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Film credit

Burt Reynolds

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Episodes featuring their films
1
Movies in this archive
1

Mentioned in discussions

Rollerball poster
Rollerball

Recasting Couch

Rollerball The Rewatchables

Gene Hackman is proposed as the coach; Burt Reynolds and Warren Beatty are considered for Jonathan.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:01Read transcript
  • Gene Hackman is proposed as a stronger choice for the Houston coach.
  • Burt Reynolds is considered for Jonathan because of his athleticism and swagger, though Caan is preferred.
  • Robert Redford is rejected as insufficiently credible for the violent athletic role.
  • Warren Beatty is considered a plausible alternate lead because of his athletic credibility.
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

Producer review

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

The producer addendum praises the football and final forty minutes, finds the first hour dated, admires the older stars’ natural presence, wants a stronger final speech, and argues Crewe should have thrown the game.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:01Read transcript
  • The producer had only seen and enjoyed the Adam Sandler remake before this viewing.
  • He finds the final forty minutes highly rewatchable but the opening hour visibly fifty years old.
  • The real football players and wide staging make the game convincing.
  • Reynolds, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, and Brando are contrasted with more manicured modern stars.
  • Reynolds’s quiet, still star power is described as nearly extinct.
  • The football includes credible reverses, sneaks, and a back-shoulder pass.
  • The addendum wanted more than roughly fifteen words from Crewe’s final speech.
  • The producer argues Crewe should have thrown the game and left prison after eighteen months.
  • Norm Macdonald’s Saturday Night Live impression shaped his first understanding of Burt Reynolds.
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

Who Won the Movie?

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

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.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Burt Reynolds
Speaker not identified
Burt Reynolds

Best Double Feature

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard
Poster unavailable
Smokey and the Bandit
Poster unavailable
North Dallas Forty
Poster unavailable
Slap Shot
Poster unavailable
Heaven Can Wait
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:18Read transcript
  • Smokey and the Bandit is proposed as a Burt Reynolds charisma pairing.
  • North Dallas Forty is the leading same-era football pairing.
  • Slap Shot and Heaven Can Wait are additional 1970s sports options.
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

Apex Mountain

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

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.
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

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 Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

“You’ve come too far to stop now” leads nominees including the broken-neck line, Crewe’s sense-of-humor line, and the gun-turret reply.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:21Read transcript
  • The final huddle’s come-too-far line is the leading quote.
  • The line about a player having broken his neck is another prominent nominee.
  • Crewe saying people keep him around for his sense of humor is offered as a summary of Burt Reynolds’s appeal.
  • Knauer’s answer that fifteen gun turrets explain the warden’s command is nominated.
The Longest Yard poster
The Longest Yard

What’s Aged the Best?

The Longest Yard The Rewatchables

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 Player poster
The Player

Half-Assed Internet Research

The Player The Rewatchables

Production accounts cover the actors’ boundaries, improvisation, and Altman’s rationale for the film’s nudity.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:43Read transcript
  • Greta Scacchi reportedly negotiated limits on nudity.
  • Burt Reynolds reportedly improvised material during the opening shot.
  • Altman reportedly explained Cynthia Stevenson’s nude scene as part of exposing Hollywood’s power imbalance.
  • A Paul Newman anecdote is quoted to illustrate performers negotiating exposure and control.
The Player poster
The Player

Most Rewatchable Scene

The Player The Rewatchables

The opening tracking shot wins over the party, Rialto murder, Habeas Corpus pitch and ending, awards speech, and Pasadena interrogation.

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:47Read transcript
  • The 7:47 opening tracking shot is nominated and ultimately selected.
  • The opening includes Buck Henry pitching The Graduate Part II.
  • The opening’s rapid movie-pitch mashups are praised.
  • Fred Ward discussing Touch of Evil while admitting gaps in his movie knowledge is praised.
  • The large party where Sidney Pollack appears is nominated.
  • The Burt Reynolds party exchange is praised.
  • Griffin confronting David Kahane at the Rialto and the ensuing murder are nominated.
  • The hotel-pool Habeas Corpus pitch is nominated.
  • Griffin’s generic black-tie speech about movies as art is nominated.
  • The one-year-later Habeas Corpus ending with Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis is nominated.
  • The final in-car pitch of The Player and Griffin’s homecoming are nominated.
  • The Pasadena interrogation with Lyle Lovett and Whoopi Goldberg is nominated.
  • Whoopi Goldberg’s tampon exchange is highlighted.
  • The lineup scene and Whoopi Goldberg’s pressure on the witness are praised.
Displaying discussions 1 - 12 of 14 in total

Films in the archive

The Longest Yard

1974

Rewatchables episodes featuring their films

The Longest Yard poster

The Longest Yard

1974 film

Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Van Lathan

Aired June 19, 2024

Displaying 1 episode