Product Details

• Actors: Gerard Butler, Wes Bentley, Jay Rodan, Gavin Rossdale, Costas Mandylor
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JNWH

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The writing-directing team of Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh tries to do for soccer what their films Hoosiers and Rudy did for, respectively, basketball and football. Here's another true story, a legendary upset in the early days of the World Cup. In 1950, America hastily forms a team to play against the world. We center on a tight Italian community in St. Louis providing the bulk of the national team. We meet GQ-ready stars led by goalie Frank Borgi (The Phantom of the Opera's Gerald Butler, deftly handling the duties). This brotherhood of players is unfortunately strapped to play off clichés and the movie never really engages us beyond the autumn-tinged scenery. A big part of the blame goes to the narrator telling us what we should be feeling (perhaps because we dumb Americans don't know soccer, er, football, like the rest of the world). No fault in the performance of the narrator/journalist (played by Patrick Stewart as the elder, Terry Kinney as the younger) or the rest of the cast. Perhaps the game is elusive to cinematic grandeur, (how many memorable soccer movies can you name?), but the movie is also tired and slow, something those earlier sports films were not. There's only a brief stirring when the earnest Gino (Louis Mandylor) has a wedding-date conflict and as the most famous English player of the day, Stanley Mortenson (Gavin Rossdale), patronizes the Americans in a public speech. Perhaps the studio knew they had a cellar dweller; the film was barely released and retitled for home video echoing the moniker of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Soccer kids will enjoy the film, but others better stick to Geoffrey Douglas's book, The Game of Their Lives, the film's original title (and mistakenly left on the end credits). --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's all about the journey..., April 23, 2005

By 

K. Cooley (WA) - See all my reviews
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THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES was a very good movie. It was a very good movie that I think could've been a great movie.

There really isn't any need for spoilers because it is a sports movie--and sports movies have happy, victorious endings about 99% of the time. But this story isn't really about the ending--which any viewer could predict--it is more about a team coming together at the last minute and working to form cohesion and camaraderie while facing unbeatable odds.

When the US World Cup team was formed, it was mainly comprised of 2 groups, the players from St. Louis' "Hill" and the "East Coasters." A lot of these men had played soccer well, but not professionally. They were men with other jobs like a mailman, undertakers, and a dish washer. The 2 groups had different styles to overcome and each had its own leader: Frank Borghi (Gerard Butler) led the men from the Hill and Walter Bahr (Wes Bentley) led the East Coasters. I really enjoyed these two characters. The film did an excellent job of showing their effort to create a sense of team spirit in a very limited amount of time.

There are plenty of colorful characters in the film, which strengthened the point of how they were all plucked from their lives for a mere 3 weeks to head down to Brazil and play their hearts out. There was Pee Wallace (who is afraid to fly) and Gino Pariani--who are known as a lethal combo on the field or "pitch." There's Charlie Colombo and Joe Gatjaens--Charlie who wears gloves for every game and Joe--a Haitian--who turns cartwheels and shows infectious optimism. There's Harry Keough, the young mailman learning Spanish at home so he can converse with his girlfriend.

Many of these men were veterans. Many of them had been awarded during the service and several had had psychological after effects from WWII. Perhaps it was because of having served their country in that capacity that they felt the patriotism necessary to give their game that extra "umph." The film gives you just enough of their personal lives to get to know them and spends the majority of its time on the team after it has been formed but before the legendary game. The ending is somewhat abrupt--I felt--in that the second the game is over, so is the movie. You get the obligatory reintroduction of the characters by showing the actual men (now aged and few) who were on the team, but I wish there had been something--even a paragraph that appeared on the screen--that gave the audience some closure with these players with which we had invested the last 90 minutes.

Overall, however, it was very enjoyable and interesting.

(P.S. To those die-hard Gerry Butler fans--you'll enjoy the scenery a lot.)

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES: Just the right feel for the 1950's----, April 25, 2005

By 

M. J. Ward "mojane" (Heartland Of The USA) - See all my reviews
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"The Game Of Their Lives" lives up to expectations as a exciting underdog sports movie. I loved it. Saw it in a theater with only 3 other people - at noon, on a Monday, raining - but it didn't matter because I was engaged and wrapped up in the 1950's story of a bunch of ordinary guys who did something extraordinary.

Based on a real event with real, still living, people it is about heros of WWII who came home and went about their lives until asked to form a team for the World Cup Soccer matches. They have only weeks and decide to get some players from the east coast and some from one area of St. Louis, MO. from the Italian enclave known as The Hill.

Frank Borghi (Gerard Butler) is the goalie and a leader of the group. The challenge is to get the whole group to pull together and mesh the different styles to make a team that may make a good showing. They don't expect to win as most of the teams they will play are more or less professionals and/or have played together for years.

The soccer playing is exciting even for this old gal who knows little about the game. The cinematography is very good and keeps the pace of the game and shots of the crowds and sports announcers ticking along and by the end when time runs out on the English players, and the Americans have won this great upset, I was ready to cheer too.

I disagree with most of the reviews I have read. This is a good sports movie and the performances and pacing are as good as "Rudy" or any other underdog film.

One thing I loved was the look of the people and homes and cars. It was the 1950's again and the music I danced to was just right. One for my movie collection. 4/5

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timeless film..., July 7, 2005

By 

Travel Girl 77 (Monterey, CA USA) - See all my reviews

The Game of Their Lives is no huge flashy, special effects, blockbuster film, but neither were the men who were members of the 1950 US Soccer Team whose lives are portrayed here. They were simply family men - an undertaker, mailman, etc. who were unknowns, playing a sport in 1950 dominated by the English. Most of the members of the team were raised in St. Louis on "the Hill" and played soccer on weekends.

Gerard Butler stars as the goalie and leader of the group, Frank Borghi, and if you are a fan of Gerry's, you will love his try at an Italian-American-St. Louis accent (the man also looks great in a pair of shorts). Wes Bentley plays Walter Bahr a player from the east coast. Bahr and Borghi are the glue that keeps the team together, and with their leadership, beat England 1-0 in a first round 1950 World Cup game.

There are side stories as we get to know the other players - one who is afraid to fly, another who moves his wedding date to be able to go to Brazil to compete and yet another who is recruited late for the team, but is adaptable to the different styles of his teammates.

After seeing the movie, I bought the book by Geoffrey Douglas and read it with great interest. It provides more of an insight into what happened to all these players after their amazing win. Something the film lacks.

This is a nice family movie that I recommend to any sports fan and any Gerard Butler fan!