Product Details

• Actors: Mike Pettine, Sr., Jr., Dustin Picciotti, Joyce Pettine
• Directors: T. Patrick Murray;Alex Weinress
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: High Definition Films
• DVD Release Date: December 30, 2003
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000W5H9M
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,185 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Sports documentaries don't get any better than The Last Game, which seems likely to remain the greatest film ever made about the undiluted thrill of high school football. You couldn't write a Hollywood script better than this riveting, real-life celebration of Central Bucks West--the reigning champions of Pennsylvania high school football--and the team's passionate hard-ass coach of 32 years, Mike Pettine Sr. The year is 1999, and as CB West storms its way toward an astonishing, undefeated three-season record of 45-0, we witness the many facets of an unfolding drama: star fullback Dustin Picciotti rises to prominence with an abundance of cocky self-assurance; former CB West player-turned-rival coach Mike Pettine Jr. prepares to battle his father's team in a crucial game; and Pettine Sr. wrestles with the decision to retire after this, his 33rd season. It all culminates in a final championship contest during which Picciotti and two other valuable players are injured--an escalating sequence of events that's guaranteed to have you white-knuckled on the edge of your seat. Given the pure, non-professional nature of high school football, the raw energy of this low-budget, shot-on-video production, and the volatile personalities involved, The Last Game reflects the spirit of CB West: It's just about perfect. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
A film about the #1 ranked high school football team in Pennsylvania, and the #3 ranked team in the USA. Mike Pettine, Sr. has coached CB West for 33 years, and is thinking about hanging up his whistle and trading in his cleats for new golf spikes. But with a record 30 game win streak as well as 2 State Championships in a row, he is unable to resist the thrill of the game and the joy of coaching, and enters the season undecided whether it will be his last. The odds against going undefeated for a 3rd straight season, if Vegas allowed such bets, would be 10,000 to 1 against. After all, he lost his offensive line to Division 1 college scholarships. And the odds of winning a world record 3rd straight Pennsylvania AAAA State Championship? A million to 1 shot. Sure, he has good players, like Dustin Picciotti, ranked the #1 fullback prospect in the nation, but he has a bigger problem... the last game of the season on the schedule. On a Friday night in November, the #1 team in PA plays the #2 ranked team... a team coached by none other than... Mike Pettine, Jr. Believe it or not, the name similarity is not a coincidence- it really is his only son who he must face as his greatest rival. And who is stuck in the middle of all this? The wife of Senior and the mother of Junior, a saintly woman called Joyce Pettine, who must keep the peace and decide which side of the field to sit on. THE LAST GAME, if it were a Hollywood script, would be laughed at for the contrivances- but life is stranger than fiction, and all of this is true. The filmmakers, while talented, admit that they are the luckiest two guys around. Both T. Patrick Murray, who originated the project, and Alex Weinress, who shot and edited the film with his partner every day, every practice, every game and everything in between, both played football themselves. But Murray had a unique insight into the sport, as his uncle was the General Manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, and his Dad owned the New England Patriots from the NFL. After the film won BEST FILM at two film festivals, one time beating the winner of that year's SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL Best Documentary Award to take top prize, THE LAST GAME was broadcast on national TV in prime time on ESPN, and then went to DVD. The greatest Hollywood sports-centered filmmaker- RON SHELTON- who made Bull Durham and Tin Cup, as well as many other great non-sports features, saw the doc and wrote an adapted screenplay. Currently, Murray and Weinress, along with Kip Konwiser and Jim Lampley, are developing a Hollywood remake of this amazing, once in a lifetime sport story- a football film more about family and friendship... a sports story that reminds us that, in the game of football, and life, winning isn't everything. The ultimate victory is 100% effort, failure is the foundation on which success is built, and to win at the expense of those we love is actually to lose something much more valuable. But, in the end, THE LAST GAME is about a man who coaches like a drill sergeant but secretly conceals a softness and heart of gold only seen by his little grandson. It is about a family who tries to balance an impossible equation of allegiances, a team of teenagers who handle the burden of pressures most adults never experience. Most of all, it is about never giving up, no matter how late it is in the game of football, or life- no matter how far you find yourself behind on the scoreboard- with the power of perseverance, THE LAST GAME proves that attitude beats ability, teamwork beats individual talent, and 'victory' is a state of exhausted effort confused with the less noble goal of 'winning'. THE LAST GAME entertains better than any 100 million Hollywood blockbuster, while teaching us the true meaning of football, family, friendship- and ask us if the price of winning to serve individual ego & America's obsession with success is paid with our soul?

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is the real thing, from start to finish, December 29, 2004

By	Christopher Grebe - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having played on the North Penn team that lost to CB West in the film.(twice i might add:-(. I wanted to see the behind the scenes of that season and I was amazed at the entire movie. Personally to see that particular team and the perfection they had off the field, ABSOLUTE mistake free football I was amazed at how the players acted off the field. It was like watching two different worlds. It also shows how great of a coach Pettine Sr, really is. The movie is terrific in every aspect. If you like football and are a fan of high school football there is NO reason you shouldn't own this film.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must have for all Prep Fans!, November 9, 2004

By	Tim C. Sanderford - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the real deal. There are several films out now about Prep Football, and some are a waste of your time. This one accurately shows the emotion of both coaches and players, as well as some great game footage. You'll wish you were a season ticket holder at C.B. West.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good a football film as you'll find, August 8, 2005

By	Mr. Samuel B. R. Monson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This movie starts off a bit slowly with some character building and some background views of the area and the football program, but before long you can see where its all heading, to a big showdown, Father v Son, undefeated CB West, against the only other team that seems able to hold a candle to them, coached by the son of their Coach.

Great footage of that match , and then each step down the State Championship road gets more exciting and more intense.