Our first of two comedies that we'll be taking a look at this fall pits action-drama star Burt Reynolds against comedy legend Adam Sandler in the edgy role of Paul Crewe, an ex-pro football star turned convict and then forced by the warden to put a football team together to essentially be tackling dummies for the semi-pro team who double as the prison's cruel and intimidating guards.
But what the warden doesn't realize is that there's honor among THESE thieves as they put their lives on the gridiron line to get the respect they know they deserve.
Let the game begin!
DIRECTOR: Robert Aldrich vs. Peter Segal
Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a
production clerk at RKO Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script
clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an
associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the
early 1950s, and directed his first feature in 1953. Source: IMDb.com
Peter Segal, on the other hand, began his directorial career making TV movies until he decided to take on the third installment of the Naked Gun trilogy with Leslie Nielson. He continued his string of comedies working with Chris Farley, David Spade, and Eddie Murphy, ultimately teaming up with comedy superstar Adam Sandler for three consecutive films in the early 2000s, 50 First Dates, Anger Management, and The Longest Yard.
While I admit to not seeing any other movie of Aldrich's, his longer track record of Hollywood films far surpasses that of Segal's. Not to mention that most of Segal's comedies are funny, but mediocre. There isn't much to make you want to watch his movies again, creating a long-lasting impression....unless of course you consider the three Segal films that Sandler stars in better than an immediate string of films that starts to feel almost like Sandler has overstayed his welcome on the big screen.
One of the main differences between the two films in question that made me like the original better was the fact that the characters in the first film weren't just one-dimensional muscular meatheads. In fact, it is the guards and not the convicts that are the stereotypical, steroid-popping "thugs." I suppose it's good that they are because you aren't supposed to like them; you're supposed to root for the convicts.
WINNER: Original, Robert Aldrich
SCREENPLAY: Tracy Keenan Wynn vs. Sheldon Turner
The original film won a Golden Globe as being 1974's Best Picture in a comedy or musical. I wonder, though, how anyone could have classified it as such. While it had elements of light comedic scenes to break up the tense moments between Crewe and the warden in the bleak setting of a prison, I viewed the original as more of a drama than anything. I only found myself chuckling a couple times, where the remake had me genuinely laughing many times.
The two screenplays tell the exact same story. The remake even reuses several lines of dialog from the original as well as using a couple of the original classic rock songs. The one thing the remake does the best is fleshing out the characters a bit more, making the relationship between them seem like a more natural bond than the original's makeshift team.
Despite the original film winning Best Picture, I think it's more of a statement to how the original movie compared to the other nominees up for the award at that time, not a reflection of how much better it was than the remake more than 30 years later. In fact, the remake was much more entertaining. The setting felt more like a prison in the remake, the revenge factor more plausible because of the focus on character development, and the outcome more satisfying.
Some cool facts about the remake:
- I'm always a sucker for any big Hollywood film giving a shout out to anything Kansas related. So when one of the side characters trying out for the convict team mentions that he played football at Kansas State, to which Crewe is surprised and says "Yeah? With Coach Schneider?!," the other character says "No, Kansas State Penitentiary." In the original film, the school/prison was Oklahoma State.
- Chris Rock has the pleasure of reusing a popular one-liner from the movie Friday, one that Chris Tucker's character tells a neighborhood thug that loses a fight to Ice Cube's character: "You just got knocked the f--k out!"
- There is blatant product placement with McDonald's, as a supporting character's nickname is "Cheeseburger Eddie," played by the infamous Terry Crews, because he's always peddling their merchandise to other inmates.
WINNER: Remake, Sheldon Turner
CAST/ACTING: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, & Ed Lauter vs. Adam Sandler, James Cromwell, & William Fechtner
The one thing I've found most common between older movies and newer is the willingness to cast A-list actors as supporting actors to give the movie more depth, to help the lead-role actor carry the film. When movies were first popular, and apparently movies being made into the early 70s in this case, followed that same pattern. Older movies loved to focus on the lead actor(s) because, after all, they were the biggest stars during their time.
Burt Reynolds was excellent as the gritty Crewe, turning to alcohol and rebellion after he became "washed up" as a pro-football star and enjoyed making a scene and causing trouble. His character states in the movie that he has a sense of humor. But as I said earlier, people don't see Reynolds and immediately think "comedian." Most of his movies are action-dramas.
Reynolds was out of his element a little bit. And so was Eddie Albert who played the warden. Albert was most well-known for his leading role in the television series Green Acres. Instead of playing a likable farmer, he played his role as the sadistic ruler of the prison ward extremely well. Bernadette Peters, more famous for her roles in the theater, plays the warden's secretary and even Richard Kiel, who is most commonly recognized as the Bond villian Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker and would later star alongside Sandler in Happy Gilmore, got a spot with the supporting cast as a lovable, very large and inhumanly strong offensive lineman.
All things being equal, the actors playing the lead characters in the remake did just as well. Sandler, most often cast as quirky yet annoyingly likable, dipped his toes into his dark side without slipping so far away from his comedic background that it didn't appear unnatural.
But Sandler had something that Reynolds did not: a supporting cast whose relationships proved invaluable to the progression of the plot.
With fellow A-list actors and comedians like Chris Rock, Cloris Leachman (who was ridiculously hilarious in her small role as the warden's secretary), and Tracy Morgan as the leader of the small band of gay convicts. Also, the rapper Nelly plays a key role in the film as does former NFL Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin. Even former WWE/WWF superstars "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Goldberg have a chance to get in on the action.
While it could be argued that the acting isn't better in the remake, you can't say they didn't pack it full of well-known stars. As is true to form in every Adam Sandler movie, even Rob Schneider shows up in a small role at the end, restating his famous one-liner from Waterboy: "YOU CAN DOOOO EET!"
CAST WINNER: Remake; ACTING WINNER: Original
SCORE/MUSIC: Frank de Vol vs. Teddy Castellucci
Save for only a couple classic rock songs punctuated by Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special," the music in the original is almost non-existent.
The remake clearly wins with its use of combined hip-hop, techno, and classic rock tracks to get you pumped up when the football action on the field begins and the battle between the guards and convicts is accentuated because of the accompanying soundtrack.
Landslide victory here.
WINNER: Remake, Teddy Castellucci
The Longest Yard (1974):
- Rotten Tomatoes: 81% or 7.0/10 average rating
- IMDb.com: 7.1/10 from 12,497 users
- Metacritic: none
- Rotten Tomatoes: 31% or 4.8/10 average rating (although 62% of viewers liked it)
- IMDb.com: 6.4/10 from 120,136 users
- Metacritic: 48/100
Another case, just like the last entry with King Kong, the remake is the ultimate winner despite having better rankings on both rottentomatoes.com and IMDb.com. It really came down to the entertainment factor, and I just found myself yawning more than laughing during the 2-hour original film.
Perhaps if Reynolds would have kept his mustache. That's one helluva fine 'stache.
Even though the original won Best Picture for a comedy, the remake was funnier. Do you agree? Comment below and let's see what the consensus is!
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