Cinema Revisited: The Longest Yard (1974)
Directed by Robert Aldrich. Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad, James Hampton, Harry Caesar, John Steadman, Charles Tyner, Mike Henry, Bernadette Peters, Jim Nicholson, Pervis Atkins, Tony Cacciotti, Anitra Ford. Released August 30, 1974. Running time: 121 minutes
Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, the number one box office star in movies from 1978-1982. He built up to that level by appearing in hit films throughout the decade, including "The Longest Yard," one of his most popular movies.
Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a former pro football player who walks out on his girlfriend, takes her car, ends up in a high speed chase with cops, and is sentence to 18 months. While in prison, a sadistic lawyer (Eddie Albert, playing beautifully against type) recruits him to form a football team against the prisoners to play the guards. Originally dismissing it as a lark, realizing it is merely a way to humiliate the prisoners, Crewe has a change of heart when fellow prisoners with similar backgrounds in the game convince him they can triumph.
Screenwriter Tracy Keenan Wynn had penned the TV movie "The Glass House" (1972), a prison drama featuring Alan Alda and Vic Morrow. He was hired to write this movie, with an undrestanding that there would be an element of comedy permeating the narrative. Director Robert Aldrich had helmed such fine films as "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), and "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" (1962), but he realized his forte wasn't comedy. His approach to this material was to do a take as written, and then what he called a "schtick take," where Reynolds was allowed to contribute amusing dialog and the other actors were encouraged to follow suit. Both Reynolds and Aldrich admitted that the "schitick take" was the scene that was used most of the time.
The story has some general similarities to Zoltán Fábri's Hungarian feature 'Két félidő a pokolban" (1962), which was based on the real-life 1942 football game between German soldiers and their Ukranian prisoners. For authenticity, it cast several actual football players (Joe Kappy, Ray Nitschke, and movie Tarzan Mike Henry, et al). Shot on location at Georgia State Prison, several actual prisoners were also involved with the film as extras.
"The Longest Yard" works essentially as a comedy, but does have several dramatic moments. Charles Tyner, a master and playing bad guys, portrays Unger, a creepy prison informer with designs on Crewe. When he attempts to kill Crewe, his plan backfires and the beloved Caretaker (James Hampton) dies instead. It is a jarring, gruesome scene (an exploding lightbulb causes the victim to burn to death). However, any football brutality comes off as slapstick, such as when tough, soft spoken Shokner (a menacing Robert Tessier) punches the imposing Samson (Richard Kiel). Crewe insists that Shokner apologize, which pleases Samson. It plays as absurdity.
The mixture of action and comedy blends cohesively because both follow the anti-authority concept of the screenplay. The prisoners strive for triumph and dignity, while the guards led by Eddie Albert's warden character, are out to humiliate and injure. They are not above playing dirty, but fail to realize that they are in a game with prisoners who have no problem recognizing and responding to any level of rule breaking.
Robert Aldrich's "The Longest Yard" remains a classic of its decade featuring one of its most beloved stars at the top of his game. It was remade in 2005 with Adam Sandler in the Burt Reynolds role and Reynolds himself doing a cameo in the part that had been played by Michael Conrad in the original. Unlike the original, the 2005 effort was a critical failure. However, despite this, it also remains the biggest moneymaker in Sandler's career.