North Dallas Forty (1979)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 3
Muddled overall, but perceptive and brutally realistic, North Dallas Forty also benefits from strong performances by Nick Nolte and Charles Durning. Football fans will likely find it fascinating.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
Muddled overall, but perceptive and brutally realistic, North Dallas Forty also benefits from strong performances by Nick Nolte and Charles Durning. Football fans will likely find it fascinating.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 2,375
My Rating
Movie Info
In a society in which major league sporting events have replaced Sunday worship as the religion of choice, North Dallas Forty appears like a desecration at the altar. In this film, directed by Ted Kotcheff (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), the National Football League is revealed to be more about the money than the game. Nick Nolte is North Dallas Bulls pass-catcher Phillip Elliott, whose cynicism and independent spirit is looked upon as troublesome by team coaches Johnson (Charles Durning)
Aug 3, 1979 Wide
Jan 30, 2001
Paramount Home Video
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Nick Nolte
Phillip Elliott -
Mac Davis
Maxwell -
Charles Durning
Coach Johnson -
Dabney Coleman
Emmett -
Dayle Haddon
Charlotte -
Steve Forrest
Conrad Hunter -
Bo Svenson
Jo Bob Priddy -
G.D. Spradlin
B.A. Strothers -
Savannah Smith Boucher
Joanne -
Marshall Colt
Art Hartman -
Guich Koock
Eddie Rand -
John Matuszak
O.W. Shaddock -
Alan Autry
Balford -
Deborah Benson
Mrs. Hartman -
Jim Boeke
Stallings -
John Bottoms
Vip -
Walter Brooke
Doctor -
Jane Daly
Ruth -
Rad Daly
Conrad -
Stanley Grover
March -
Cliff Frazier
Monroe -
Boyd Matson
Sportscaster
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All Critics (20) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (3) | DVD (8)
Retains enough of the original novel's authenticity to deliver strong, if brutish, entertainment.
The football scenes are brutally real; the locker room scenes are totally authentic.
The production is a most realistic, hard-hitting and perceptive look at the seamy side of pro football.
Top CriticSomething of a mess, both in terms of the wayward plot which rambles all over the place, and in terms of the rather muddled juggling of audience sympathies.
The leading man, Nick Nolte, has a physical authority and a clowning, irreverent manner that lend the film some semblance of continuity, even when it's about to flounder.
Pro football fans may be disillusioned by this excellent, honest, and often brutal expose of the play-for-pay game.
It relies upon your belief in the inherent nobility of the sport... If you believe that, this is the greatest sports movie ever made. If you don't, it's a wallow in self-pity.
The best football movie ever made.
Raucous football tale with effective Nolte.
North Dallas Forty reveals some of the reasons why the fun has been taken out of football.
It's still fascinating to get a glimpse of what athletes sacrifice to entertain us. It would have been considerably more fascinating if more of the people involved had seemed more human.
Audience Reviews for North Dallas Forty
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