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I’m a little biased about this movie since I graduated from Marshall University. Watching it through my eyes was probably a much different experience than by someone that has never visited Huntington, West Virginia. I thought that overall the movie was good. It was definitely meant to pull at the ol’ heart strings, and in that respect it did a very good job. The only thing that the movie seemed to lack on was football. I was expecting to see a little more on the field action. Maybe I completely missed the point of it though.
First off, I can say other than the diner scenes and some of the house sets everything was filmed in Huntington and looked very authentic. Watching it was like stepping back into Huntington. I even saw my old apartment during the scene where all of the fans are walking to the game.

I think that this is a film that has needed to be made for a long time. Matthew McConaughey did a good job portraying Coach Jack Lengyel. I’m sure he embellished a bit considering Lengyel was a very humble and quiet coach. This moviess main goal was to tell the story of what happened so many years ago and to show how a community can come together and put back all of the pieces. In this way, this movie works on so many levels. B

Movie Quote:

• “When you take that field today, you’ve got to lay that heart on the line, men. From the souls of your feet, with every ounce of blood you’ve got in your body, lay it on the line until the final whistle blows. And if you do that, if you do that, we cannot lose. We may be behind on the scoreboard at the end of the game but if you play like that we cannot be defeated. Now we came here today to remember six young men and sixty-nine others who will not be on the field with you today, but they will be watching. You can bet your ass that they’ll be gritting their teeth with every snap of that football. You understand me? How you play today, from this moment on is how you will be remembered. This is your opportunity to rise from these ashes and grab glory. We are… Marshall!”