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The Longest Yard (2005 film)

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This article refers to the 2005 film remake. For the 1974 original, see The Longest Yard.

The Longest Yard is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. The movie features inmates at a prison who play American football against their guards. Adam Sandler plays the hero, Paul Crewe, an ex pro-footballer for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Burt Reynolds, the original Paul Crewe, plays a major role as Nate Scarborough, the head coach. The rest of the cast includes Chris Rock, Nelly, and a number of current and semi-retired football players and professional wrestlers.

The Longest Yard
File:Longestyard.JPG
Directed byPeter Segal
Written byAlbert S. Ruddy
Sheldon Turner
Produced byHeather Parry
StarringAdam Sandler
Chris Rock
Burt Reynolds
Nelly
CinematographyDean Semler
Edited byJeff Gourson
Music byTeddy Castellucci
Distributed byParamount Pictures / MTV Films (US)
Columbia Pictures (non-US)
Release dates
May 27, 2005 (USA)
Running time
113 min.
LanguageEnglish

Response

The overall critical response was negative, as evidenced by its 29% overall rating on RottenTomatoes.com. Though they generally agreed that it was a play-by-play remake, the greatest complaint from critics was that it replaced the original's dark comedy and grit with juvenile humor and visual gags.[1]

Nevertheless, the film managed to do well at the box office. Its $47.6 million dollar opening weekend was the largest of Sandler's career and only second to The Day After Tomorrow as the largest opening by a movie that wasn't #1 (Revenge of the Sith was in its second week of release). The film would go on to gross $158.1 million domestically and $190 million overseas. In the age of a large amount of remakes being released at the movies, it's worth noting that The Longest Yard is the highest grossing comedy remake of the modern box office era (from 1980 on).[2].

Roger Ebert, in the critical minority with this title, gave it a Thumbs Up, [3] defending it later in his Chicago Sun-Times review as a film that "...more or less achieves what most of the people attending it will expect." However, in the print review, Ebert beseeches his readers to "...seek out a movie you could have an interesting conversation about," citing films then in (not as wide) release such as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist and Kontroll, until finally encouraging his readers to "drop any thought of seeing anything else instead" if they can see Crash. [4]

The film also earned Chris Rock a BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Theatrical Film.

Cast

Trivia

  • The original 1974 The Longest Yard was rated "R", but the 2005 remake was rated PG-13. There was no PG-13 rating at the time of the original release, though the original's amount and nature of profanity use may still have earned it an R-rating. The remake had less profanity than the original.
  • The 1974 original was shot with spherical lenses with an original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, while the 2005 remake was shot with anamorphic lenses with an original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
  • Five professional wrestlers or boxers appeared in The Longest Yard: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, The Great Khali, and Bob Sapp (and most of them had football experience from high school or college). It was at Adam Sandler's insistence that the filmmakers used professional wrestlers. He now refers to Austin as one of his favorite co-stars.
  • Burt Reynolds is one of the few actors to have a major role in a movie and a major role in its remake. Ed Lauter had a major role in the original, but a cameo in the remake.
  • The stolen car switches from a Citroën Maserati in the original to a Bentley Continental GT; instead of escaping the police vehicles, Crewe collides with them in the remake.
  • During the basketball scene, rappers from D12 make a cameo appearance in the crowd (Except Eminem). Swift comments "Look at this fake Slim Shady," in regards to Crewe showing up on the basketball court.
  • Eddie Albert, who starred in the original 1974 movie, died just one day before the movie would be released in theaters.
  • Switowski's line "I think I made him s**t himself" and the subsequent repeating of the line by several different characters is a direct reference to the original, in which the line was instead "I think I broke his f**' neck." The line "I think I made him s** himself" is a quote from the original film and was used in the remake.
  • The 2005 remake was filmed at the infamous New Mexico State Penitentiary in Santa Fe. That was also the ___location of the infamous prison riot that lasted for two days, on Feb 2nd and 3rd of 1980, in which 33 prisoners were killed.
  • The film crew working on the 2005 remake built an additional guard tower between two cell blocks, on the steps of which Burt Reynolds' character introduces himself to Adam Sandlers' character.
  • Rob Schneider who had played an enthusiastic fan in The Waterboy, another film in which Sandler portrayed a football player, has a brief cameo where he reprises his cheer "You can do it!"
  • The guards are seen playing Halo 2 in a scene where Unger reports to Captain Knauer about his spy work. Though in reality, they are merely watching the trailer featured on newer Halo: Combat Evolved XBOX disks.
  • The name of Nelly's character, Earl Megget, is most likely a reference to former Giant's RB Dave Meggett, who was an explosive runner and kick returner during the 90s. Dave Meggett has also had numerous run-ins with the law.
  • The team's name 'Mean Machine' is a reference to the British remake of the original Longest Yard film.
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