The Longest Yard
![Watch film The Longest Yard — The Longest Yard (1974) Original Trailer [HD]](https://www.acmodasi.in/amdb/images/posters/x/e/the-longest-yard-1974-IXzsY.webp)
Short description
Paul Crewe is a former professional football player who ends up in prison after a dispute with a wealthy girlfriend turns into a car chase and an arrest. Warden Hazen, who takes his football seriously, wants Crewe to train the guards' semi-professional team. Crewe instead ends up assembling a squad from among the inmates to face the guards in a game, though the warden expects the prisoners to lose in exchange for Crewe's early release. Crewe also has to deal with the inmates' own low sense of worth as he tries to shape them into a competitive side.
Robert Aldrich directed the film, the fifteenth of the seventeen features he made, between Emperor of the North and The Choirboys. Tracy Keenan Wynn wrote the screenplay, Albert S. Ruddy produced, and Burt Reynolds leads as Crewe, with Eddie Albert as Warden Hazen, Ed Lauter as Captain Knauer, Michael Conrad as Nate Scarboro, James Hampton as Caretaker and Harry Caesar as Granville among a credited cast of forty-eight.
Released in August 1974, the Paramount production cost about 3 million dollars and returned roughly 43 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from around 23,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.7 out of 10 from 338 votes; a critics' rating of 6.8 from 37 reviews places it below the IMDb audience figure. Running 121 minutes, it mixes comedy, crime and drama.
What's left behind the scenes
- On the DVD release, James Hampton stated in a commentary that he was given the role of the Undertaker, but he wanted to play Anger. The role of Anger went to Charles Tyner.
- According to producer Albert S. Ruddy, the idea for the film was suggested to him by the example of a friend who was a football player. He had to leave sports due to an injury, and his life went downhill. He found a job with a minimal salary at some diner, and his girlfriend didn't let him rest at home.
- Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) wanted the film to be shot in his hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida, but permission was not granted. The film was shot in Savannah, Georgia.
- The final shot of the film, showing the silhouettes of the characters leaving the field, is a reference to the famous final shot of the Western "The Searchers" (John Ford, 1956).
- Harold Morris, a prisoner from the Georgia State Penitentiary who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced for it, but was later fully acquitted, played an episodic role.
- Richard Kiel (1939-2014) injured his hand during filming. In some shots, he is shown with a bandaged hand, although his character is perfectly healthy.
- After the Citroen was pulled out of the water, producer Albert S. Ruddy sold it for $70,000 because it was a 'movie car'.
- According to Albert S. Ruddy and Burt Reynolds, Robert Aldrich (1918-1983) initially disliked Michael Conrad and constantly called him 'Polish Princess.' After filming one of the scenes, however, he was so impressed with Conrad's performance that he gave him a chocolate bar (he always gave chocolate bars at the end of the shooting day to those who performed best in front of the camera). Conrad was moved to tears. Aldrich didn't tease him again for the rest of the shoot.
- According to Albert S. Ruddy, the story about blind parents told by Burt Reynolds' character is a reference to former quarterback Jim Plunkett.
- In the dressing room, it turned out that a standard helmet did not fit Richard Kiel's head. Later during the game, you can notice that his helmet is a different color than the helmets of the other players.
- Some of the actors in the film were formerly professional football players – Burt Reynolds, Mike Henry, Joe Kapp, Ray Nitschke (1936-1998), and Pervis Atkins.
- According to Albert S. Ruddy, in the final scene, when Burt Reynolds' character goes for the ball, the captain, played by Ed Lauter (1938-2013), was supposed to shoot him in the back because he was actually trying to escape. However, during filming, it became clear that the audience would be disappointed with such an ending, so it was changed, and Burt Reynolds' character simply picked up the ball, and the captain didn't even consider such a thought.
- After the touchdown, a security guard incapacitates the character played by Michael Conrad (1925-1983) with a blow to the left leg. When the same character is brought to the infirmary, his right leg is bandaged.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
