The Rocket (2005)
In the late 1930s, a young machinist named Maurice Richard distinguished himself as a ice hockey player of preternatural talent. Although that was enough to get him into the Montreal Canadiens, his frequent injuries cost him the confidence of his team and the fans. In the face of these doubts, Richard eventually shows the kind of aggressive and skillful play that would make him one of the greatest players of all time as "The Rocket." However for all his success, Richard and his fellow French Canadians face constant discrimination in a league dominated by the English speaking. Although a man of few words, Richard begins to speak his own mind about the injustice which creates a organizational conflict that would culminate in his infamous 1955 season suspension that sparks an ethnic riot in protest. In the face of these challenges, Richard must decide who exactly is he playing for.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Great Film overall
The acting in this movie is really good.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
The movie starts with the Richard Riot in 1955 Montreal. In 1937, he is a machinist trying to make it in hockey. His boss is an union-basting English. He's 17 and Lucille Norchet at 13 has an eye on him. In 1942, he gets a tryout with the Montreal Canadians. He and Lucille get married despite her father's objection at his poor status. Initially, his signing is ridiculed as newspapermen label him fragile. He is close to being traded but nobody wanted him. His hockey dominance is eventually in the record books. He is a man of few words but he starts raising his voice against the racism set upon the French Canadian.It's a rather static biopic emotionally. Richard is a stoic man of limited words until he is challenged. This is a generally straight ahead historical drama. Expenses were not spared as the sets are not in want. It's a recounting of his hockey life. His personal is only interesting for about fifteen minutes. Julie LeBreton seems a little old to play 18 year old Lucille but she grows into the older version. The acting is generally solid. This could be great for a hockey fan of a certain age but it does need something more special to hook the general public.
As an American living in the South, we generally don't know a ton about the history of hockey. Sure, we recently obtained hockey teams and I attend rather regularly, but I am a newcomer to the sport compared to Canadians and those living in old established hockey towns like New York, Boston and Chicago. So please understand that my review is mostly targeted for us 'outsiders'. I wanted to see this film because I love the sport and know only vaguely about Maurice Richard's career and nothing about him as a person. Interestingly, after seeing this film, I still know very, very little about him as a person and many of the important issues brought up in the film seem to have little context. So, for a person NOT weaned on hockey, you, too might feel a bit confused and lost about this film.The film is a bit episodic like most biopics. You see a tiny bit about Richard when he was a teen and then it jumps ahead to when he began his NHL career. Then, it bounces around a bit--spending a lot of time on his early career--then a jump to mid-career and then really nothing about the latter part of his career and life after hockey other than a few clips tossed in at the end. About his life, you see he has a couple kids, it appears that he loves his wife (though this is also oddly vague) and they show a lot of clips of his brother-in-law--though I failed to see the connection. Did he like or hate his brother-in-law? I dunno. But it was very, very strange that they never mentioned that he had two brothers who also played for the Canadians hockey club. Although one only briefly played with them, the other played for years for the club and was a HUGE star (nicknamed 'The Pocket Rocket')--but this was oddly omitted. Why focus so much on the brother-in-law who didn't even play and who seemed unimportant to Richard in the film?!In biographies, there is almost always some sort of controversy or obstacle to overcome. This is an almost unvarying formula. In the case of "The Rocket", the obstacles were players who deliberately targeted him on the ice as well as discrimination against the French-Canadian players. The latter, in particular, is an important topic--and one that most Americans don't even realize is or was an issue. I was struck by the fact that the coach on the Canadians didn't even speak French--even though the team played in French-Canada! This is interesting and I wanted to hear more about this--because if it's true*, it needs to be addressed. But, the film never said much apart that RICHARD thought it was a problem! So, was he a whiner or was there serious discrimination against French-speaking players then or now? The film didn't really answer that and I found this frustrating. Now it sounds like I hated this film--I didn't. The acting and shots of players playing hockey were very nice. And, I loved the soundtrack. But because I liked what I was seeing, it made what I did NOT see even more apparent. I think perhaps the film would have been better as a mini-series or at least by offering a bit more clarity to us non-Canadian viewers.*When I did an internet search about it, I found LOTS of websites that felt that CURRENTLY there is a lot of discrimination against French-speaking hockey players. They indicate that non-superstars have a hard time making it into Junior Hockey or the NHL. If this is the case, then it really needs to be addressed and a film like "The Rocket" could have paved the way for this. The statistics I found were NOT very encouraging for young French-Canadian players.
This was a very good movie. The main characters of Maurice Richard and Dick Irvin were portrayed very well by the actors. The movie had a very good look to replicate life in the 40's and 50's.One thing that bothered me is that Richard almost never smiled. I'm sure the man in real life had some happy moments.The hockey scenes were great and probably more realistic than any hockey movie made. The real story driving the movie though was outside of hockey as Richard tries to use his fame to better the lives of french speaking Quebeckers and also to turn the NHL establishment away from it's 'old-boy' network ways.The struggle between player and opponent suddenly becomes dwarfed by his struggle as man vs establishment. That's when the movie really takes off and yet, suddenly ends leaving you feeling a bit like the movie is not quite finished. Hence my rating of only 7 when I really wanted to give it a 8.5 or 9.
Superb movie all around. Knowing the Rocket from only watching him as a hockey player, what I found most impelling was the love story between Maurice and Lucille. Much too short. Just perfect. But at the same time, would have loved to have seen more.Obviously, being a Canadian, old enough to remember the early years of Maurice Richard's professional life and the 6 team NHL from the late 40's, this movie is a no-brainer to recommend.From the very beginning, The Rocket is a scene turner. Photographed in black and white made it more realistic.Glad in part that it is in the mother language of the participants. Perhaps it would have been better if it were entirely in English, but that would have taken away from the realism. Having to continually drop my eyes to read the subtitles was of course interruptive. However, The Rocket is so well photographed and directed, that it was able to tell its story with minimal dialogue and thus prove the old adage, "a picture is worth a thousand words."