[TinySparrow]

Автор оригинала: Нора
Все и чем больше, тем лучше. :-))) Спасибо тебе за предложение, но почему лично-то. Я же хочу, чтобы все прочитали, в конце концов, вышел новый фильм Батлера, а мы про него глухо молчим. :-/ Когда премьера Фантика состоялась, народ ходил на imdb и цитировал оттуда отзывы в нашем призрачном треде.

This will be more than a just soccer movie., 17 May 2004
Author: dunne from Saint Louis Missouri

This film records the most unlikely upset in World Cup history, the 1-0 United States defeat of England in the Brazilian mining city of Belo Horizonte ("Beautiful Horizon"), 300 miles north of Rio di Janeiro, on June 29, 1950. The United States was a team of part time amateurs who were drawn against the mighty English squad, playing in its first World Cup and determined to show the world their mastery of the game they had invented. Football fans who saw the score reported assumed the score line was a typographical error, as it was unthinkable that the US could even stay with, much less defeat, an English side which featured some of the games all time great players, including Billy Wright, Sir Stanley Matthews (who sat out the match), Stan Mortenson and Wilf Mannion. London bookmakers offered odds of 500-1 against such an preposterous event. The New York Times refused to run the score when it was first reported, deeming it a hoax.

The US team was a collection of first generation American soccer players drawn mainly from club teams on the east coast and included five St. Louisans, four of whom grew up in the "Hill" neighborhood of South St. Louis: goalie Frank Borghi, fullback Frank Colombo, forward Gino Pariani, and midfielder Frank "Pee Wee" Wallace, and also the long time St. Louis University soccer coach, halfback Harry Keough. The US had only one full time professional player on its roster, Hugh McIllvenny from Scotland. They had played together only two weeks when they departed for Brazil. They'd lost to Italy in a World Cup warm up by the score of 9-0, and had been defeated by Spain in the World Cup opener 3-1.

It was reported that the American players were so confident that victory was unlikely that several of them were out late the night before the game enjoying themselves and sported hangovers at the opening kickoff. Borghi was quoted afterwards as saying he was hoping to hold the English to five or six goals. The English team poured forward, firing shot after shot at goalie Borghi, but could not score. Six minutes before half time, U.S. center forward Joe Gaetgens, a Haitian born dishwasher living in New York, redirected with a lunging header a shot by half back Walter Bahr, who is himself, incidentally, the long time Penn State soccer coach and the father of NFL placekickers and former Penn State soccer players Chris and Matt Bahr. The misdirected shot beat England keeper Bert Williams, and the single goal stood up through a second half where the Americans withstood constant English pressure and numerous near misses, including three shots off the woodwork.

The Brazilian crowd thoroughly enjoyed the failures of the pretournament favorites and carried the US team off the field after the final whistle. The game was noteworthy for the complete lack of interest in the result by the American press and public. The only American reporter at the game, Dent McSkimming of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, used his vacation time and paid his own way to Brazil to cover the game.

Author Geoffrey Douglas' book advances the premise that the victory was not a fluke when one considers the character and promise of the winning American players, as evidenced by the upstanding and honorable men they came to be.

Trivia: the English national soccer team has never again worn blue shirts they wore against the US in that game.

The film was shot on location in St. Louis and Brazil, and features former US National Soccer Team Captain John Harkes as a consultant and soccer playing extra.

We got Game!, 24 April 2005
Author: callmomrad from United States

O.K., how many of you know that the U.S. beat a heavily-favored English team in a 1950 World Cup Soccer upset? No? No-one? Researching the annals of Sports headlines would not necessarily provide you with the correct information, as the win was so astonishing that the final score of 0-1 was assumed by British journalists to be a typo, and was reported as an English victory of 10-1! And the American Press was too busy covering the onset of the Korean War to pay much attention to the unexpected triumph by a hastily thrown-together U.S. team in a sport which had not yet caught on in the States.
The Game of Their Lives exists to correct this glaring omission in Sports History. David Anspaugh (Hoosiers, Rudy) has directed the quintessential Soccer movie, compelling in its simplicity. Forced by an extremely limited budget to pare this true story down to its bare bones, what emerges is a straight-forward accounting of the American Spirit. On my way to the St. Louis premiere, an African taxi driver put it succinctly, yet enthusiastically, commenting, "Yes! Yes! That's what you Americans do! You make up your minds, pull things together and get things done!" The minimalist story is told in flashback. Patrick Stewart (Yes, Star Trek) lends his authoritative voice to narration, in the role of Dent McSkimming, the only American reporter to cover the game in Brazil, traveling at his own expense. The setting is primarily "the Hill," a working class Italian-American neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Against a visually accurate if somewhat nostalgic depiction of post-WW2 optimism and Family Values, the team players selected just weeks before the Game are introduced. It is immediately clear from their devotion to the game that Soccer is a thinly-veiled metaphor for Life for these amateurs. And with this backdrop of a simpler time, a result-oriented male psyche is exposed.
Gerard Butler gives a stand-out performance as Frank Borghi, the steadfast Goalie and heart of the team. Mr. Butler has demonstrated incredible range in recent films, going from action hero (Tomb Raider II) to big budget musical (Phantom of the Opera), to independent foreign film (Dear Frankie), to this near-documentary Sports ensemble piece. He is a talent to watch. His measured determination is balanced against the frustrated pessimism of the titular Team Captain, the less-than-charismatic yet eminently practical Walter Bahr, played by Wes Bentley (American Beauty). Also turning in notable performances are the Mandylor brothers, Costas and Louis, together in a movie for the first time, portraying unrelated players. The personal stories rivet the audience to the chain of events which culminate in the eponymous game.
The match in question was played, and shot on location, in Brazil. Despite foreknowledge of the outcome, game play is heart-stoppingly exciting, the camera placing you in the thick of the competition. There is some real Soccer being played on screen! Although I am not an avid Sports fan, I was on the edge of my seat and carried away by the immediacy of the action. At the premiere in St. Louis, it was heart-warming to see several of the original players in person, including Frank Borghi, being finally honored after 55 years for their remarkable achievement.

A Victory for Game of Their Lives, 23 April 2005
Author: JenUF

First and foremost, I'm hardly a soccer expert and barely a soccer fan so this commentary comes strictly from a movie fan and a fan who enjoys critiquing films. That said, I found The Game of Their Lives to be a solid film. It's a product of the same mind that brought us "Rudy" and "Hoosiers" and one can expect similar results. It tells the tale of the 1950 US World Cup team that shockingly beat England (though did not win the World Cup itself) It begins in St Louis, providing backgrounds and insight into the lives and families of the St Louisians who later will be on the World Cup Team.

Strong performances from Wes Bentley and Gerard Butler lead this film to the final victory. Bentley and Butler portray the leaders of the team (Walter Bahr and Frank Borghi, respectively) with likability and believability. The supporting cast that rounds out the team also turn out performances that will keep you involved with wanting to route for this team. Don't expect an electric atmosphere, however, as this story is told from a reporter reminiscing.

The Game of Their Lives offers character development for the team members without ever straying from the subject at hand. Through their actions on and off the field, the audience can get a taste for who these men were. Much homage and respect is also deservingly paid to England for their magnificent history in the sport. This is not one of those ports films that serves to make the United States seem over glorious and under mind the greatness of England, as many assume it will. I for one walked away from this film with a greater respect for England and what they've done, and continue to do, for the sport

Good overall but a few quibbles, 25 April 2005
Author: anonymous-41 from United States

While my family and I found the movie both entertaining and inspiring, a few "negatives" are worthy of comment . . . As he was a native of St. Louis, I would have been highly surprised to hear Dent McSkimming use the term "St. Louisians." I expect that he, like most of us here, would have used the term "St. Louisan." The "ee" sound in "St. Louis" or "St. Louisian" sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to us. Since he passed away in 1976, McSkimming was not available for comment concerning this matter.
Perhaps the movie could have done a bit more to enlighten those unfamiliar with sports wagering and/or the legacy of soccer in this country. It didn't do a good job at all of explaining why winning a "mere" first-round World Cup game was an event of such importance.

I also expected a more vivid portrayal of spectator reaction. Any South American crowd would have delighted in the defeat of a favored European side, as it would have vastly improved their home nation's chances in the tournament.

The movie noted, but just barely, the significance of the deeply-held differences in soccer strategy between the Easterners and the St. Louisans. While the brand of soccer favored in St. Louis did not lack discipline, it did place much greater emphasis on offense and attacking. It employed formations that placed a far greater number of players forward than the (looking from back to front) 4-4-2 favored in the East.

St. Louisans disdained the 4-4-2 which, they believed, produced an immensely boring game. It was a major show of faith and unity for Borghi to advocate, and for the others to agree to play, the 4-4-2 that Bahr favored.
Despite its weaknesses, we found the movie well worth our time and money. The men it portrayed were not the type speak at length about their achievements, whether they came in the uniform of our armed forces or in that of our national soccer team.
I'm so glad that my children had the opportunity to learn of these outstanding men from our city and what they did. I'm especially happy that this movie was made while some of these men are still alive and able to enjoy their "moment" and tell us more about it.

Для начала :-)