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The Longest Yard poster

The Longest Yard

year 1974decade 70sdirector Robert Aldrichgenre Sportsgenre Comedy

121 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Burt Reynolds Paul "Wrecking" Crewe
Eddie Albert Warden Rudolph Hazen
Ed Lauter Captain Wilhelm Knauer
Michael Conrad Nate Scarboro
Jim Hampton James "Caretaker" Farrell
Harry Caesar "Granny" Granville
Mike Henry Lieutenant Rasmussen
Jim Nicholson "Ice Man"

The Longest Yard | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Van Lathanproducer Craig Horlbeckproducer Gahauproducer Jack theme 70s Sports Movie Month
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Most Rewatchable Scene

The opening car chase, warden meeting, swamp punishment, team-building passages, Caretaker conversation, and the football game are nominated; the full game, especially its huddles and comeback, is the strongest choice.

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:05Read transcript
  • The opening car chase and arrest are praised for making Paul Crewe reckless enough to justify prison.
  • Crewe dumping the car and joking that he could not find a car wash caps the chase.
  • The warden meeting is praised for its escalating power play and Eddie Albert performance.
  • The swamp push-up punishment works despite being a long sequence that might easily have stalled the movie.
  • The first practice and library confrontation help show the prisoners choosing to join the team.
  • The injury seminar and Caretaker drinking scene lead into Crewe’s guarded account of shaving points.
  • The first half supplies memorable threats, football violence, and comic beats.
  • Crewe’s deliberate interceptions, fumbled handoff, fake injury, and teammates moving away make his betrayal painful.
  • Pop’s answer that punching Hazen was worth thirty years motivates Crewe to return.
  • The comeback includes Nate’s touchdown and injury, a reverse, a long fourth-down conversion, and a tackle-eligible play.
  • The final drive shows fourth down, seven seconds left, Crewe walking to the bench, and the crowd going quiet.
  • Crewe’s brief huddle speech invokes Granville, Nate, and Caretaker before the winning touchdown.
  • The goal-line score uses a freeze and multiple reaction angles to land the win.
  • The apparent threat that Crewe will be shot sustains the dark tone before he returns the game ball.
  • The entire game is treated as one rewatchable unit, with the huddles alone telling its emotional story.
  • The training and injury montages are added as alternate choices.

What’s Aged the Best?

Burt Reynolds’s athletic movie-star performance, the sports realism, split-screen game coverage, car chase, period styling, Caretaker twist, and decision not to kill Crewe receive the strongest praise.

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:38Read transcript
  • A giant movie star leading a sports film is praised as a model that has become rare.
  • The ashtray, cigarettes, radio football call, and gray leisure suit immediately establish the 1970s setting.
  • The split-screen game coverage is praised for introducing a new visual grammar late in the movie without breaking immersion.
  • The car chase benefits from the long skids and less precise handling of a 1973 Maserati.
  • Anitra Ford’s look is treated as specifically evocative of the mid-1970s.
  • The observed Ed Loudder is praised for a résumé spanning several sports movies.
  • Michael Conrad’s later Hill Street Blues presence is noted.
  • Using an announcer inside the sports movie is credited as a device later films repeated.
  • Caretaker’s ability to obtain steroids, vitamins, and stimulants is treated as funny period detail.
  • The very wide photography and multi-picture design are praised as theatrical choices.
  • Caretaker’s murder is called both devastating and an effective story turn that keeps prison danger present.
  • The decision to replace an ending where Crewe was shot preserves the movie’s satisfying resolution.
  • Burt Reynolds’s dismissive later account of the remake is treated as evidence of his cranky persona.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Crewe’s failure to explain the warden’s Caretaker-murder threat to the team is the weak link.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:48Read transcript
  • The panel argues that the prisoners likely would have accepted losing if Crewe explained the threat of a murder frame.
  • If Crewe throws the game, the teammates he betrays could ruin him for the rest of his prison time.
  • Unger’s obvious guilt and Crewe’s bond with Caretaker make the warden’s frame threat seem less credible.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The opening domestic violence, Bernadette Peters styling, repeated warden reaction shot, remake’s eclipse of the original, smelling salts, and football brutality age poorly.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:05Read transcript
  • The opening domestic violence is called harsh and jarring.
  • Bernadette Peters’s beehive styling is criticized.
  • The same shocked-warden reaction appears to be repeated from multiple angles during the game.
  • The remake is criticized for stealing recognition from a film the panel regards as already complete.
  • Smelling salts for injured players are treated as an outdated response to likely concussions.
  • Old receiver alignments are one of the few football details that visibly differ from the modern game.
  • Brass knuckles and deliberate injury tactics are treated as unacceptable football equipment and strategy.

Is There a Better Title for This Movie?

Mean Machine is proposed, but The Longest Yard is defended for revealing its meaning only near the end.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:07Read transcript
  • Mean Machine is the only direct alternate title.
  • The original title is praised for joining the football yard and prison yard meanings.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Burt Reynolds is called the greatest car-chase driver; alternate takes read the film as a story about America and speculate that Crewe fathers a child in prison.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:15Read transcript
  • Burt Reynolds is argued to be the greatest performer at driving while being chased.
  • Steve McQueen and Ryan Gosling are considered as alternatives.
  • The movie is read as a story about Americans from different backgrounds uniting through football and hatred of authority.
  • A deliberately speculative take imagines that the secretary becomes pregnant after the encounter with Crewe.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

The performer playing Unger wins over James Hampton, Ed Lauter, and Harry Caesar.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:54Read transcript
  • James Hampton is considered a That Guy for most listeners despite his familiar Teen Wolf role.
  • The observed Ed Lauder is considered too identifiable by name by part of the panel.
  • Harry Caesar is proposed because Granville is more memorable than the actor’s name.
  • Unger wins because the panel does not know the actor’s name but would recognize him as Unger.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Announcer Michael Fox wins over Bernadette Peters, Shockner, Pop, the warden’s sidekick, and the Citrus State cheerleaders.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:59Read transcript
  • Bernadette Peters is nominated for intensifying sharply in her second scene.
  • Shockner, Pop, the warden’s sidekick, and the cheerleaders are alternate short-role candidates.
  • Michael Fox wins because his announcer commentary is both memorable and self-written.

Apex Mountain

Smokey and the Bandit is Burt Reynolds’s contemporary apex, while The Longest Yard is argued as his retrospective best work; other apexes include the film among football movies and the 1974 Maserati.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:22Read transcript
  • Smokey and the Bandit is selected as Burt Reynolds’s commercial apex.
  • The Longest Yard is proposed as a retrospective apex because it remains among his most memorable films.
  • Eddie Albert, Michael Conrad, James Hampton, and Harry Caesar receive career-context discussion.
  • The Longest Yard is selected as the best football movie over a large field of alternatives.
  • The 1974 Maserati receives an immediate vehicle apex.
  • Saturday Night Special is considered for movie-song apex and compared with its use in Blue Collar.
  • The observed Anacott/Anacoste Steel reference remains more closely associated with Wall Street.
  • The movie is jokingly tested against other notorious West Palm Beach incidents.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A basketball remake about a disgraced NBA star leading prisoners against guards is proposed.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:14Read transcript
  • Basketball is proposed as the sport for a new remake fifty years later.
  • The recruiting sequence would seek European or Serbian prisoners as needed specialists.
  • Edward Norton’s American History X character is jokingly proposed for the opposing prison group.

Is This Movie Better With…?

The Hanson Brothers are selected from a list of stock additions.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:10Read transcript
  • Wayne Jenkins, the observed Danny Treos and Sam Jackson, J.T. Walsh, and the observed Philip Bicker Hall are among the proposed additions.
  • The Hanson Brothers win because they could add iconic football-team and hot-box scenes.
  • The observed Byron Mayo, Harley Mays, evil-laughing Ramon, and Raymond are also proposed as stock additions.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Nate’s prison-survival speech and Caretaker’s explanation of football’s meaning are selected.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:31Read transcript
  • One lesson says prison cannot beat a man’s courage and manhood out of him.
  • Another lesson explains that point shaving violated the meaning prisoners invest in football.
  • That lesson sets up Crewe’s refusal to sell out the team again.

Who Won the Movie?

Burt Reynolds wins; producer Albert S. Ruddy receives an alternate case.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:33Read transcript
  • Burt Reynolds is the clear and repeated winner choice.
  • Ruddy gets an alternate winner case for the foresight to unite Aldrich, Reynolds, the story, and a no-holds-barred tone.
  • Ruddy’s long career through The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby strengthens the alternate case.
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