6 Football Movies and Their 6 Clichés

From "We Are Marshall"

I don't know about you but I absolutely love football movies. The suspense, the action packed grid iron, the overly dramatic teenage angst. It's great all around. I recently watched the film "When The Game Stands Tall", a somewhat newer football film about a high school football team with the greatest winning streak in history and suddenly they lose a game and everything seems to fall apart. While watching this film, which I enjoyed, I couldn't help but notice the formulaic approach to how the story would play out. (Hint: there's lots of expensive hospital bills in these movies) So I decided to take a closer look at 6 football movies and some of the clichés that accompany them.

Here are the movies that I will be looking at:










1. Remember the Titans- Set in 1971 and based on a true story a racially diverse team has to learn how to play together despite their race and society telling them they shouldn't be playing together.

2. Friday Night Lights- Set in 1988, the town of Odessa, TX is obsessive about following the football team as they attempt to win the state championships. (Also spawned the successful TV show of the same name)

3. Varsity Blues- Set in 1999, the small town of West Canaan, TX is an obsessive community that loves football and the player have to deal with a difficult and overbearing coach where winning is the only option. (I honestly have a difficult time separating this movie from Friday Night Lights except FNL has a better poster)

4. The Longest Yard (Sandler)- A remake of the 1974 film of the same name, Paul Crewe is a disgraced former quarterback in the NFL who is sent to prison and puts a team of inmates together to play against the guards.

5. We Are Marshall- Set in 1970 and based on a true story of a tragic plane crash that killed the impressive Marshall University football team of players, coaches and parents. The film shows an underdog coach that tries to rebuild the team with rookie players to inspire and keep the program alive at the university.

6. When the Game Stands Tall- Based on a true story set in 2003 at the end of 151 game winning streak of De La Salle High School, the team has to deal with difficulties of a passionate town and the struggles of adolescence after losing the longest winning streak in football history.

Here Are 6 Clichés That I Noticed:

1. Player Has An Obsessive, Controlling Father Who Only Cares About Winning

All of these movies except for The Longest Yard have this theme. (In The Longest Yard you could say that type of character is the warden). In the other films, it's a blatant annoyance that the coach and the player have to deal with. There's lot of lines like "Put my son in!" and "Why would you run that play?!" that this father character often screams. 

In "Remember the Titans" it's Ryan Gosling's father who is annoying

In We Are Marshall, one of the players who died in the plane crash is the one with the overbearing father who is obsessed with every game and every play that his son makes. We see him deal with losing his son and leaving behind that passion of caring about football. He is against the people trying to rebuild the team so shortly after the deaths of the team because he says it's disrespectful. Most of the other parents, especially the one in When the Game Stands Tall are just plain a-holes.

Remember that time Nelly and Adam Sandler were "good" football players?

2. Movie Is More About The Coach Than The Players

In Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, We Are Marshall and When the Game Stands Tall, it's the coaches journey that's actually central to the story in the film. Remember the Titans is about two interracial coaches learning to work together at a time when blacks and whites were separated. 

Paul Walker in "Varsity Blues"

Friday Night Lights shows the stresses of a highly pressured coach and his mistakes and how he over comes them. We Are Marshall is about an outsider (Matthew McConaughey) rebuilding a football team after tragic deaths and he has to deal with players and a community who believe he's wrong for rebuilding the team so soon. When the Game Stands Tall is about a coach with an impressive winning streak and outstanding coaching ability who loses his first game after 151 wins in a row. 

Billy Bob Thornton in "Friday Night Lights"

3. There Is An Exciting, Suspenseful Final Game That (Usually) Ends With A Win

Whether the stakes are as high as a state championship (Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights) or just getting through and finally winning a game (The Longest Yard, When the Game Stands Tall, Varsity Blues, We Are Marshall) there's an inspiring tale of teamwork at the heart of these films. You know deep down that everything will work out and our underdog team will win it all but it's still suspenseful getting there. 

"Varsity Blues"

We love to see the win after dealing with the hardships. Things will go wrong. Injuries will occur but our team shall prevail! Speaking of injuries...

4. Serious Injury Occurs, Often With A Death

Football movies are basically required to tug at our heart strings and more often than not it's due to someone dying (often a minor but lovable character) whose death (or injury) shakes up and ultimately unites the team into joining together. *(Spoilers below)*

"We Are Marshall"

Remember the Titans has the death of Gerry Bertier and gets in a serious car accident and is paralyzed but doesn't die until later. The movie opens and ends with all the players grown up at his funeral. Friday Night Lights has injuries and some are fairly serious. Varsity Blues also just deals with injuries of some of the players. The Longest Yard has the death of Caretaker (Chris Rock) which ends up being a plot point that effects the rest of the movie. There are also injuries during the game at the end of the film. We Are Marshall begins with the team dying in a plane crash close to home that kills 37 people (players, coaches and fans) so death is a theme throughout the film. There are also some injuries throughout and passionate players who try and fight through them for their team. When the Game Stands Tall has injuries and death. The coach has a heart attack and one of the players is tragically shot and killed. Both of these events shake up but don't break up the team, who ultimately prevails. *(End of Spoilers)*

"Friday Night Lights"

5. The Coach Serves As A Strong Father Figure For the Players

Varsity Blues and The Longest Yard are more about brotherhood with their fellow players but the other four films reach heavily into the father-like role model with the coaches of these teams. These coaches will often give inspirational speeches to the players in key moments in the film. Remember the Titans pins coach against coach for a large part of the movie but when they work together they inspire their team not just as players but as people, which is what really makes a great coach.

Julius knows what's up. "Remember the Titans"

Friday Night Lights is all about Billy Bob Thornton's character and how he inspires his team to persevere when the star player is badly injured. We Are Marshall has Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox as coaches of a distraught team after a devastating disaster for their college. They have to bring together a new team of rookie players and upset parents and show them the importance of honoring the ones who died. They inspire the players to work together to win a game. In When the Game Stands Tall, Coach Lad is a true father figure to all the players that he coaches. They are changed by working with him and he acts as a better father to his players than to his own children. In the end the players honor him by holding up their helmets in a salute to all he's done for them.

Favorite. "We Are Marshall"

6. Star Player(s) Has To Overcome An Issue On The Team And You'll Probably Cry

We all know by now that Remember the Titans is about racial differences so that's their issue and you'll cry when Gerry gets in his accident and he and Julius have a touching moment together in the hospital. In Friday Night Lights Miles gets seriously injured and you'll probably cry when he finally calms down his ego enough to see his dreams disappear. In The Longest Yard they have to overcome the obstacle of being in prison while trying to train as a team with guards making things more difficult for them. You'll probably cry when Chris Rock is killed because he was the best part of the movie.

Also, Tracy Morgan is hilarious in "The Longest Yard"

In Varsity Blues, it's dramatic teen angst and trying to decide where to go to college with an overbearing father and a stressful team riding on your back. Not sure if you'll cry in this one. Although, it is inspiring. In We Are Marshall, you'll definitely cry. If you're like me (sympathetic cryer like Gus in "Psych") this movie is definitely a tear jerker. First off it's a tragedy that starts the film and seeing parents and girlfriends have extreme emotional reactions is cry worthy. The players in the film have to overcome this tragedy and become a team. You'll also cry when they protest the board who doesn't want to green light another team and the entire school comes out and shows their support. That part got me. Finally, in When The Game Stands Tall, the team has to overcome losing the streak and losing one of their players who is killed. This is also when you'll cry, seeing this kid's father and grandmother wailing at his dead body.

Racial Differences in "Remember the Titans"

So there you have some of my observations about a few football movies and common themes throughout them. What's your favorite football movie? Did you notice any clichés that I might've missed?

From "When the Game Stands Tall"