Product Details

• Actors: Adam Michael Gayheart, Dave Irwin, Joe Paterno, Danny Studer, Ellery Moore
• Directors: Kenneth A. Carlson
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: September 24, 2002
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006ADER
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,067 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Go Tigers!" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

High school football rules in Massillon, Ohio. In this blue-collar community, dubbed "Touchdown Town" in a 1951 newsreel, the Washington High Tigers are a cradle-to-grave passion. Team boosters visit maternity wards and bestow footballs to newborn "little Tigers." A mortician offers customers Tiger theme caskets. This winning documentary, ranked by ESPN.com as among the six best sports documentaries of all time, chronicles the Tigers' pivotal 1999 season--its 106th!--in which the team's success or failure on the field could impact an upcoming tax levy to save the town's beleaguered schools. Filmmaker and Massillon native Kenneth Carlson is no mere cheerleader. He tackles the touchy issue of priorities (some parents hold promising eighth graders back so they will be bigger and stronger) and the town's Stepfordian devotion to the team that put it on the map ("Conform or be destroyed," states one disaffected youth). More inspiring are the profiles of the team's three captains, in whom one can see the positive role football plays in their lives. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

Welcome to Massillon, Ohio, where high school football is nothing short of religion. For the 33,000 people who live there, football is life--a veritable "cradle to the grave" experience that begins in the maternity ward where coaches make visits to scout

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Documentary, September 29, 2001

By 

K. Daman "kydamans" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a very, very well put together documentary about the seriousness of football in small town Ohio. The movie follows the senior season for three star football players from Massollin (Washington) High School, located one hour from Cleveland. The lives of the players off the field are also presented quite realistically, with discussions of teenage drinking, high school partying, college aspirations, failed ACT's, etc.

Having grown up in small town Kentucky, where basketball is king, I could relate to many of the issues illuminated during the movie. The intensity of the coaches, fans, principal and school superintendent was expected. The language, locker room shouting, recruiting allegations, and other pregame activity is not surprising. What was a bit disturbing is that the football players are placed under a great deal of pressure to "save the community" due to the financial woes of the school system. (Considering the money that is poured into this program, it is a small wonder that the school system is in financial jeopardy!)

If you enjoyed "Hoop Dreams," you will love this movie. It is rated "R," for good reason, but both men and women will find it engaging.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grrrrrrrrr 8, September 29, 2006

By 

El Lagarto (Sandown, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Go Tigers! (DVD)

Go Tigers! is a wonderful, and wonderfully deceptive, movie. When viewed casually it flies by like an NFL highlights reel, slick, glossy, beautifully photographed, and expertly edited. These are universally familiar images, the great touchdown pass, the banks of lights, players banging into each other in testosterone-fueled euphoric celebration. Then you stop to remember. This is a documentary about high school football, and even more importantly, precisely what high school football means in Massillon, Ohio. (Turns out it determines the future of the school system!)

Go Tigers! is the brainchild of Ken Carlson, he wrote, directed, and produced - and, as luck would have it, he's from Massillon. This makes his achievement even more remarkable because the one attribute that dominates this movie is how even-handed and fair it is.

Movies in this genre fall into two groups, either they are love-struck anthems honoring the virtues of sportsmanship and its inspiring way of embodying all that is noble about life - or - they are supercilious indictments of the anti-intellectual hod-carriers and Neanderthals that brutalize each other instead of pursuing worthwhile activities - translating Proust into Sanskrit for example.

Massillon, Ohio is football crazy by any standard, but Carlson never takes cheap shots, he doesn't laugh at his subject, nor does he idealize it, he simply presents it. This is the very hard work of a documentary, and Carlson succeeds.

Where Friday Night Lights gave us a grotesque portrait of the psychological, and physical, damage done by football mania in Texas, Go Tigers! calmly introduces us to a funeral director presenting the "Obie Special," a deluxe coffin souped up to warm the cold dead heart of even the most rabid Tigers fan. The film counts on you to do the math for yourself.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kenneth Carlson's, Go Tigers., September 2, 2002

By 

David Goodall (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Go Tigers! (DVD)

"Go Tigers." A film that follows the lives of three high school football players through an eventful season. Although there is an exciting football story line, the main focus is on the people in the town of Massillon.

Director Kenneth Carlson does an excellent job of showing us the true meaning of "small town" America. Massillon is a town that is consumed by football, and it is made obvious to the film-goer with the shots of the town covered in "Tiger" signs and banners. There are many memorable scenes including the Tiger Lady and the soon-to-be-classic Bulldog Scene.

The cinematography in "Go Tigers" was great. The soundtrack of "Go Tigers" included a subtle underscore and the gripping music of Moby. During the final credits, the song "Friday Nights" by Katrina Carlson was a fitting end to a great documentation of Friday night football.

"Go Tigers" is a perfect blend of hard hitting sports documentation and gripping human interest. Whether you've heard of the Massillon Tigers or not, you'll enjoy this film. The players will grow on you and you will root for them to succeed. I highly recommend this film and the people in the town of Massillon should be proud of this film.

After seeing Go Tigers, I am looking forward to Director Kenneth Carlson's next film. DG