Customer Reviews

The Rocket - Maurice Richard

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'd been hearing about this movie for the last year or so, it's about the life of former Montreal Canadiens captain and player, Maurice Richard. My sons and I watched it last night and it was utterly fantastic. it's about 80% in French and was so good we didn't even notice. After it was over I said, "That was as good as 'Miracle'" to which they replied "That was better than Miracle". In my house that is a huge compliment. My boys have probably seen Miracle 20 times and myself nearly as many.

Not only did Rocket Richard break into the NHL when he had everything going against him but he broke down walls of racism against Quebecois. He helped change his sport for the better.

Some actors you may recognize are Ian Laperriere, Sean Avery, Mike Ricci, Vincent Lecavalier. The acting is top notch, I was very surprised. The movie did a great job of recreating the hockey style of that era and recreated many great moments that we have seen pictures of. The special features have a touching tribute to the Rocket and the actor that plays Maurice Richard is overcome while speaking of the Rockets achievements.

If you are interested in hockey or even great sports stories in general, check out this movie.

This is a period biopic about Quebecois hockey great Maurice Richard, starting and ending with the 1955 riots in Montreal when Richard was suspended unfairly for a fight he didn't start.

Maurice Richard was the epitome of the quiet, modest sports hero. He worked all day as a machinist, and played hockey at night. Hard to believe, considering how professional athletes are treated today, but Richard didn't even make enough money to buy his own home. Since French Canadians were treated like second class citizens, Richard also had to endure constant insults as well as physical attacks on the ice. The fact that he spoke little English but was interviewed in English made him look stupid. He literally lived the cliche: he had to be twice as good to go half as far.

Roy Dupuis turns in an excellent performance as Richard. Roy Dupuis has always done an outstanding job conveying a great deal of emotion with very little expression, and that's Maurice Richard to a T. (He even resembles the real Maurice Richard, except in coloring; the dark contacts and short black hair made me feel a bit of a disconnect, because Roy didn't look like Roy.) Julie le Breton was also fine as Maurice's wife, Lucille, although it was basically a one-note part. The real dramatic relationship throughout the film was Maurice's with his coach, Dick Irvin (Stephen McHattie, who was also terrific).

Although the film's climax was somewhat unclimactic, there were many moving moments. Maurice's stoicism in the face of such unfair treatment made it all the more effective when he finally did lose control. For me, the highlights of the movie were when the owner of the Canadiens told Maurice that he had just given him the greatest moment in hockey he'd ever seen, and Maurice literally burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. And Maurice's face when Dick Irvin congratulated his team on winning the Stanley Cup... in French.

Good news for English-speaking fans: There are English subtitles, of course. But the DVD extras, in French, also have English subtitling. That never happens.

Im not into hockey as my father used to be..he used to listen to the
Montreal Canadian all the times, and lucky guy probably saw all the great
players play...Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and so much more. Playing
for peanuts in the old days the players had more characters than most of
todays millionaire players. The only thing i remember from Maurice Richard is
that white hair guy getting standing ovations most of the time he went to
see a game at the Montreal Forum.
Now after seeing this movie and learning more about his life, im amazed what
this guy did and played and what he did for the world of hockey.
Enjoy..

Great film about a great man in the days where the Anglophones in Montreal
were king and French Canadians were subservient to them. The best positions were held by the Anglos and the non-english speaking French Canadians were expected to understand the language. Maurice Richard was a hero to the French Majority in Quebec and when he was suspended for the season for the altercation in Boston riots erupted in downtown Montreal. Most fans felt that the penalty imposed was overly harsh considering that the Boston Bruins player who started this altercation was not given any penalty. Maurice Richard went on to win several consecutive Stanley Cups.

This is a wonderful film to watch. The visuals are stunning. They do an excellent job re-creating Montreal in the 40's. The film itself is so much more than a "hockey movie". It's a period piece, and a warts and all study of Canada, Hockey, and French-Canadian society in the 1940's. It doesn't glamorize Richard, but portrays him as an immensely talented, humble, and driven man with a hunger to do nothing more than score goals regardless of what life put in his way. For the Rocket it truly was all he was about. The scene where he is in the corner getting worked over by three Bruins, only to come away with the puck and score is a great summation of his life. Those three Boston Bruins may as well have been named 1.) Poverty, 2.) Racism, 3.) Adversity

If you aren't familiar with the history of Quebec, and French-English relations in Canada (and prior to this I only had a small knowledge of it) then this movie will be enlightening. If you aren't familiar with Maurice Richard, you will be awed by what he overcame and begin to understand what he means to French Canadians.

I have always been a Montreal fan despite living in New England and thought I knew Montreal hockey. This movie taught me alot about the great Montral teams of the past and the riot. I never really knew how the French players were mistreated, to a level that almost equals the mistreatment of Afro-American baseball players. Prejudice is apparently world-wide. A must see for any sports fan and in particular for hockey fans.

I don't mean the title in a bad way -- I'm the former. It's meant to say that The Rocket does two things well -- captures the importance of hockey to a cold country, although I didn't think the actual game scenes were all that good, the ice too open, the moves too stylized and slow compared to the real thing. Watching those guys playing without helmets and face shields was a pretty amazing throwback, though. The Rocket works better as a French-Canadian take on their status as second class citizens in hockey, in Canada, and even in Quebec, and it works best in its portrayal of Rocket's relationship with Dick Irwin, the Canadiens driven English-speaking coach. In their conflict, they are united by the drive to win, and a growing grudging respect.

This movie was obviously made with a clear point of view, with love and care (street scenes in Montreal of the 40's and 50's are often shot in a black and white that resembles old newspaper photos, a very nice effect), but it's a bit too stagey and reverent.

Dupuis truly does score as Richard in this epic hockey film. The Rocket is the story of Maurice Richard's rise to fame in the NHL after having to overcome ordeal after ordeal as a second class French Canadien during the 1950's. The film depicts the gritty reality and discrimination he faces as a French Canadien struggling to play hockey during that era. Dupuis' acting is on point as is the rest of the cast's, which helps create the sense of loneliness that Richard must have been feeling at the time. Richard's relationship with his coach, Dick Irwin, is where Dupuis really shines. The film also includes some of the best hockey (and fighting) scenes ever in a film. You don't even notice it's in French the whole time because you are so wrapped up in the courageous tale of Maurice Richard. The Rocket parallels Miracle in its trueness to the sport of hockey, yet even non-hockey fans will enjoy the emotion and dedication that one man puts into his art, and moreover his ultimate dream. This is a must see, hockey fan or not.

This is a nostalgic look at Maurice Richard--his life, his times, his battles, and of course the wonderful hockey artistry he displayed night after night. This film highlights some of his most important moments, and is well worth seeing. It was my privilege to have seen the Rocket play, and it was simply unforgettable. Now don't get me wrong--I grew up in Detroit watching the greatest all-around player in hockey history, Gordie Howe, play the game the way it was meant to be played, but from the blue line in, nobody has ever equalled the Rocket. What a treat to view a film that conjures up those memories.

The Rocket is a wonderfully filmed movie about one of hockey's early legends. The quiet Maurice Richard, dreamed of playing hockey for the Montreal Canadiens, and led them to several Stanley Cups.

This is a French-Canadian movie, so if you do not know how to speak and understand French, better grab the subtitles.

I definetly reccomend this movie. As any it has been stylized a little but it is still a great period piece.