Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Dowling, Vic Gatto, Frank Champi, J.P. GoldsmithDirector: Kevin Rafferty
Studio: KINO INTERNATIONAL
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release: August 4th 2009
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DVD Review
An incredible true story that unfolds like a ripping good yarn... With an uproarious, impossible Hollywood ending (Andrew O Hehir, Salon.com), Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 is filmmaker Kevin Rafferty s (The Atomic Cafe) acclaimed documentary depicting one of the most legendary games in the history of sports. Harvard Stadium November 23, 1968. With Vietnam raging, Nixon in the White House, and issues from civil rights to women's lib dividing the country, Harvard and Yale, both teams undefeated for the first time since 1909, meet for the annual climax of the Ivy League football season. On the blue-blooded Yale campus, gridiron fever has made local celebrities out of a Yale team led by quarterback Brian Dowling, who hadn t lost a game that he finished since the 7th grade, and who was the role model for Doonesbury s B.D. At civil unrest scarred Harvard, a melting pot team of working class players, antiwar activists, and a decorated Vietnam vet set aside their differences for the Big Game. Together, Yale and Harvard stage an unforgettable football contest that baffled even their own coaches. Using vintage game footage and bracingly honest contemporary interviews with the players from both sides, including Harvard lineman and future Oscar® winner Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men), Rafferty crafts an alternately suspenseful, hilarious, and poignant portrait of American lives, American sports, and American ideals both tested on the playing field and transformed by turbulent times.
Special Features:
- Bonus Interviews (73 min.) Additional interview excerpts not included in the film, the players provide a deeper look at the season, the game, and its aftermath.
- Theatrical Trailer
User Reviews
A Worthwhile Documentary - Rating: 4/5
Thanks to my father, a Harvard alumnus, I saw an amazing game. For me, the film brought back a lot of great memories of the day. The documentary's format is a simple one; show the game, an old grainy colored film, with comments from the players. When Tommy Lee Jones appears, it took viewers a few moments to realize who he was and then a few more seconds to realize he played in the game. Along with Jones' comments, filemaker Rafferty, interweaves comments from the players on both sides. This is a sports documentary with well-educated men who say some insighful and funny things. I found it to be like sitting in a sports bar listening to men recall their younger days. Another aspect of the film I thought Rafferty did a wonderful job of was generating suspense as the end of the game approached. Very unusual technique since the outcome is obvious by the title. My four stars is due to one shortcoming in the film. Rafferty tries to convey a lot about the times, the schools, and the players. However, there is one famous player that was not interviewed and very little discussed... Calvin Hill, the Yale running back who went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys. I felt Rafferty could have noted why Hill was not talked about as much as others were. Aside from that shortcoming, you should enjoy the name dropping of several famous people (in their younger days). All in all, if you like football, this will be a very entertaining movie.
Delightful, Captivating Film - Rating: 5/5
I know very little about football. My girlfriend knows even less. Yet we were both captivated and delighted by this film.
Aside from getting caught up in the unfolding action of a football game that is more incredible than any fictionalized game I've seen, we really enjoyed the experience of the 60's that the film evoked through the stories told by the players. These are the most thoughtful, witty football players imaginable, and they drew us in with their frankness, insights, humor, and the reflectiveness that the 40 years of life-experience since the game have given them.
No matter who speaks in the movie, whether it's the guy who keeps wanting to hurt people to get them out of the game, the "aloof," introspective second string quarterback who can throw the ball 50 yards with either hand, Tommy Lee Jones, who was roommates with Al Gore and is about to hang up his helmet for good and move to Hollywood, or the Jewish player whose father tells him to play on the Sabbath, all the personal stories are beautifully edited together by the filmmaker to make an engrossing tale that's as much about interesting people living through a dramatic time as it is about a football game.
I think this film will continue to be around for a long time to come.
Preposterously Entertaining is Precisely Correct! - Rating: 5/5
A documentary about an old sports event that not only keeps you at the edge of your seat, but has you wanting to see it all over again to catch the personal subtleties which Rafferty allows the players themselves, to display.
A hilarious and thoroughly entertaining film even if you don't like college football! Even if you don't like sports at all!
Great game, great film - Rating: 5/5
I was at the game that day, and just saw the film at our 40th reunion, with Kevin Rafferty and nine of the 1968 team in attendance. Ivy League football as it was, and probably more fun to watch for the Crimson than for the alumni of old Eli - though this game saved Mike Bousccaren and the others from blue obsurity.
Not just for alumni - Rating: 5/5
I was in high school in 1968 and remember the game and its legend well. My wife knew nothing of the game. We both loved the movie. Rafferty skillfully weaves interviews with players with footage of the game and narration in an insightful and entertaining fashion. He also has a remarkably wry sense of humor. It's not a comedy but I found the audience erupting into laughter more often than at most mainstream comedies.
I saw it at a movie theater but I think it should be great on DVD at home.
