We Are Marshall (2006)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 124
Fresh: 61 | Rotten: 63
Matthew McConaughey almost runs We Are Marshall to the end zone, but can't stop it from taking the easy, feel-good route in memorializing this historic event in American sports.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 19
Matthew McConaughey almost runs We Are Marshall to the end zone, but can't stop it from taking the easy, feel-good route in memorializing this historic event in American sports.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 194,705
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Movie Info
A true story of tragedy, hope, and resilience comes to the screen in this sports drama. Huntington, WV, is home to Marshall University, a school where college football is a way of life. Huntington is also a town that learned to deal with tragedy in the fall of 1970 when Marshall's "Thundering Herd" boarded an airliner to return home after a football game in North Carolina. The jet crashed into a hill due to bad weather, and 75 members of Marshall's football squad and athletic staff died that
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Cast
-
Matthew McConaughey
Jack Lengyel -
Matthew Fox
Red Dawson -
Anthony Mackie
Nate Ruffin -
David Strathairn
President Dedmon -
Ian McShane
Paul Griffen -
Kate Mara
Annie Cantrell -
January Jones
Carole Dawson -
Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Sandy Lengyel -
Arlen Escarpeta
Reggie Oliver -
Brian Geraghty
Tom Bogdan -
Tommy Cresswell
Gene Morehouse -
Christian Kanupke
Young Keith Morehouse -
Nina Jones
Mrs. Morehouse -
Kevin Atkins
George Olson -
Mark Patton
Bill James -
Huntley Ritter
Randy Linden -
Brett Rice
Lloyd Boone -
Dalton Polston
Peter Lengyel -
Andrew Wilson Williams
David Lengyel -
Ellie Zellers
Julie Lengyel -
Mark Oliver
Ernie Salvatore -
Brian Beegle
Lucas Booth -
L. Warren Young
Mickey Jackson -
David Dwyer
Hutch Davis -
Wes Brown
Chris Griffen -
Mike Pniewski
Bobby Bowden -
Cafabian Heard
Danny -
Mandy Best
Katie -
Nikky Williams
Jane -
Laura-Shay Griffin
Julie -
Katie Kneeland
Ticket Taker -
Elizabeth Omilami
President's Secretary -
Scott Hilley
Man In The Rain -
Andrew DiPalma
Diner Student #1 -
Jeff Adelman
Diner Student #2 -
Dolan Wilson
Steel Worker -
Billy Woods
Airport Booster #1 -
Sharalene Kile
Doris Stillwell -
Bill Crabb
Gas Station Attendant -
Phillip Ivey
Man In The Car At The T... -
Wilbur Fitzgerald
Fireman #1 -
Jody Thompson
Barrier Policeman -
David Ramsey
Father -
Rhoda Griffis
Mrs. Shaw -
Billy Bennett
Blake Smith -
Patrick L. Parker
Mr. Booth -
Joey Nappo
Beer Freshman -
Michael DiFiore
W.V. Player -
Maurice Bryant
Xavier #19 -
Tim Crowley
Referee -
Don Young
Janitor -
Alex Van
Trainer -
Ron Clinton Smith
Jim McNally -
Taber Lathrop
Steven Morehouse -
Jake Cooper
Freshman #1 -
William Gorman
Freshman #2 -
Anaiah Petty
Freshman #3 -
Jeff Portell
Fireman #2 -
Alyssa Caputo
Gail Morehouse -
Keith Morehouse
Keith Morehouse -
Mike Ribaudo
Baseball Catcher -
Bobby Jordan
Baseball Runner -
Dock Pollard
Terry Gardner -
Bert Beatson
Player #3 -
Bobby Jon Drinkard
Player #4 -
Ryan Sloth
Marshall #51 -
Brent Garber
Shalhoop -
Steven Barr
Game Announcer -
Michael Pniewski
Bobby Bowden
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We Are Marshall Trailer & Photos
All Critics (128) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (66) | DVD (21)
Unlike a lot of sports movies, it doesn't end with a championship or a great upset over a powerhouse. The real victory on the Marshall campus was in fielding a team that honored and respected the legacy of the 1970 team.
Top CriticThis was undeniably a horrific event for the victims' families friends, colleagues as well as for the entire community. But the movie seems to almost exploit this tragedy so it can make audiences weep, and ultimately, cheer.
What's missing is any kind of insight into the lives of the dead players or the members of the Young Thundering Herd who rise up to replace them.
A series of montage and anecdotal vignettes follows as they recruit a whole new team, learn lessons from the catastrophe, lose and then win, with plenty of sentimentality sprinkled over the whole thing.
We Are Marshall is a bit of a shame, because the subject matter could have been something special in the hands of stronger filmmakers.
We Are Marshall (it's the rally cry of the team) doesn't always have a handle on the grief, but it does keep emotions close to the surface. That allows McConaughey to be the most refreshing, funny and believable he ever has been.
Conventional football drama doesn't quite score.
McConaughey campily channels Jon Stewart channeling George W. Bush for his impersonation of Lengyel.
...would've benefited from the presence of virtually any other actor in the central role...
We Are Marshall is not a bad movie; it is a potentially nice, familiar movie unfortunately marred by the unspeakably awful performance of Matthew McConaughey.
The DVD provides a pair of featurettes, including a substantial one on how six legendary sports coaches (some famous and some less so) overcome adversity.
A sentimental, simplistically inspiring movie that leans heavily on Matthew McConaughey's substantial energy and charisma for its success.
Bittersweet football flick less concerned with gridiron feats than with how members of a tight-knit community deal with their grief in the wake of a disaster.
...as sympathetic as audiences are to the situation, the movie itself seldom rises above the mediocre and the sentimental. (HD DVD and DVD Combo Edition)
Despite its best intentions, there is much in We Are Marshall that holds it back from being the best it can be.
What allows We Are Marshall to stand above many of the other 2006 sports movies is both the undeniable power of the story itself and the strong ensemble McG gathered to tell it.
We Are Marshall is the kind of movie that not only believes in the goodness of humankind, but makes you believe it, too.
That McG makes it vital and energetic, and not morose or preachy, shows a director on top of his game.
'We Are Marshall' is both better than it has a right to be and still feels somewhat disappointing.
As exciting and well staged as the on-field action is (finally, a football movie gives the field goal kicker the respect he's due!), I was more taken by what was happening off the field.
... A heartfelt tribute to those who died and those who lived.
Audience Reviews for We Are Marshall
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jack Lengyel: ls that the Ohio Valley Coal line? The same one that went off the tracks near Akron last winter?
- Red Dawson: Yep. That's the one.
- Jack Lengyel: Back on track.
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