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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED
The Greatest Game Ever Played

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The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)

62%
54%
83%
N/A
N/A
N/A
62 %
Reviews Counted: 101 Fresh: 63  Rotten:38 Average Rating: 6.2/10
 
Consensus: Despite all the underdog sports movie conventions, the likable cast and lush production values make The Greatest Game Ever Played a solid and uplifting tale. Despite all the underdog sports movie conventions, the likable cast and lush production values make The Greatest Game Ever Played a solid and uplifting tale. more
 
Rated: PG
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Theatrical Release: Sep 30, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $15,283,642
Synopsis:
The second film directed by actor Bill Paxton is a marked departure--in both form and content--from his debut, 2001's FRAILTY, a shadowy, gothic tale of murder. THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED is a sports movie slash Horatio Alger rags-to-riches tale with undertones of class consciousness... [More]
The second film directed by actor Bill Paxton is a marked departure--in both form and content--from his debut, 2001's FRAILTY, a shadowy, gothic tale of murder. THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED is a sports movie slash Horatio Alger rags-to-riches tale with undertones of class consciousness and social critique. The story is based on a real-life event--the 1913 U.S. Open golf championship--at which two equally sympathetic young men, both of whom grew up economically and socially disadvantaged, go club to club in one of the most exciting and dramatic athletic events of the early 20th century. The film focuses on the competition between the British star Harry Vardon (Stephen Dillane) and the young American prodigy Francis Ouimet (HOLES star Shia LaBoeuf). Though they hail from opposite sides of the Atlantic, the struggles that the two young golfers have had to overcome are markedly similar; both grew up in hard-scrabble, working-class homes that happened to be adjacent to golf courses, and both were preternaturally disposed to the game. In addition, both must defy the disdain of the golfing gentry. Vardon is already a reigning champion and international darling when Ouimet makes it to his first tournament to battle him. Though enough backstory is provided to connect the viewers to the characters, the meat of the film is the dramatic unfolding of the tournament. With expert editing and fluid camera work, Paxton films close-up views of the golfing action in a manner that recalls the kinetic pool shots in Martin Scorsese's THE COLOR OF MONEY. With each stroke, the competition becomes closer and the mood more tense, culminating in an explosive outcome that, while not unexpected, pulls at the heartstrings as do all good tales of triumph over adversity. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Justin Ashforth, George Asprey, Jackie Burroughs, Len Cariou

Director: Bill Paxton
Screenwriter: Melissa Carter
Producer: Marc Beauchamps

DVD Info

Release:

Apr 11, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - French

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image

Greatest Game succeeds because it has enough history and authenticity to please golf enthusiasts while maintaining enough heart and human drama to appeal to the rest.

Full Review | Comment
09/25/06 12:52 PM
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
05/12/06 03:16 AM
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
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If you're not willing to stand in the rain during a major tournament, you're gonna get bored with these movies.

Full Review | Comment
04/21/06 12:54 PM
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
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[Director Bill] Paxton's narrative is confusing at first, but the film is entertaining overall.

Full Review | Comment
04/15/06 01:47 PM
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal
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Better suspense than many sports movies, in spite of clichés and anachronisms

Full Review | Comment
04/14/06 12:58 PM
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit
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...the film is so well made, the acting so good, the period so well captured, and the photography so captivating that it's hard not to like it.

Full Review | Comment
04/04/06 09:20 PM
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
04/01/06 04:18 AM
Empire Magazine
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The Longest Movie Ever Made.

Full Review | Comment
11/21/05 05:39 PM
Jonathan R. Perry
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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Despite the endless heart-tugging cliches and predictable storylines, Disney once again demonstrates its ability to push the right sentimental buttons in an underdog sports film.

Full Review | Comment
11/13/05 12:17 PM
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
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Riddled with underdog cliches and embellishments, and lays the sentimentality on thick at every opportunity, making the emotional response feel more manipulated then genuine.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/05 10:28 AM
Todd Jorgenson
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)
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More than any such movie I remember, The Greatest Game Ever Played celebrates the ideal of sportsmanship.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/05 10:47 AM
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Ratings Image

The most visually and emotionally dynamic film ever made about a game of golf — perhaps the most visually and emotionally dynamic possible film about a game of golf.

Full Review | Comment
10/10/05 09:40 AM
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide
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As a film replay, The Greatest Game is hardly that, but it's at least a pretty good one.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/05 01:19 PM
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
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A great underdog film that is absolutely stolen by the 10 year old caddy played by Josh Flitter. If you don't love him, you have no soul.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/05 12:17 PM
John Venable
Supercala.com
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I’m going to bet that Bill Paxton loves golf. Because, despite his deftly directed “Frailty,” “The Greatest Game Ever Played” rolls all over the place.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/05 08:55 AM
Linda Cook
KWQC-TV (Iowa)
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This charming film (editing tricks aside), is rich in humor and period detail, and amazingly suspenseful considering we already know the outcome.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/05 03:43 PM
M. K. Terrell
Christian Science Monitor
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Movies about golf are seldom, if ever, 'great.'

Full Review | Comment
10/06/05 10:45 AM
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com
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It may not be, as the title says, the greatest game every played, but it certainly is a darn good round of golf.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/05 03:15 AM
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International
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A pretentious and predictable Game.

Full Review | Comment
10/05/05 08:58 AM
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca
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Ouimet versus Vardon probably was the greatest golf game ever played, and Paxton and Frost do it justice, but I wouldn't sit through another simulated hole of it for Tiger Woods's salary.

Full Review | Comment
10/04/05 12:47 PM
Mark Holcomb
Village Voice
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