Friday, September 30, 2005

PG

For some brief mild language

Drama

Shia LaBeouf, Stephen Dillane, Peter Firth, Elias Koteas, Peyton List, Joshua Flitter

Mark Frost

Bill Paxton

Greatest Game Ever Played, The (2005)

In the tradition of “Remember The Titans,” “The Rookie” and “Miracle,” from Walt Disney Pictures comes a real-life story of a long-shot dream that came true. THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED, based on Mark Frost’s best-selling book, is the remarkable yet untold story of Francis Ouimet. Francis was a working-class immigrant kid who -- flanked by a 10 year-old caddie smaller than his golf bag -- started with nothing and came out of nowhere to break down the barriers and become America’s first golf hero nearly a century before Tiger Woods. In a world where it was believed only the wealthy and privileged could play, and win, at golf, it took an outsider to change the rules forever and prove that anyone with enough courage, grit and faith could achieve greatness.

It all came to a head at the 1913 U.S. Open. Suddenly, Francis found himself in an ultimate showdown of skill and spirit -- he, the unknown upstart American, facing off against Harry Vardon, a U.S. Open winner and six time British Open champion (a record that still stands today) who was the sport’s undisputed champion. One was a towering idol, the other an impossible underdog -- and their legendary battle would transcend sport to become an illustration of human determination at its best.

Bill Paxton directs this inspirational tale drawn from one of the most unexpected victories in history, bringing his own innovative visual perspective to the game of golf, reframing the 18-hole match-up as a riveting Western showdown between two scrappy gunslingers.

THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED stars Shia LaBeouf (“Holes,” “Constantine”) as Francis Ouimet, the Massachusetts kid who, just three years after starting as a lowly caddie, found himself in all-out fight for the U.S Open title. Stephen Dillane (“The Hours”) stars as Harry Vardon -- the genteel British champ who never expected to be challenged by a young American. The screenplay is by Mark Frost who wrote the acclaimed book of the same title, bringing to life the colorful characters of golf’s early history.

In 1913, a 20 year-old kid named Francis Ouimet unexpectedly became an overnight American hero. In an electrifying standoff at golf’s U.S. Open, he stunned American audiences by proving that golf wasn’t just a game for the country club elite but a sport in which any American -- no matter how youthful, how poor or how unknown - could aspire to triumph. It was to become one of those rare defining moments in sports history. Inspired by Francis Ouimet, the infant sport of golf soon exploded into one of America’s most popular past-times and a source of dreams for numerous young heroes-in-the-making, all the way up to Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam.