The Longest Yard (1974)

A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Tracy Keenan Wynn (screenplay), Albert S. Ruddy (story)

Stars:

Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Burt Reynolds	...	Paul Crewe
Eddie Albert	...	Warden Hazen
Ed Lauter	...	Captain Knauer
Michael Conrad	...	Nate Scarboro
James Hampton	...	Caretaker (as Jim Hampton)
Harry Caesar	...	Granville
John Steadman	...	Pop
Charles Tyner	...	Unger
Mike Henry	...	Rassmeusen
Jim Nicholson	...	Ice Man
Bernadette Peters	...	Warden's Secretary
Pervis Atkins	...	Mawabe
Tony Cacciotti	...	Rotka
Anitra Ford	...	Melissa
Michael Fox	...	Announcer

Storyline

A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.

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Plot Keywords:

warden | prison | prison guard | quarterback | florida | 

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Taglines:

First Down...And Ten Years To Go

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Golpe Baixo

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 2,044,304 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Albert S. Ruddy Productions, Long Road Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Georgia State Penitentiary prisoner Harold Morris, who had been wrongly convicted of murder and was later given a full pardon, had a part in the film as an extra. In his book "Twice Pardoned", he recalled some moments with Burt Reynolds:

• Although prison officials strongly discouraged it, Reynolds often sat with the prisoners during meal breaks and socialized with them.
• A photographer on the set offered to take souvenir photographs of the prisoners individually posing with Reynolds. Many of the prisoners had no money, but Reynolds told the photographer to take all the pictures they prisoners wanted and he (Reynolds) would pay for them.
• One of the prisoners asked Reynolds where he lived. Reynolds told him he had homes in Florida and California. The prisoner then asked for his address and when Reynolds asked why, the prisoner explained a) he was a career criminal about to finally get out of prison, and b) after a life spent stealing from people who didn't have money, he wanted to finally burglarize someone who had money.
• Reynolds and Morris struck up a friendship during the filming, and at the end Reynolds sent personalized, autograph photos to several of Morris' relatives. He also gave Morris a Book of the Month club membership.

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Goofs

Crewe and another inmate are fighting (wrestling) in the swamp When Capt. Kenauer strikes Crewe on the back with a baton during the fight, the rectangular padding is visible under Crew's shirt.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Melissa: How long do we have to keep watching this crap?... Only a moron can sit and watch two football games, one after the other.

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Connections

Referenced in Island of Fire (1990)

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Soundtracks

"You Gotta Be a Football Hero"
by Al Sherman (as Sherman), Al Lewis (as Lewis) and Buddy Fields (as Fields)
Performed by The Soul Touchers Band and Chorus

User Reviews

A classic of the genre.

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.