The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)

Director:

Bill Paxton

Writers (WGA):

Mark Frost (book)
Mark Frost (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport

Plot:

A golf drama based on the true story of the 1913 US Open, where 20-year-old Francis Ouimet defeated his idol, 1900 US Open champion, Englishman, Harry Vardon.

Plot Keywords:

Champion | Golfer | Golf | Barroom Brawl | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

James Paxton	...	Young Harry Vardon
Tom Rack	...	Black Top Hatted Man
Armand Laroche	...	Black Top Hatted Man
Peter Hurley	...	Black Top Hatted Man
Gregory Terlecki	...	Black Top Hatted Man
Jonathan Higgins	...	Embry Wallis
Matthew Knight	...	Young Francis Ouimet
Luke Askew	...	Alec Campbell
Amanda Tilson	...	Young Sarah Wallis
Elias Koteas	...	Arthur Ouimet
Jamie Merling	...	Young Louise Ouimet
Eugenio Esposito	...	Young Raymond Ouimet
Marnie McPhail	...	Mary Ouimet
Stephen Dillane	...	Harry Vardon
Robin Wilcock	...	Bernard Darwin

MPAA:

Rated PG for some brief mild language.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:G | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | Argentina:Atp | USA:PG (certificate #41843) | Germany:o.Al. | Denmark:7 | Netherlands:AL | Canada:G (all jurisdictions)

Filming Locations:

Kahnawake, Québec, Canada

Company:

Fairway Films

Trivia:

The real Francis Ouimet and Eddie Lowery remained life long friends. When Ouimet died in 1967, Lowery was one of the pall-bearers.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Francis is shown looking at a yardage book, or a series of hand drawn diagrams of every hole at The Country Club. In reality, yardage books did not come into use until the 1960's, first by Deane Beman and later popularized by Jack Nicklaus. Harry Vardon is shown laying Francis a "stymie" during the playoff. A stymie occurred when a player's ball blocked the path of his opponent's ball on the green (the balls not being within six inches of each other). This only applied to singles match play. The playoff for the 1913 US Open was medal (stroke) play and the stymie rule would not have been in effect. This rule was eliminated in 1952 by the USGA.

Quotes:

Eddie Lowery: You gotta' settle down Francis.
Francis Ouimet: Yeah, and how do you expect to do that?
Eddie Lowery: [looking at Francis] You just havetuh play better.
[backing up]
Eddie Lowery: Keep your head down!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: (2005-09-23)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)

a Truly Moving Picture

I saw this film on September 1st, 2005 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival that screens films for their Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture "...explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.

This is a story of golf in the early part of the 20th century. At that time, it was the game of upper class and rich "gentlemen", and working people could only participate by being caddies at country clubs. With this backdrop, this based-on-a-true-story unfolds with a young, working class boy who takes on the golf establishment and the greatest golfer in the world, Harry Vardon.

And the story is inspirational. Against all odds, Francis Ouimet (played by Shia LaBeouf of "Holes") gets to compete against the greatest golfers of the U.S. and Great Britain at the 1913 U.S. Open. Francis is ill-prepared, and has a child for a caddy. (The caddy is hilarious and motivational and steals every scene he appears in.) But despite these handicaps, Francis displays courage, spirit, heroism, and humility at this world class event.

And, we learn a lot about the early years of golf; for example, the use of small wooden clubs, the layout of the short holes, the manual scoreboard, the golfers swinging with pipes in their mouths, the terrible conditions of the greens and fairways, and the play not being canceled even in torrential rain.

This film has stunning cinematography and art direction and editing. And with no big movie stars, the story is somehow more believable.

This adds to the inventory of great sports movies in the vein of "Miracle" and "Remember the Titans."

FYI - There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past winners going back 70 years.