The Greatest Game Ever Played
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
Bill Paxton has for a few decades been one of the best
supporting actors in genre films and has endured for so long that he may be
taken for granted too often. He loves film
and has now taken on the new role of directing feature films, starting with Frailty
in 2001. That controversial
Horror/Thriller freaked out more than a few people and though it was not a big
hit, it demonstrated Paxton could handle things effectively behind the
camera. Four years later, he took on The
Greatest Game Ever Played, a shift in gears considered safe enough to go
out under the Walt Disney name, yet a big step forward for Paxton as an
effective journeyman filmmaker.
The film, part of a cycle of amazing sports stories that
only Disney seems to be bringing to the big screen these days, is about several
things. It is based on the real life
story of a young man named Francis Quimet, who came from a family with little
to offer him and how they are displaced by the building of a golf course by the
local “gentleman” elite. This so
affects him that he decides at a very young age to investigate what was so
important to disrupt his life and render his family powerless to do anything
about it. He becomes increasingly
interested to the point he becomes a good player, but it is his love of the
game that really begins to propel him and he becomes a caddy.
At the time, it was a game only for the very rich and
powerful at a time when a certain kind of class division was more
explicit. To their credit, Paxton and
writer Mark Frost never shy away from this without being preachy and still
remain pro-Capitalist, but I will always wonder if the media did not give this
film enough of a chance because they considered the film too ideologically
disturbing in such Right-of-center times.
As a teenager, Shia LaBeouf gives a terrific performance
as Francis, never seeming like a young man from the early 21st
Century and never hits a false note as the good guy who always tries to do the
right thing, no matter how unfair to him.
He becomes the heart and soul of a story with plenty of it to spare, but
unlike so many sports stories and bad “feel good” films since the 1980s, the
foundation of the story is superior and Paxton never has to be fake about
anything or fake anything. He stays on
course and the result is a one of the most underrated films of the year.
Golf has this stigma for being boring and like anything
else, if you watch without knowing what is really going on then sure, you will
get bored. However, the other amazing
thing the film achieves is in making the game as exciting as it is to its
biggest fans and above all else, it is Paxton’s greatest achievement as a
skilled filmmaker to pull that off to the point that the film will get whole
new generations interested in the sport.
Kudos also to the fine supporting cast including Stephen Dillane as his
opponent in what turns out to be a once in a lifetime game, the underrated
Elias Koteas as his father, Peter Firth, Josh Fitter in a breakthrough role as
a young caddy straight out of Our Gang in the best sense, an
unbelievable cast of unknowns who are on the mark and the great
singer/songwriter Joe Jackson in a cameo.
I really enjoyed this film and along with Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man
(reviewed in DVD and HD-DVD versions on this site) are stunning portraits of
America then that apply to America now, more than ever.
Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut shot the anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image nicely with fine production design by Francois Seguin
that never hits a phony note; even with some montage effects to heighten the
events are inserted. This looked really
good in 35mm film, but this transfer lacks detail and depth in ways it should
not, with Video Black a bit off. Though
color is slightly muted to show the time period, this just does not show the
money and effort that was actually on the screen. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, dialogue based with music
and sound effects in the surrounds more often, though there are good ambience
sounds in the soundfield as well. This
should have been in DTS. Extras include
two featurettes, an even shorter clip and two strong audio commentary tracks by
writer Mark Frost and director Paxton that all show just6 how much was put into
the film and how everyone was serious about making a strong film. They succeeded.
- Nicholas Sheffo
