Posted on: Saturday, February 3, 2007
Get Super Bowl fever going with gridiron movies
By Rene Rodriguez
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Oh, how to fill those long, empty hours between now and Sunday's Super Bowl! Try these pigskin flicks:
"North Dallas Forty" (1979): This cynical comedy provides an insider's view of professional football and its less-than-family-friendly aspects while celebrating the spirit and tenacity of its players.
"Any Given Sunday" (1999): Oliver Stone's NFL expose features Al Pacino as head coach, Cameron Diaz as the team's owner and Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid and L.L. Cool J as some of the players.
"Brian's Song" (1971): Known to reduce even the most stoic guys to blubber, this fact-based drama is about the friendship between Chicago Bears running backs Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams).
"Remember the Titans" (2000): Few football movies are as inspiring as this fact-based drama about the 1971 team at the newly-integrated T.C. Williams High School, coached by
"Friday Night Lights" (2004): Before the excellent TV show, there was this excellent nonfiction account of a small Texas town's obsession with their high school football team.
"The Longest Yard" (1974): Forget the recent Adam Sandler remake and stick with the original, in which Burt Reynolds leads a team of prison inmates in a game against their sadistic guards
