Rudy
For some reason, “Rudy” has always struck me as a Thanksgiving-type movie to watch. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the first time I saw it was during a family reunion in 1994 over the long Turkey Day weekend. The fact that it’s a football movie, arguably the greatest ever made, also helps as well.
But there’s something else about it also. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks to the blessings we’ve been given in life. For Rudy, however, it was never enough. He always had bigger dreams, and while dreams can weigh us down the longer they go unfulfilled, they can also give us extraordinary strength and resolve that will serve us admirably in our life, and help us in the way we help others. For the first 20 minutes of the film “Rudy,” Rudy Ruettiger’s dreams feel more like for former, but by the time he’s finally able to go on the field and fulfill his dream, he’s become a genuine inspiration in courage and overcoming adversity.
Much of that final effect comes from Sean Astin, whose performance as Rudy is the best in a career that has seen him in beloved movies like this, “The Goonies,” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. I love him in all of those (and who could forget his steroid-infused brother in “50 First Dates?”), but “Rudy” is the movie that means the most to me for his performance above anything else. His Rudy is the best in a long line of cinematic sports underdogs, and if you haven’t figured out by now, I’m a sucker for the underdog…probably because I’ve always considered myself one myself.
I haven’t really bothered with the story because honestly, is there anyone who looks at that title and doesn’t know what this movie (written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh, who also brought us the basketball classic “Hoosiers”) is about? Who doesn’t automatically hear Jerry Goldsmith’s rousing score? Who doesn’t start welling up at remembering the crowd’s chanting of “Rudy!” in Rudy’s one game in Notre Dame blue and gold? Who doesn’t remember the change in Charles S. Dutton’s stoic groundskeeper by what Rudy has accomplished? This is what great movies do-they make impressions in our memories that live on even if we haven’t seen them in a while. “Rudy” is a template for what sports stories are onscreen, and because of what it does, how it does it, and the moments it gives us to remember, “Rudy” IS a great movie. Anyone who thinks otherwise, well, it’s their right, but in this case, they’re wrong…
