Rudy [27]

In the genre of sports movies, the best ones are those that are real stories of rising to greatness, like Hoosiers. Or sometimes, as in the case of Brian s Song, you identify with some players that you might idolize.

Rudy is both of those. This is a real story about a real person, Daniel E. "Rudy" Ruettiger from Joliet, Illinois who wants, more than anything else, to play football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Rudy cannot get into Notre Dame because his grades are not good enough. So he goes to Holy Cross Junior college to take enough classes to get into Notre Dame. He gets rejection letter after rejection letter each quarter. In fact, after the final one even the audience wonders if it is all worth it.

One of the big payoff moments in the movie is when he finally is accepted to go to school at Notre Dame. He is sitting on a bench in front of the Moreau Seminary (which is standing in for the quad at Holy Cross). The camera has Rudy framed with St. Joseph s lake and the landmark golden dome of the main building in the background. We all get a little misty when he reads the acceptance letter, and will be allowed to "cross over" to go to school at Notre Dame.

Once accepted to go, Rudy tries to walk on to the football team. He actually makes the practice squad. But since he is (to quote Fortune the groundskeeper) "... 5 foot nothin, 100 and nothin, and ... hardly a speck of athletic ability." He ends up getting the crap beat out of himself at every football practice. Vince Vaughn s character, player Jamie O Hara starts bitching about Rudy’s aggressiveness and Ara Parseghian: sends Jamie packing to the prep team. Ara yells at him that if he had a tenth the heart of Rudy, he would be an all-American.

The final payoff is that Rudy actually gets to suit up and run through the tunnel on to the field for the final game against Georgia Tech. With the game in hand Rudy actually gets to play and scores a sack on the final play. Wow! Real life is much more interesting than anything Hollywood could dream up.

There are great cameos by the Notre Dame and Penn State marching bands. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wonders what the mystique about Notre Dame Football is. As Rudy’s dad (Ned Beatty) says, "this is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen!" {BB}

Read about the Group29 Experience at the Notre Dame game vs UCLA in 2006.

Added: October 27th 2006
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [27]

Related Link (IMDB): IMDB - Rudy
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Language: english