It’s no secret that I love both sports movies and true stories. So when the 2006 film We Are Marshall, a combination of the two genres, was released, it was a lock that I would watch the film at some point. The only thing that kept me from seeing this movie in theaters was the fact that it stars Matthew McConaughey. I’ve never liked a single film that McConaughey has appeared in, and I thought for sure that he would ruin this experience for me. But that was not the case at all, so now I’m kicking myself for having waited so long to see We Are Marshall!
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): On November 14, 1970, a chartered plane carrying members of the Marshall University football team, the coaching staff, and a number of community boosters crashed one mile away from its destination in Ceredo, West Virginia. The tragedy sent shockwaves through not only the university and the town of Huntington, but across the nation as well. The filmmakers chose to focus on the football-related aftermath of the crash, telling the story of how the Marshall Thundering Herd fielded a team the very next season against all odds.
University president Don Dedmon (played by David Strathairn), didn’t know anything about football before the crash, and doesn’t really know what to do about football after the crash. Many prominent members of the community expect the university to do away with the program (at least for the time being), but one of the surviving members of the team, Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie), who had stayed home from the fateful game because of an injury, gets the student body to help convince Dedmon that the school needs football in order to recover from the ordeal. Dedmon gives in.
Dedmon then goes about trying to hire a head coach, but everyone that he calls declines the job. One day, he gets a phone message from someone named Jack Lengyel (McConaughey) who is interested in the position. Dedmon goes to meet Lengyel, but his first impression is not that great. Lengyel seems a little off his rocker, and quite different from what Dedmon was expecting. However, Lengyel convinces Dedmon to give him a chance, so he gets the job.
From there, the rest of the film shows how Lengyel assembles a coaching staff, convinces Dedmon to lobby the NCAA to allow freshman to play, and rebuilds the Thundering Herd from a mishmash of new recruits, returning sophomores, and Marshall athletes from other sports. The action builds up to Marshall’s first home game after the air disaster, where the Herd stage an amazing comeback to defeat Xavier University on a last-second play — a victory that validated everything Dedmon, Lengyel, Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), and the others had worked for.
My Reaction: I thought We Are Marshall was a great sports movie! Speaking as someone who has no ties to the university at all, and who wasn’t even born during the era depicted in the film, I can say that the themes and issues addressed here were still compelling. The thing about sports is that, just like tragedy, they can serve to galvanize a community and pull people together. If you’ve ever been on a team, or if you went to school where sports were a big deal, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I was surprised at how much I liked Matthew McConaughey in this film. He was very likable as Coach Lengyel, and brought precisely the right mixture of levity and gravity to the role. It was a tough balancing act because Lengyel was an outsider to Huntington and Marshall. It wouldn’t have been right for him to wear the tragedy as his own personal cross because he didn’t know anyone involved. But at the same time, he couldn’t ignore it completely because that would have been disrespectful. I thought the way Lengyel handled it was perfect.
There were a lot of scenes in this movie that could have quickly turned cheesy, especially the “We are… Marshall!” chants, but director McG handled those very well. They were rousing instead of eye-roll inducing, and came at just the right times.
Overall, I thought We Are Marshall was one of the best sports movies I’ve seen in a long time. Speaking strictly as a movie fan, and not taking into account historical accuracy of the events depicted, I give this film 8.0 stars out of 10 and highly recommend that you see it!
Every now and then I like to write out a “To Watch” list here as a way to help remind myself of movies that I want to view or that others have recommended for me. Also, it’s a good way for readers to get an idea of what kind of reviews are coming up, which I know many of you appreciate.