Go Tigers! (2001)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Kenneth A. Carlson

Writer:

Kenneth A. Carlson (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Tagline:

Massillon Ohio: Where they live, breathe and eat football.

Plot:

"Go Tigers!" is a rare behind-the-scenes chronicling of a remarkable season for the Massillon Tigers high school football team...

Plot Keywords:

High School | High School Football | School | High School Band | Tax

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Dave Irwin	...	Himself (quarterback)
Ellery Moore	...	Himself (defensive end)
Joe Paterno	...	Himself
Danny Studer	...	Himself (linebacker)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and a scene of teen drinking.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Massillon, Ohio, USA

Company:

Triple Play Pictures

Quotes:

Ellery Moore: You know, people walk around and they say 'Oh, I'm from New York.', and you're like 'So what? I'm from Massillon.', you know?

Movie Connections:

References Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)

Soundtrack:

Rock and Roll Part Two

good documentary - NOT rah rah!

I'm a little taken aback by how many of these other reviewers didn't "get it".

"A good documentary, but it left me a little sad." "Great depiction of my town's enthusiastic pride." "Great for sports fans." etc. etc.

Come on, people, this was a vicious, vicious documentary about an inane town with priorities completely out of whack! Or am I too much of a big-city east coast cynic?

Presenting everything as it happened, warts and all, is a strength of the movie. Reviewers who comment that "I could have done without the party seen [sic]" are totally and completely missing the point. These kids are treated like Gods on earth and it's a Bad Thing. GET IT?!?!

I wish the film spent less time showing football games and more time exploring some of the other aspects of the subject - like, what are cheerleader tryouts like? Let's interview 12 year old girls and find out about their aspirations. Let's get some time with Coach Paterno and find out if he's really serious at all about recruiting any of these kids. The interviews with kids not on the football team were far too brief; I wanted to see what they were doing during game time. (Playing Dungeons and Dragons? Reading? Homework?)

Watching with my "elitist snob" hat on, I enjoyed how the movie still made it hard to look down on the entire high school football institution - clearly it's keeping kids on track and out of jail, keeping local economies pumping, etc. Despite what I said above, this is not a vicious one-sided depiction at all. It just feels that way for long passages. At times it feels like a Christopher Guest movie, except the characters are very real.

Highly recommended for elitist snobs and football fans alike.