The Longest Yard (1974)

You won't be disappointed!

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Fresh and Exciting

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I saw this film years ago, and remember thinking it was OK. It's a little hard to imagine now, what a big deal Burt Reynolds was in the Seventies. No other movie star came close. On a recent viewing I found this this movie to be a bit better than I remembered. Still not a classic or anything, but pretty good. The depiction of prison life is harsh, as it surely is, but it seems a different world from today's prisons, with their racial gangs and constant strife. The football game is quite reminiscent of the one in M*A*S*H, from only a few years before.

Ever since I saw this film back in the Seventies I manage to recall it with particular fondness. There's something about Burt Reynolds' character as the flawed underdog hero that makes you want to root for him along with his band of merry misfit convicts. For even though they're all incarcerated for various crimes against humanity, they appear to be more sympathetic than the brutal guards who play for semi-pro glory under Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert). I remember thinking that Albert was miscast when I first saw this, calling to mind his Green Acres TV character, but I have to say, he really gets into his role here and is particularly effective as a villain.The film makes effective use of a variety of real life pro football players, guys like Ray Nitschke (Bogdanski), Sonny Sixkiller (The Indian) and Ernie Wheelwright (Spooner), thereby lending some additional authenticity to the game scenes. I know there's already been a 2005 remake starring Adam Sandler, but wouldn't it be something if they made another picture using the Cincinnatti Bengals as the all-prison team? You can't get any more real than that.What I think I enjoyed the most about the film was the integrity shown by characters like old Pop (John Steadman) and Granville (Harry Caesar), and eventually even Paul Crewe (Reynolds) himself. You can't help but think of them as honorable men even if they made mistakes in their life that wound them up in prison. There's also the humor in bits like the swamp reclamation scene, the 'broke his 'f...ing neck' scene, and the Bogdanski ball-breaker sequence.I'm not one for repeated viewings of the same flick but I've seen this one a few times over the years and I still get a kick out of it. I guess it helps that I like Burt Reynolds, but there's something about the picture itself that makes it memorable as well as entertaining. I like the idea of the underdog getting his revenge against The Man and sticking it in his trophy case.

Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest stars of the '70s, but like a lot of '70s stars (Faye Dunaway, Michael Serrizan, Karen Black, etc.) other decades have not been so kind to him. Here he stars in one of his finest films, "The Longest Yard," made in 1974, directed by Robert Aldrich, and also starring Eddie Albert, Michael Conrad, Ed Lauter, James Hampton, and Bernadette Peters.Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a football player who goes to prison after he hits his ex-girlfriend, steals her car, and runs it into the river. He's a football player with a scandal in his past, when he was suspected of shaving points off of a game.The sadistic warden (Eddie Albert) wants him to organize a football team for the prisoners so that they can play the guards. The real agenda is that on the football field, the guards will be able to practically beat the prisoners senseless. With the help of Caretaker (James Hampton), Paul chooses a football team and starts training them. On the day of the big game, he gets an offer that he should refuse but might not be able to.This is a really fine film. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it's one of those movies where you wind up rooting for the bad guys. Reynolds' character learns self-esteem, pride in his work, and also a sense of camaraderie. The football game itself is very exciting."The Longest Yard" is a film that holds up well, and not the usual type of prison movie you'd see today. And Bernadette Peters' hairdo is a no-miss!

Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a reprehensible character discovering, in a prison, dignity and esteem… You see him, at the beginning of the movie—as a rising star—beating up a woman, stealing her car, drunken driving, insulting cops in a bar, resisting arrest… He's seen so funny when he insulted the miniature cop who's about to arrest him, while the cop's partner is laughing openly… Eddie Albert was very charming when he meets Paul Crewe at his arrival to Citrus State Prison… Aldrich wanted to play Warden Hazen as the guy who had the veneer of normalcy, the veneer of being a good executive, the veneer of keeping it all together till it starts unraveling… He really was just a despicable, oily, warden type… In one game scene, we see him over and over again, getting up just with that same look of shock on his face… Ed Lauter (Captain Knauer) is wonderful… He runs the football team… He is a bad guy and he represents everything that is wrong with that prison system and everything else… He changes as a result… And to see that is just so delightful… He's got the classic Ed Lauter's scene at the end… James Hampton plays Caretaker, the character who brings the team all together and pushes Burt's character ahead to win the game… Ray Nitschke plays the toughest, meanest linebacker in football… Richard Kiel, Bob Tessier, Charles Tyner, Michael Conrad, and Harry Caesar give the film a certain veracity, you almost thing you are in jail