In spite of the main actors, and all the great supporting ones. One thing that's always bothered me about it - I think the Ed Lauter character should' ve been a GENERAL "vicious guard" (if that phrase makes any sense), instead of one who actually murders a prisoner (wasn't he the one who did that?). That way, when he gives that disgusted look at Eddie Albert's character at the end, it could almost be thought of as some new-found sympathy for the Reynolds character (at least, compared to Albert's). One lopsided reason I have for liking this one is the actress Anitra Ford (one of the "Price Is Right" models for some time) at the beginning. I always wish, along with that five-minute scene, there had been some kind of "backstory" for her character and Reynolds', showing how he became this "kept man." That's another thing - even though he's pictured as a "jerk" during this first part, the looks she gives, and the way she talks, make her a sort of over-the-top "harpy", making it seem like there's no "good guy" in this fight. Maybe a backhanded compliment, but she's very convincing that way, in just a few minutes.

Not bad but shows its age

[mm-39 · 5/10 · 12 May 2003]

Saw this film on TBS. Still entertaining, but dated. It was interesting to watch the football scenes, I love the game. The split screen part I just totally hate. Some of the lines and actor where a little to unbelievable for the realistic 00's we live in now. The ending is great, and the movie is worth a watch I give it a six out of ten.