A friend treated me to a movie yesterday. We went and saw Leatherheads. You know, I really liked it, although I’m having a hard time articulating what exactly I liked about it.
It wasn’t a perfect movie, but, I thought it was in many ways a terrific throwback to some of the better movies from the 1930s, and I thought the digital photography effects were breathtakingly beautiful. It was like a black and white movie in color. I also really liked George Clooney and Renée Zellweger’s performances. I was also impressed by Clooney’s directing skill. The film was marred by a few anachronisms that a history buff like me couldn’t help but notice–A black player on a white team in 1925? Uh, sorry but I doubt it. Also the “Hail Mary” phrase came into football in the ’70s. Also the radio announcers sounded like they were from Monday Night Football, not old-time radio announcers–but by and large the film was impressively well-done as a period piece, with fewer things to pick apart than is usual for Hollywood fare.
I guess I also have a crush on Renée Zellweger so I just can’t say anything bad about her.
I see that it’s gotten very mixed reviews, but I suspect the film will age well, and will not develop a “cult following” but will be remembered as a pretty darned good film. I thought it was the best sports film since Bull Durham.
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Actually, the black player is based on fact. Fritz Pollard (1894-1986) and Bobby Marshall both played in the American Professional Football Association (predecessor of the NFL) starting in 1920, and Pollard was a player-coach (co-head coach) with the Akron Pros in 1921. Pollard was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Ken Hall’s last blog post..‘Tis the season…
Oh, wow, really? See, now both me and my friend Carlton (who is around 50 years old and black) found that jarring and assumed it couldn’t be true!
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