If you’ve ever read any of my reviews, chances are you’ve caught the fact that I am not a sports fan. Never was, never will be. I’ve watched a few games in my life, and even showed up at football games to support my high school many moons ago, but never really got into the sprit of the competition. Part of the problem, aside from the general boredom of watching people throw balls around and beat each other up, it’s the fact that most sports are now about the money, not about the love of the game. I just can’t get into watching someone do something merely because they get paid a lot of money. Yet, in spite of my utter lack of interest in sports, I love most sports movies. I used to wonder why, but then I realized it had everything to do with what sports movies have that real sports don’t. Which is, of course, the heart. As I mentioned before, sports is now about the money. Most sports movies are about the love of the game, or the heart and determination that a player or players have to rise above their current state and elevate themselves into a place where they can believe in themselves. That is the kind of movie you’ll find in “Rudy.”

“Rudy” originally came out in 1993, but still resonates over ten years later for so many reasons. The story itself, which is a true story (or at least as true as Hollywood allows), is all about Rudy Ruettiger.

Never heard of him? Neither had I, but this movie changed all of that. Rudy grew up in Joliet, Illinois in the 1970s and hada dream of one day playing for Notre Dame. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stand a chance of going to college due to his grades, and even if he could, he was certainly too small to play football. He ends up stuck in his home town working at the local steel mill, but when his best friend dies, decides he wants to make more of his life. He takes off and makes connections that eventually get him into a Junior College. He figures if he can get his grades up, he can eventually transfer to Notre Dame.

This film succeeds on every level, from the writing to the cinematography to the acting. The cast is stellar, and features such great character actors as Ned Beatty, Charles Dutton and Lili Taylor. But first and foremost is a young Sean Astin as Rudy. Astin is the son of John Astin and Patty Duke, and had quite a promising career at a very young age with films like “The Goonies” and “Rudy.” After that, he kind if languished in B movies and for the most part faded away. This was a shame because he was obviously a terrific actor.

Thankfully, he was finally put in the limelight recently with his Oscar-worthy (in my opinion) performance as Samwise Gamgee in the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy. I hope that this will have been the career making role that Rudy should have been for Astin. As good as everyone was in the Trilogy, his was the performance that I found to be the glue that held it all together. The transition his character goes through as each film unfolded was an acting tour-de-force and he deserves all the accolades that he can get. His performance in “Rudy” is no less impressive.

“Rudy” also had the good fortune to have the late Jerry Goldsmith touch in the way of a musical score. Often moving, this new DVD set offers up the soundtrack as a second disc. But that’s not all you get as there are a couple of extra features including a short Making of featurette and even shorter interview with Astin. The best feature offers look at the real Rudy Ruettiger, in part for its length (approx. 13 minutes), but more so the spirit of the piece.

This is one of the most inspiring sports movies I have ever seen, and that’s because its not so much about sports as it is the will to pull yourself up when your down and fight for your dreams. In this case, the dream just happens to be football.

Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Sean Astin, Ned Beatty, Lili Taylor, Robert Prosky, Charles Dutton
Extras: Featurette: Rudy, The Real Story, Original Featurette, Featurette: First Down with Sean Astin, Filmographies, Isolated Score, Bonus Trailers, CD Soundtrack
Specifications: Widescreen (1:85.1) Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby 2.0
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 8/24/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating:
Website

We'll give Rudy: Deluxe Edition an A.