The invited producer was not alive for the 1980 game, was 10 when the movie came out, and has seen it a couple of times.
The floor for sports movies is really high, and with a story this good the movie is really up there among sports movies. — Chris Ryan
Remember the Titans remains the favorite, with the Will Patton speech.
The filming of the real hits into the boards is unbelievable, raising how it was planned; the reply is that liberties were few, such as a slashing penalty.
The Joey Pants award needs a younger-generation version, since picks like Noah Emmerich are that guys to people in their 20s and 30s; it is called a really fair point.
Kurt Russell: no. His apex is the Tango & Cash / Escape from L.A. era leading to Tombstone, where he had the most juice; Escape from New York is his best. — Bill Simmons
The P&E Agrodome apex is still Rocky 4, where Stallone broke his ribs and filming stopped for two weeks. — Bill Simmons
Al Michaels: 1980 no, but 2004 yes, when as the voice of Monday Night Football at the pinnacle of his powers he came back to voice Miracle. — Bill Simmons
Jokes about Michaels later working with Collinsworth and Collinsworth calling the 1980 game. — Bill Simmons
Sports Illustrated peaked in 1980, not the movie, when the covers meant the most, and this cover arguably was its apex. — Bill Simmons
For evil mute Russian sports-movie villains, Drago versus the hockey coach: the movie does not give enough of the coach to make him a villain. — Bill Simmons
Opening-credits 1970s history lesson; real hockey players in the roles; Bill Ranford in goal; Al Michaels re-recording his call; Michaels' game intro; keeping O.C. on the team; the Russians' style of play; Noah Emmerich; the BUM stuff; "He doesn't know what to do"; Dream On
The opening credits history lesson on the 1970s (Watergate, the gas shortage) is liked, though it asks whether the fall of Saigon relates to a hockey game; the Carter malaise speech is an important piece. — Bill Simmons
Casting hockey players instead of actors, because it is easier to teach hockey players to act, makes you believe you are watching them really do it. — Bill Simmons
Bill Ranford, a longtime goalie who played for the Bruins, is essentially Jim Craig under the equipment, the one organic place to cheat. — Bill Simmons
Realism is not always needed (Teen Wolf, Stallone as an arm wrestler), but it helped here. — Bill Simmons
Having Al Michaels redo his audio so he narrates the third act is an incredible wrinkle; the last seconds use his real, higher-pitched call. — Bill Simmons
Michaels' underrated intro to the game ("two teams on a sheet of frozen ice in Lake Placid") would have signaled history was about to happen. — Chris Ryan
The decision to let O.C. play is both a great scene and a good job by Herb Brooks, since there were only 20 spots and most coaches probably would have cut him. — Bill Simmons
The Russians played like a different sport in their use of space, and Herb wanted a hybrid of Russian and Canadian styles and to go right at them. — Bill Simmons
Noah Emmerich as Craig Patrick is added; this and Beautiful Girls are called his Apex Mountain combo, though for most of the movie he seems like a glorified water guy. — Bill Simmons
The BUM stuff was awesome, and a favorite little moment is late in the third period when Herb Brooks does not know what to do. — Chris Ryan
Dream On in the closing credits is recalled as something that belonged in the aged-best category. — Bill Simmons
