Everybody's All-American

A very watchable impression of Frank DeFord's novel. The bigger they come the harder they fall. This story follows most of the life of Louisiana football legend Gavin Grey(Dennis Quaid). The "Grey Ghost" lived big with a life sustained by adoring football fans for his exploits on and off the football field. He married his number one fan and cheerleader Babs(Jessica Lange)who shared his glory, heartaches and tragedies. His brother Donnie(Timothy Hutton)and best friend Lawrence(John Goodman)tried to keep Grey grounded and at the same time kept him high on admiration. Carl Lumbly plays Narvel Blue who's competitive nature like Grey's built a strong friendship. As years passed, so did the glory wane...the football hero just had trouble realizing it. Like Elvis Presley once said "The image is one thing and the man is another. It's often hard for the man to live up to the image."

I've always liked Dennis Quaid and thought his cockiness made the role of a self-centered football player come easy. Impressing is the fact he did some of his own stunts and separated a collar bone taking a solid hit on the field. He looked like a natural. For the stunning Lange, she seemed flawless as the cheerleader with only one thing on her mind...her idol the "Grey Ghost". Marriage matured her, but at fault lived sharing the glory surrounding a Louisiana favorite son. Goodman deserves more credit than he usually gets. How can you not like his bosom buddy character? Retired pro, semi-pro and top college athletes provided the realism on the playing field. You don't have to be a football fan to enjoy EVERYBODY'S ALL-American.

Even though I do not watch sports anymore, I used to watch them quite a lot and will still watch this movie whenever it's on TV. Definitely one of the best sports films of all time, realistic and superbly acted, this film follows a quarterback hero and his "trophy" wife from college to well beyond retirement. Topics of love, friendship, fidelity, aging and loyalty are all dealt with in profound ways. Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange give probably their best performances ever and the supporting cast does not disappoint. It is melodramatic, but it comes from a place of integrity instilled in the writing and direction of the film. If you're a guy and in the mood to watch something both you and your girl can enjoy, I would highly recommend renting this. It's too bad that so many below average sports movies get more praise than they deserve and lesser known films like this one fall by the wayside. 9/10

This movie is more than just a football movie, or a character study of an athlete that can't hang up his shoes. It's a movie about friendship, glory, and how you can't hang on and stop time. It's a theme that's echoed in the civil rights back story as well. Wonderfully acted, this movie always makes me a little sad for Gavin and the gang. No matter how hard they try, they just can't recapture the good times and glory of yesteryear. Whether those good times are scoring on the field, or in love. Tim Hutton, Jessica Lange, and Dennis Quaid all give great performances. This movie is often underrated and overlooked in lists of great sports movies.

Superbly acted film about a rocky relationship between a Sugar Bowl all-american (Quaid) and the Magnolia Queen (Lange). The story takes us through over 25 years of triumph and tragedy with great support from Hutton and an especially good performance from John Goodman. Look for "Seinfeld's" Wayne Knight here.

I like football. I like most of the cast in this film. Does that mean I enjoyed the movie? No, this modern-day soaper was filled with mostly unlikable characters and an appealing story for my tastes, even though it had some very good points.

In a nutshell, it's about an ex-college football star who doesn't know what to do when his playing days are over and nobody is cheering him anymore.

To me, on the negative side were the melodramatic clichés of the typical (for movies) unhappy marriage (a Louisiana State University football star and its Homecoming Queen ), the standard (for movies) adulterous affairs, the normal (for movies) lectures about race and in particular, the South; the tale of real and not-so-real friends, the predictable getting-back together routine, blah, blah, blah. Add in some fake Southern accents, too.

On the more positive side, Dennis Quaid plays "Gavin Grey" of the title role. The story concentrates mostly on the downside of his life, picking up 20 years later when he's not so famous anymore and a life of gridiron fame never materialized after a promising start. The sad thing is, there are real-life stories like this, probably more than we know. So, I am not knocking the film for its story. Many college and professional athletes go into "the real world" unprepared, just as many beautiful Homecoming Queens are unprepared for life because their fabulous looks - not their personality or character - opened a lot doors for them.

"Grey" winding up telling old sports glory stories to drunks at a restaurant is the same as Jake LaMotta doing it in "Raging Bull" and "Rocky Balboa" doing the same in Sylvester Stallone's recent role.

Jessica Lange plays the ditzy Homecoming queen who bears four kids and then becomes a good businesswomen. She isn't the most faithful, loving wife. And, at 39 years of age when she made the film, a little too old to be playing a college kid.

Quaid and Lange, though, are fine in their performances, but supporting actors John Goodman and Timothy Hutton were the most interesting, in my humble opinion.

Overall, so-so as a sports-soap opera. It's not a film I have ever been interested in viewing a second time.