Rudy (1993, PG)

One byproduct of getting into The Lord of the Rings again was a renewed interest in some of the fantastic actors from the trilogy.  With Sean Astin, I realized he’s had three big, really iconic roles, and I’d only seen one of them, so I figured I’d better remedy that.  Rudy today, and before too long, I’ll get around to The Goonies as well (which I know I’ve seen parts of, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched it all the way through.)

“Rudy” Reuttiger has been dreaming of playing football for Notre Dame ever since he was a kid, and ever since he was a kid, people have been telling him it’s impossible – he’s too small for one thing, but that’s only the first in a list of roadblocks.  However, Rudy is nothing if not tenacious, and as a young man, he sets out, bound and determined to make his dream a reality.  By turns encountering new obstacles and unlikely allies, Rudy works, sweats, and claws his way closer and closer to that dream.

I’ve always known the basics of the plot – inspirational sports movie, little guy wants to play football – but there’s a fair amount involved here that I didn’t know about.  Rudy’s issue is a lot more than just his size.  Getting into Notre Dame at all, given his working-class means and mediocre-at-best grades, is a huge challenge, and long before Rudy is even able to try out for the team, he has to fight just to get his foot in the door at the school.  I like that, that he’s fighting obstacles on pretty much every side, and I appreciate his all but indefatigable hope in the face of people trying to talk him out of his goal, even if his gung-ho-ness and naivete reach ridiculous levels at more than one point.

It’s an enjoyable film with a somewhat hokey-yet-rootable hero, and it mostly manages to keep the inspirational sentimentality just at the edge of tolerance.  It leans toward saccharine at times but generally pulls itself back before things get too cheesy.  As much as the film cheers on determined, earnest Rudy tilting at windmills, it also acknowledges that he’s a lot to take and is able to poke a little necessary fun at him when it needs to.  (Side note:  this film has crystalized my awareness that a lot of sports movies are actually really sappy.  For all that people can look down on “chick flicks” for being schmaltzy, movies like Miracle, Field of Dreams, and yes, definitely Rudy, don’t shy away from tearjerking moments.  Clearly, there very much is crying in baseball, and football, and boxing, etc… Interesting – does it speak to guys’ desire to connect to strong emotion despite toxic masculinity teaching them to bury such things?)

The movie owes a lot to Sean Astin’s performance in the title role.  His Rudy is endearing – scrappy and relentless, drawing deep from a near-boundless well of enthusiasm – as well as a little ridiculous – more than a little clueless and over-earnest at times – and Astin finds the balance there.  Also featured are Lili Taylor (Lisa from Six Feet Under,) Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughan in a very early role, and Charles S. Dutton, who’s mostly able to avoid the Magical Negro trope and stick with Tough-Love Surrogate Father Figure.

Warnings

A little swearing, drinking, and football violence.