We Are Marshall (2006)

When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

Director:

McG

Writers:

Jamie Linden (screenplay), Cory Helms (story),

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew McConaughey	...	Jack Lengyel
Matthew Fox	...	Red Dawson
Anthony Mackie	...	Nate Ruffin
David Strathairn	...	President Dedmon
Ian McShane	...	Paul Griffen
Kate Mara	...	Annie Cantrell
January Jones	...	Carole Dawson
Kimberly Williams-Paisley	...	Sandy Lengyel
Arlen Escarpeta	...	Reggie Oliver
Brian Geraghty	...	Tom Bogdan
Tommy Cresswell	...	Gene Morehouse
Christian Kanupke	...	Young Keith Morehouse
Nina Jones	...	Mrs. Morehouse
Kevin Atkins	...	George Olson
Mark Patton	...	Bill James

Storyline

In November, 1970, virtually the entire football team and coaches of Marshall University (Huntington, W.V.) die in a plane crash. That spring, led by Nate Ruffin, a player who was ill and missed the fatal flight, students rally to convince the board of governors to play the 1971 season. The college president, Don Dedman, must find a coach, who then must find players. They petition the NCAA to allow freshmen to play, and coach Jack Lengyel motivates and leads young players at the same time that he reexamines the Lombardi creed that winning is the only thing. The father and the fiancée of a player who died find strength to move on. Can Marshall win even one game in 1971?

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Plot Keywords:

coach | football | marshall university | university | football team | 

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Taglines:

From the ashes we rose

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for emotional thematic material, a crash scene, and mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Marshall University Football Project

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,582,508 (USA) (22 December 2006)

Gross:

$43,532,294 (USA) (2 March 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Thunder Road Pictures, Legendary Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sonny Perdue:  The East Carolina head coach.

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Goofs

The closing narration states that Jack Lengyel "is now in the College Football Hall of Fame." He was never inducted into the Hall of Fame, though he received an award.

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Quotes

Jack Lengyel: For those of you who may not know, this is the final resting place for six members of the 1970 Thundering Herd. The plane crash that took their lives was so severe, so absolute, that their bodies were unable to be identified. So they were buried here. Together. Six players. Six teammates. Six Sons of Marshall. This is our past, gentlemen. This is where we have been. This is how we got here. This is who we are. Today, I want to talk about our opponent this afternoon. They're bigger, faster, ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits, not even a title.

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Connections

Features Kelly's Heroes (1970)

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Soundtracks

"Paranoid"
Written by Ozzy Osbourne (as John Osbourne), Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler (as Terence Butler) and Bill Ward (as William Ward)
Performed by Black Sabbath
Licensed courtesy of Downlane Limited and Sanctuary Records Group Limited

User Reviews

This is not just a sports movie!

I graduated from Marshall University and grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, where the movie takes place, which of course, made this movie especially meaningful to me. I drove 300 miles to see the Premiere in Huntington two days ago, and the audience actually clapped during certain scenes, laughed quite a few times, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house at the end. Though it was extremely poignant for us West Virginians because there were people in the audience whose family members died in that horrible plane crash in 1970, and one of my high school friends was actually there at the crash site with her father who was a State Trooper, and I know other people who lost someone. However, aside from all that, this movie is extremely uplifting. When you are faced with such a horrendous tragedy as losing 75 people, 55 of whom were members of your football team with only a handful of players left as well as the head coach and family members of the football players and other university faculty, etc., it is completely devastating! I remember seeing scenes of the crash on TV, and it was horrible. And then to rebuild a team from scratch when no one even wanted to coach the Thundering Herd (Marshall's football team)? That's totally amazing!

And the way they went about it was ingenious! I didn't know a lot of the details of what happened after the crash or how hard it was to rebuild the team because I was 5 years old at the time, but the director/producer McG, the writer and all the actors really give you a sense of the horrendous loss that my hometown experienced and how they really did rise from the ashes to honor their teammates who perished on November 14, 1970. Even if you're not a sports fan, this movie shows the indelible spirit of the human condition and what you can accomplish if you really give 110%. Matthew McConauhey, Anthony Mackie and Matthew Fox and the entire cast gave absolutely incredible performances, and after the film ended Matt M and Matt Fox were both so choked up they could barely speak. And I guarantee that people who are not a little emotional after watching this film, then those folks didn't "see" what I saw--an Oscar-Winning film whether it gets nominated or not!

Lynne Logan Novelist/Screenwriter and very grateful fan of "We Are Marshall"