I’ve watched Rudy as a guilty pleasure numerous times since its 1993 release. Technically, Rudy is an average movie that plays on typical sports cliches and manipulates the heartstrings as much as any sports movie I can think of, but I still enjoy it because it’s not really a pure sports movie. It’s about an average guy who has an impossible dream and pursues it relentlessly.

Just getting this movie made fulfilled a dream that the real Rudy Ruettiger had. Even though the Internet Movie Database doesn’t give him any credit, Ruettiger’s persistent desire to get this film made backs the entire project and is an even more remarkable story than the one about Sly Stallone’s efforts to film the original Rocky.

Imagine knocking on Hollywood producers’ doors with this crazy idea of telling the story of a Notre Dame football player who played for just one play at the end of a game. Then imagine convincing a screenwriter to pen the story when the screenwriter is a Purdue man who hates Notre Dame and has sworn that he’d never write another Indiana sports movie after writing Hoosiers. Then imagine convincing Notre Dame University to allow on campus filming of this football story when they had turned down every single other proposal for filming on campus since The Knute Rockne Story in 1939.

That’s essentially what the real Rudy Ruettiger did, and he did this without money. All he had was an idea and a dream. I’ve heard him tell this story two times now, as Ruettiger has now hit the motivational speaker circuit after the movie’s release and has written a book called Rudy’s Rules. He may not be the most polished speaker you’ve ever heard, but there is no doubt that this is a guy who will run through brick walls while chasing a dream.

A success pattern

And that’s what this movie is about although at times it looks like Rudy is a guy who enjoys running into brick walls on the practice field. Rudy’s pursuit is also something that most everyone can relate to because there’s some “Rudy” in all of us. There’s some dream that we either had or continue to strive for, and this film demonstrates a pattern for achieving it.

The pattern sounds like a success formula that you can read in countless business books:
1. Have a dream
2. Find mentors
3. Set goals
4. Make a plan and stick to it despite the obstacles
5. Continue to re-inforce your dream by having close contact with it
6. Enjoy the journey
7. Never, never, never, never quit!

This could be a rather dry formula, but Rudy makes the formula concrete and brings it to life enjoyably through a competent script and through an effective ensemble cast, highlighted by Sean Astin as Rudy and Charles Dutton as Fortune, the outwardly gruff janitor with the heart of gold.


Synopsis

Based on Ruettiger’s true life story, Rudy is the kid who never does well in school but works extra hard at football, leading his high school team in tackles despite being one of its smallest players. Growing up as a Catholic in the industrial city of Joliet, Illinois, Rudy’s one dream is to one day play football for Notre Dame. This appears to be nothing more than a pipe dream at first because Rudy has dyslexia, and he would have difficulty even making a community college football team.

At home almost no one supports him with this dream—his father (Ned Beatty) and brother (Scott Benjaminson) make light of it, his girlfriend (Lili Taylor) only wants to settle down and get married, and his history teacher thinks that it’s ridiculous. Only Rudy’s friend Pete (Christopher Reed) has ever believed in him since they were small boys listening to a Knute Rockne locker room recording to their post high school years in the steel plant when Pete presents Rudy with a Notre Dame jacket that “he was born to wear.”

Life could have continued with Rudy fantasizing about what “could have been” until Pete dies in a factory accident. Suddenly, Rudy embarks seriously on his quest and takes off for South Bend, Indiana. As expected, the road will not be easy, but Rudy does find a group of people to help him achieve his goal. Father Cavenaugh (Robert Prosky) supplies wisdom and connections to the local junior college, D-Bob (Jon Favreau) provides the necessary one-on-one tutoring, and Fortune supplies the occasional kick in the butt that Rudy needs to keep himself on track. Even Coach Ara Parsegian, played by Jason Miller supplies some support without resorting to flashing back to his Exorcist role and throwing holy water on Rudy.

From the opening scenes where we hear young Rudy declare that he’s going to play football for Notre Dame, we know the eventual outcome. Still, the journey and buildup pay off big time and never fail to bring a lump in my throat and cause a few tears to well up in my eyes. But there’s a bigger story that you’ll see in the credits that you may not anticipate. Be sure to read them closely and you’ll see the larger purpose behind making this film, and it’s a whole lot bigger than the idea of running out on that field for one play.


What works

For me the main reason that Rudy works as well as it does is that it’s actually based on a real life story and is relatable. Few of us are given the physique and skills that it takes to compete in athletics at a major university, much less a legendary football factory like Notre Dame. But each one of us is a “Rudy” in one form or another; thus, we can all place ourselves in Rudy’s shoes. The screenwriter Angelo Pizzo basically takes an ordinary man’s life and turns it into an everyman’s extraordinary drama by adding just a few embellishments, but essentially this is the true story of a determined and focussed young man.

While I can’t claim that the acting demonstrates greatness, Astin has a naivete that engages us as he pursues his quest and many of the supporting characters supply necessary content. My favorite is the head groundskeeper, Fortune, who shakes some reality into Rudy just as he’s about to give up on his dream with this advice:

“You're five foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have nearly a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football team in the land for two years. And you're getting a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself.”

Maybe that’s why I love this movie so, and perhaps why my high school students loved it so. You don’t have to be a jock or a football player to relate to this movie. After all, Rudy certainly wasn’t much of a football player. But if you have a desire to succeed at anything, and dream of things that even your own friends and family think crazy, this film provides hope because we see a real person persevere and succeed.

As Rudy’s friend Pete says, “It’s dreams that make life tolerable.” And despite its predictable denouement and expected schmaltz, Rudy continues to make life seem a little better.




Note: The DVD version has an excellent feature with the real Rudy describing some biographical elements of the film, and you can sense how emotional his childhood dream was for him

This is a small portion of a sports movie write off. I urge you to check out these other fine writers for their reviews: Amylensor, awoolcott, bigjack, driver4t5, fm_hunter, foxfroggy, hhire, j3nny3lf , jennifer_gibbons, joubert, katetpz, kinganamort, kingjfs, roadiem, and soxfan




Recommended: Yes