Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, a young steelworker, has dreamed of playing football at Notre Dame since he was a kid. Rudy never had the grades, the money, the size, or the support to make it, but when his best friend (the only person to indulge his fantasy) dies in a mill accident, Rudy abandons his life to chase his dream. He enrolls in Holy Cross College, befriends teaching assistant D-Bob, and works hard to rehab his grades. Meanwhile, he does anything he can to connect with Notre Dame football, apprenticing with head groundskeeper Fortune at Notre Dame stadium. After many successive tries, and failures, Rudy is accepted into Notre Dame at the final-hour. He tries out for the football team as a walk-on, where his tenacity and drive earns him a spot on the practice squad. Still, he is cautioned that he will never make the “dress roster” and play in a game. Rudy treats each practice as the game of his life, taking major hits and earning the respect of most players. Inspired, the team rallies around him and demands that he dress for the final game. With chants of "Rudy" across the stadium, Ruettiger gets on field for the final play and is carried off the field in victory.
I think deep down, I wanted to not like this film. Especially after last year’s screening of “Field of Dreams” in which I realized ALL OF YOU ARE WRONG about sappy sports films, I approached “Rudy” with trepidation. But this is just a good, genuine story.
The plot takes its time, showing us Rudy’s failure over, and over, and over again. Hell, the first half of the film is abject, bumbling, charming failure. It was so convincing that when Rudy is finally accepted into Notre Dame, and Sean Astin took his performance down to shattered tears (I expected some lame jump-for-joy), I was hooked by the character. Even Jerry Goldsmith’s brilliant film music goes on this journey, underscoring longing and heartbreak before breaking-free in the oft-borrowed main anthem during football tryouts. Jon Favreau, Charles Dutton, and Robert Prosky are fantastic as Rudy's supporters D-Bob, Fortune, and Father Cavanaugh (respectively), and Ned Beatty's performance as Rudy's disapproving-then-reformed father was perfect. Rudy is just a good, well-paced story, with excellent music, casting, and some pretty striking cinematography (my favorite shot being Rudy’s exclusion outside the stadium wall).
I loved last week’s film “8 1⁄2” for relishing in the meaningless circus of life. But I also love this film for saying that, with enough blood, sweat, tears, mentors, allies, and influence, you can make anything happen. Deep down, I probably don’t believe fully in either but I take comfort in both.