Rudy

“Look at you. You’re 5-foot-nothing. A hundred and nothing. And with hardly a speck of athletic ability.”

This is said by Fortune, a groundskeeper at the Notre Dame stadium, played by Charles S. Dutton, to Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger Jr., whose dream is to play for the Fighting Irish. Rudy is not crazy. He doesn’t expect to start. He has a lifetime dream to just wear the uniform and run on the field for one game during the regular season and get his name in the newspaper in the school archives.

Almost everyone except Fortune thinks his dream can’t come true.

Rudy comes from a working-class family in Joliet, where is father, played by Ned Beatty, agrees with his family, his teachers, his neighbors and basically everybody in saying to Rudy that he does not have the physique and the intelligence to get accepted into a top school like Notre Dame. Rudy later gets tested and sees he has dyslexia.

However, Rudy does not stop. Roger Ebert said in his review, “And although his story reads, in outline, like an anthology of cliches from countless old rags-to-riches sports movies, "Rudy" persists, too. It has a freshness and an earnestness that gets us involved, and by the end of the film we accept Rudy's dream as more than simply sports sentiment. It's a small but powerful illustration of the human spirit.”

Ebert continued, “The movie was directed by David Anspaugh, who directed another great Indiana sports movie, "Hoosiers," in 1986. Both films show an attention to detail, and a preference for close observation of the characters rather than sweeping sports sentiment.” In “Rudy,” released in 1993, Anspaugh finds a serious, loving performance by Sean Astin, the former teen star, as a quiet, determined kid who knows he is not the smartest bulb, but is determined to do the best he can by playing his cards right.

To begin, he can’t get into Notre Dame. He doesn’t have the grades, but he’s accepted across the street at Holy Cross, where an understanding priest, played by the caring Robert Prosky, gives him advice and encouragement. Finally, Rudy is accepted by Notre Dame after four semesters, one of the few remaining big football schools that still has tryouts for “walk-ons” – kids without bright high school careers or athletic scholarships.

The film takes place in the mid-1970s. The Notre Dame coach is Ara Parseghian, played by Jason Miller. He doesn’t know what to make of the small man who is happy to play on a practice team and put his all-in week after week so that the big Irish lineman can really beat on him on their way to a Saturday victory. Rudy isn’t even that good enough to be one of the subs, but he has great heart (something that is looked at a little too often in the dialogue).

The movie is not overfilled with superfluous subplots. His girlfriend, played by Lili Taylor, is left behind, and for four years, Rudy becomes a grind, studying nonstop to make his grades, and sometimes sleeping on a cot in the groundskeeper’s room because he doesn’t have money for rent. His father continues to think he’s crazy, but Rudy proves him wrong.

Underdog movies are a strong genre and never become obsolete. They’re very predictable, in a way that few movie underdogs ever lose in the large resolution. The idea is largely appealing, however, because everyone can predict one way or another.

Ebert noted, “In "Rudy," Astin's performance is so self-effacing, so focused and low-key, that we lose sight of the underdog formula and begin to focus on this dogged kid who won't quit.” And the large resolution is one of the most emotional ones, just the way it’s supposed to be.

This is a very inspirational movie. You must see this movie. I saw this in sixth grade, and it became one of my all-time favorite movies. After seeing this, you will learn to not listen to the nay-sayers and haters because dreams do come true. George Carlin said on Inside the Actors Studio, “Dream come true. Dream your dreams and massage them and you’ll live them out. I’m telling you it works.” Rudy is proof of that. Because if Rudy could pull this off, why can’t everyone else? I had those doubts before, but I made sure to persevere and make sure I did what I love doing, and I feel like I’m on that path. Check this one if you haven’t, I give it a huge recommendation.

Look out next week when I review a movie that I have been thinking about reviewing, which is a film my brother told me about, in “Special Needs Month.”