The Longest Yard

Plot

Paul Crewe is a former National Football League (NFL) quarterback who was accused of shaving points. Though he was never convicted, he was placed on federal probation for five years. One night, dissatisfied with his life, he gets drunk during a party and goes joyriding through San Diego in his girlfriend Lena's Bentley, causing a high-speed police chase and car crash. His probation is revoked and he is sentenced to three years in prison.

Instead of being imprisoned in California, he gets transferred to Texas, thanks to the influence and contacts of Warden Rudolph Hazen, an avid football fan. Wishing to boost his prison's reputation for a potential future election as State Governor, he uses threats and confinement in a hot box to coerce Crewe into helping the prison guards' football team, led by the sadistic Captain Knauer. Crewe informs Hazen that what Hazen's team needs is a tune-up game to boost the guards' confidence, and is therefore coerced to form an inmate team to play against the guards. He does so with the help of a newfound friend, Caretaker. They start off with a poorly organized team, before being noticed by another prisoner, former college football star and Heisman winner Nate Scarborough, who decides to help coach the team by gathering several high profile inmates as a boost to the team's strength. The team still lacks speed and coordination, particularly because the athletic black inmates led by Deacon Moss refuse to play over Crewe's past. Crewe challenges Deacon to a basketball game but loses, however his resilience impresses inmate Earl Megget, who joins the team. Later, after witnessing Megget be the target of racial insults by the guards, Deacon and his gang join the team, thus improving the team's overall quality.

Hazen and the guards hinder Crewe's team in several ways, such as flooding the field, but they overcome the obstacles and attempt to sabotage the guards, including replacing Engelhardt's steroids with estrogen. Meanwhile, inmate Unger spies on the activities of the inmates and after being pressured by the guards, rigs Crewe's radio with an explosive. Caretaker unknowingly enters the cell to give a photo gift to Crewe but is killed when he tries to turn the dial on the radio.

On game day, the inmates are revitalized in the wake of Caretaker's murder when they find he used his connections to his cousin at Reebok to supply the inmates with quality uniforms and gear with the team name "Mean Machine". Crewe deals with some difficulty getting the inmates to focus on winning the game rather than assaulting the guards during opening play, stating that a loss to them would be a far bigger mark of shame to the guards than any physical brutality they could inflict. Though the guards take an early lead, even having the referee call bogus penalties (which Crewe resolves by throwing the ball twice into the referees' genitals), by the end of the first half, the Mean Machines tie the game.

Cast

Production

The movie was filmed primarily at the New Mexico State Penitentiary on Route 14, Santa Fe, New Mexico. The football game at the end of the movie was filmed at Murdock Stadium at the El Camino College in Torrance, California. The car chase scene was filmed in Long Beach, California. Other parts of the movie were filmed in Los Angeles and New Mexico. The golf course scene was filmed at Lost Canyons Golf Club in Simi Valley, California.

Music

The Longest Yard: The Soundtrack is the original soundtrack to The Longest Yard. It was released on May 24, 2005, through Derrty Ent. Records and Universal Records and consisted entirely of hip hop music. The soundtrack was a success, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, #10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #1 on the Top Soundtracks. The film itself contains a mixture of hip-hop and rock music, featuring music by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Norman Greenbaum, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and AC/DC, among others. Two singles also made it to the Billboard charts, "Errtime" and "Fly Away", both performed by Nelly, who also plays Earl Megget in the film.

Track listing

Notes

^[a] signifies an additional producer.

Release

It was released on May 27, 2005, in the United States and September 9, 2005, in the United Kingdom. It was also released on the same day as DreamWorks Animation's family-friendly film, Madagascar, which also stars Chris Rock.

Reception

Box office

The Longest Yard did well at the box office. Its $47.6 million opening weekend was the largest of Sandler's career and only second to The Day After Tomorrow as the largest opening by a movie that was not No. 1. The film would go on to gross $158.1 million in the United States and Canada and $190 million worldwide. It was the highest-grossing film produced by MTV Films until it was surpassed by Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Critical response

The Longest Yard has received mostly mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 31% based on 167 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "This Yard has some laughs but missing from this remake is the edginess of the original." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore, gave the film a grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert, in the critical minority with this title, gave it a "Thumbs Up", defending it later in his Chicago Sun-Times review as a film that "...more or less achieves what most of the people attending it will expect." In the print review, Ebert beseeches his readers to "...seek out a movie you could have an interesting conversation about", citing films not in wide release such as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist and Kontroll, until finally encouraging his readers to "drop any thought of seeing anything else instead" if they can see Crash.

Accolades

The film earned Chris Rock a BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Theatrical Film.

Burt Reynolds earned a nomination at the 26th Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in both this film and The Dukes of Hazzard.