The Final Season (2007)

Director:

David M. Evans

Writers:

Art D'Alessandro (story) &
James Grayford (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

Plot:

Kent Stock disrupts his life to become coach of the Norway High School baseball team and try to lead them to victory.

Plot Keywords:

Sports Team | High School Athlete | Juvenile Delinquent | Father Son Relationship | Rural Life

Cast

Sean Astin	...	Kent Stock
Jesse Henecke	...	Principal Halbestrom
Powers Boothe	...	Jim Van Scoyoc
Owen Patchen Evans	...	Owen - The Batboy
Owen Patchen Evens	...	Owen - the Batboy
Brett Claywell	...	Patrick Iverson
Nick Livingston	...	Kevin Stewart
Roscoe Myrick	...	Sammy Wilson
Alexander Roos	...	Steve Myers (as Alexander 'Sandy' Roos)
Jonathon Stoner	...	Jason Steffen
Christopher Cyronek	...	Brett Griffin
Rob Schemmel	...	Gerry Spitz
Chris Olsen	...	Eddie Fitz
Ric Swann	...	KZIA Radio Announcer
Preston Boothe	...	Brent Fitz

MPAA:

Rated PG for language, thematic elements and some teen smoking.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

Company:

Final Season, The

Trivia:

A helicopter used to film a parade scene crashed during production on 30 June 2006. Witnesses said the helicopter was carrying the pilot, a producer and a photographer when it hit power lines and crashed into a field about 10 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids. The cinematographer, Roland Schlotzhauer, was killed in the crash.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie shows that Van Scoyoc coaches briefly in the Detroit Tigers farm system. It clearly indicates Niagara Falls as a AAA club, when in fact it was a single-A farm team. Toledo was (and is) the AAA team for Detroit.

Quotes:

Polly Hudson: Baseball is not just for boys.

Soundtrack:

Coming Home

Decent, but not great

Baseball is the perfect metaphor the American Dream: effort = success, anyone can play, and winning is a metaphor for life.

The Last Season is a nice effort by Sean Astin. It is pretty much exactly what a good sports underdog movie should be.

The film about Norway, based on fact, a tiny town of 500 or so that produced team after team that went onto win the State Championship for High School baseball. When threatened with politics and closure due to lack of funding the team does what it knows best, goes in to bat for one last season.

Have to be honest though and say it's not as inspiring as it would like to be in places, it does hit some good home runs by the end, but overall it is a little too clichéd to really succeed.

If sports movies are your thing then you'll enjoy it, but I don't think this will become anyone's (Outside of Iowa) favorite ever movie.

It is a nice effort, and watchable, but as I said it ain't outstanding...