Customer Reviews

The Game of Their Lives [VHS]

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.)

"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

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!

My 26 year old daughter and I drove 120 miles to Denver on a snowy Sunday to watch 2 movies, "Dear Frankie" and "The Game of Their Lives". We got out of the Game of their Lives movie at 9:30pm and still had to drive 120 miles home. Was it worth it, would I do it again? I have to say, "Definitely YES, YES, YES!!
I loved the camaraderie between the guys from "The Hill" in St. Louis. You can tell they have known each other all their lives, and that was how growing up in the 1950's was. I know nothing about soccer and have never gone to a game...but the story was so good...because it wasn't really about, how to play the game, but how to work as a team. What worked, for them, was that they all learned each others strengths and learned to depend on each other...there was no STAR Player. Hard work and treating each other as equals was what made the story great and it also won the game. The United States and all countries should watch this and learn what it takes to be a team and WIN The Game of OUR Lives.

I am not a soccer (football) fan, and admittedly, am definitely a Gerard Butler superfan, but this movie was very very good. It made me feel patriotic, and I have to admit, I teared up when they all got their uniforms from the military guy. The whole movie tho was shot so beautifully authentic with such a 1950's feel, and the game was awesome, especially with Gerry's great athleticism (not bad to look at all wet either, sorry guys). I was proud of our team through the wonderful wise and encouraging work of the two leaders coming together. Gerry Butler's Frank Borghi was definitely the performance that was the best. I am a little prejudiced, you think? Go see it, or rent it, or buy it. It is truly a classic.

A little know event in American sport history brought to the screen with heart and vigor. The soccer action is entertaining even for non-knowledgable viewers as no great attempt is made to indoctrinate you in the sport. The focus is instead on the great American team that pulled together to beat the best in the world on that one day in Brazil. Especially notable is Gerard Butler (The actor last seen as the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and as the Stranger in Dear Frankie)is outstanding as The goal keeper Frank Borghi. His heart and desire is evident as he paces -- panther like - in front of his goal and saves score after score from getting past him. Sports fan or not, this is a movie the whole family can watch and cheer the USA team on to victory.

I usually detest sports movies, but Gerard Butler was in this one, so I HAD to see it. I loved this movie and my husand enjoyed it too. It was exciting (without all the gung-ho, macho stuff), it was a true story, it was patriotic (these were real people who served their country), it was CLEAN. I wanted to share this movie with everyone, but it was gone. I want the DVD, but there isn't one available. Why? Why?

I normally hate sports films because they are so formulaic. Put together an improbable team, put them up against real killers, throw in a few obstacles and make it look like there's no way they can win, and then have a nice little miracle at the end. So I should have really hated this one. But I didn't.

What kept me from hating it was the fact that the story is true, and I came away feeling that the men whose story is told here deserved to have their day in the sun. Many of them served their country, some at great cost. Not only did they play their hearts out when they shouldn't have had a hope of winning, but many of them were already heroes, having served their country in the second World War. We don't talk enough about people like that, people who have honor and heart.

And there are some fine performances to talk about. I'd love to mention all of them because there truly weren't any bad performances, even though they didn't have much to work with in terms of character development. Gerard Butler once again rose above the material, as did Wes Bentley. I'm always happy to see my home town boy Zachary Ty Brian at work, and even though Patrick Stewart and John Rhys Davies didn't have a lot to work with, I just love seeing them in anything.

Anyway, kudos to the men who really played and won this game. You deserve to be honored.

This movie is worth seeing in that it tells a story and sticks to the point. The acting is so natural and credible that one is taken back to 1950. Additionally, the 1950s aura is beautifully evoked--no detail was missed in depicting the time of the event in question. Gerard Butler delivers once again. The man has a gift for taking the most ordinary words or lines and making them special. Also, Patrick Stewart and John Rhys-Davies do not disappoint. Not being a soccer fan, I wondered how I would view this picture, but, as the story developed, I became involved and truly enjoyed it. At the end of the picture, with the American team's triumph, my daughter and I cheered and clapped. The surprise at the end is a bit of history. Again, a fine, tight movie.

My husband and I thought the movie was very good and gave a good representation of what the team and individuals went through in order to participate in this first World Cup. It also showed the pride the Italian American community in St Louis had for their adopted country. We felt it was great that the actors could do a lot of their own soccor playing and was a great added bonus. Made the movie even more real. The performance of Gerard Butler as Frank was far and above the best performance in the movie.