The Longest Yard (1974)
The movie is based on a real-life association football game in 1942 between German soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war during World War II, known as the Death Match. An ex-football star doing time is forced by the warden to organize a team of inmates to play against (and get pummeled by) his own line-up of guards.
20 July 1909, Lexington, South Carolina, USA
19 March 1938, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
15 August 1936, Los Angeles, California, USA
17 November 1943, Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA
29 December 1936, Elmwood Park, Illinois, USA
30 October 1938, Long Beach, Long Island, New York, USA
28 February 1948, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
9 July 1936, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
March 21, 2007
Part prison film, part football film, this violent but outstanding comedy-drama by gifted action director Robert Aldrich explores the brutality inherent in both the American penal system and football.
July 05, 2005
The football sequences are excellent, which makes sense given that half of the actors were college or pro ballers themselves.
February 09, 2006
Very exciting, very witty, and elevated above its action-movie status by Aldrich's deliberate references to Nixon in Albert's characterisation of the warden.
June 02, 2005
The film drags until it reaches the climactic football game, and the contest itself doesn't justify the two-hour run.
July 31, 2008
If it ultimately descends into macho nonsense, then that's all part of the fun.
August 04, 2008
What saves it, aside from good performances by Burt Reynolds and a thundering herd of supporting grotesques, is, of all things, a tough, tiny nut of valid social criticism.
October 11, 2007
Pardon me if I wasn't blown away by all its simplistic machinations and lighthearted appeal to one's baser instincts.
May 09, 2005
Though The Yard is a terrible picture, I'll admit to having unwillingly enjoyed some of the football practice and parts of the final game -- even though it's much too long.
February 18, 2006
The original has just the right mix of toughness and humor. Burt Reynolds was born to play incarcerated quarterback Paul Crewe.
May 30, 2005
One of Robert Aldrich's biggest hits, The Longest Yard (1974) combines his ferocious worldview with a new kind of rambunctious audience appeal...
August 04, 2008
An outstanding action drama, combining the brutish excitement of football competition with the brutalities of contemporary prison life.
July 03, 2005
Aldrich...created Paul Crewe just as much as Reynolds did.
