The Longest Yard (2005)

Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.

Director:

Peter Segal

Writers:

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

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds

2 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	Paul Crewe
Chris Rock	...	Caretaker
Burt Reynolds	...	Coach Nate Scarborough
Nelly	...	Megget
Michael Irvin	...	Deacon Moss
Walter Williamson	...	Errol Dandridge
Bill Goldberg	...	Battle
Terry Crews	...	Cheeseburger Eddy
Bob Sapp	...	Switowski
Nicholas Turturro	...	Brucie
Dalip Singh	...	Turley
Lobo Sebastian	...	Torres
Joey Diaz	...	Big Tony (as Joey 'Coco' Diaz)
Steve Reevis	...	Baby Face Bob
David Patrick Kelly	...	Unger

Storyline

Paul "Wrecking" Crewe was a revered football superstar back in his day, but that time has since faded. But when a messy drunk driving incident lands him in jail, Paul finds he was specifically requested by Warden Hazen (James Cromwell), a duplicitous prison official well aware of Paul's athletic skills. Paul has been assigned the task of assembling a team of convicts, to square off in a big football game against the sadistic guards. With the help of fellow convict Caretaker, and an old legend named Nate Scarborough to coach, Crewe is ready for what promises to be a very interesting game. It's only the warden and the guards who have no idea who or what they're up against, with Paul the driving force behind the new team.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | warden | convict | coach | jail | 

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Taglines:

It's time to even the score

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, violence, language and drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont Columbia Tristar [fr] Paramount [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Spiel ohne Regeln

Filming Locations:

El Camino College, Torrance, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$82,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$484,550 (Germany) (23 September 2005)

Gross:

£4,382,307 (UK) (7 October 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures Corporation, MTV Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Edward Bunker's last film.

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Goofs

When Scarborough is giving them the trick play for the final points, Deacon is shown standing right next to him with his helmet off. Immediately after that, Deacon is not beside Scarborough, and he has his helmet on. Then immediately after that, he's next to Scarborough again, with his helmet off again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lorenzo: I love that dress.
Lena: Of course you do, Lorenzo, you made it.

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Connections

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Sheldon Turner (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Spirit in the Sky"
Written & Performed by Norman Greenbaum
Courtesy of Transtone Productions

User Reviews

How can you not compare?

Everyone is instructing us not to compare the current to the original version. How is that possible? That's like going to a restaurant, being served a lousy steak, and being asked that you not compare it to other good steaks that you've had in the past.

To any guy who was watching movies in the 70's, The Longest Yard is legendary. Burt can act big enough and mean enough to convince us that he could survive, and become a leader, in the prison community. Adam Sandler is Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Billy Madison and Little Nicky. He can't pull off the ex-NFL quarterback gaining cred in the joint. It was simply bad casting.

The rest of the casting, beginning to end, was superb. Most of the writing, and the additional comedy, was great fun. But Adam Sandler? Why not Woody Allen? The movie really needed someone that can pull off "tough". Josh Holloway, aka "Sawyer" on the TV show "Lost" might have been a good choice.

If they didn't want us to compare it to the original, they shouldn't have remade it.