We Are Marshall - wikipedia We Are Marshall We Are Marshall Theatrical poster Directed by McG Produced by Basil Iwanyk McG Screenplay by Jamie Linden Story by Jamie Linden Cory Helms Starring Matthew McConaughey Matthew Fox Ian McShane Anthony Mackie Kate Mara January Jones Brian Geraghty David Strathairn Music by Christophe Beck Cinematography Shane Hurlbut Edited by Priscilla Nedd - Friendly Gregg London Production company Legendary Pictures Thunder Road Pictures Wonderland Sound and Vision Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date December 22, 2006 ( 2006 - 12 - 22 ) Running time 131 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $65 million Box office $43.5 million We Are Marshall is a 2006 American historical drama biopic film directed by McG. It depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, along with five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and a crew of five. It also addresses the rebuilding of the program and the healing that the community undergoes. Matthew McConaughey stars as head coach Jack Lengyel, with Matthew Fox as assistant coach William `` Red '' Dawson, David Strathairn as university president Donald Dedmon, and Robert Patrick as ill - fated Marshall head coach Rick Tolley. Then - governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue has a cameo role as an East Carolina University football coach. It was scored by Christophe Beck and written by Jamie Linden. Dr. Keith Spears was the Marshall University consultant. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Filming 4 Home media 5 Lawsuit 6 Critical reception 7 References 8 External links Plot On the evening of November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932, a McDonnell Douglas DC - 9 chartered by Marshall University to transport the Thundering Herd football team back to Huntington, West Virginia following their 17 -- 14 defeat to the East Carolina University Pirates, clips trees on a ridge just one mile short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, West Virginia, and crashes into a nearby gully, killing all 75 people on board. The deceased include the 37 players ; head coach Rick Tolley and five members of his coaching staff ; Charles E. Kautz, Marshall 's athletics director ; team athletic trainer Jim Schroer and his assistant, Donald Tackett ; sports information director and radio play - by - play announcer Gene Morehouse ; 25 boosters ; and five crew members. In the wake of the tragedy, University President Donald Dedmon leans towards indefinitely suspending the football program, but he is ultimately persuaded to reconsider by the pleas of the Marshall students and Huntington residents, and especially the few football players who did n't make the flight, led by Nate Ruffin. Dedmon hires Jack Lengyel as head coach who, with the help of Red Dawson ( one of two surviving members of the previous coaching staff ) manages to rebuild the team in a relatively short time, despite losing many of their prospects to West Virginia University. Dedmon travels to Kansas City, where he pleads with the NCAA to waive their rule prohibiting freshmen from playing varsity football ( a rule which had been abolished in 1968 for all sports except for football and basketball, and would be permanently abolished for those sports in 1972 ). Dedmon returns victorious. The new team is composed mostly of the 18 returning players ( three varsity, 15 sophomores ) and walk - on athletes from other Marshall sports programs. Due to their lack of experience, the `` Young Thundering Herd '' ends up losing its first game, 29 -- 6, to the Morehead State Eagles. The loss weighs heavily on Dawson and Ruffin, who had been hurt in the first play of the game. The Herd 's first post-crash victory is a 15 -- 13 win against Xavier University in the first home game of the season. Cast Matthew McConaughey -- Jack Lengyel Matthew Fox -- William `` Red '' Dawson Anthony Mackie -- Nate Ruffin Arlen Escarpeta -- Reggie Oliver David Strathairn -- Donald Dedmon Ian McShane -- Paul Griffen Kate Mara -- Annie Cantrell January Jones -- Carole Dawson Kimberly Williams - Paisley -- Sandy Lengyel Brian Geraghty -- Tom Bogdan Tommy Cresswell -- Gene Morehouse Christian Kanupke -- Keith Morehouse Nina Jones -- Mrs. Morehouse Mike Pniewski -- Bobby Bowden Wilbur Fitzgerald -- Fireman Robert Patrick -- Coach Rick Tolley ( uncredited ) Filming The memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington, West Virginia to the victims of the Southern Airways Flight 932 crash was the site of one of the film 's pivotal scenes. Filming of We Are Marshall commenced on April 3, 2006, in Huntington, West Virginia, and was completed in Atlanta, Georgia. The premiere for the film was held at the Keith Albee Theater on December 12, 2006, in Huntington ; other special screenings were held at Pullman Square. The movie was released nationwide on December 22, 2006. Several aspects of the film were changed for dramatic purposes, although the gist of the story was retained. Home Media We Are Marshall was released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu - ray in the United States on September 18, 2007. Lawsuit Deborah Novak and John Witek, who produced the 2000 documentary Marshall University : Ashes to Glory, filed a $40 million lawsuit in federal court in California accusing Warner Bros. and others associated with the We Are Marshall film of fraud, copyright infringement, and breach of contract. Novak, who directed Marshall University : Ashes to Glory, is a Huntington native and Marshall alumnus. In October 2008, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in a summary judgment in favor of Warner Bros. Critical reception The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49 % out of 124 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8 / 10 and the site consensus stating : `` Matthew McConaughey almost runs We Are Marshall to the end zone, but ca n't stop it from taking the easy, feel - good route in memorializing this historic event in American sports. '' The film 's directing was criticized by many reviewers. Peter Hartlaub, from the San Francisco Chronicle, blamed director McG for `` half of the movie problems '' and went further on saying that `` He has a kinetic and kitschy style that could make next year 's `` Hot Wheels '' movie a surprise hit, but he 's completely out of place here. '' Peter Howell from the Toronto Star said the film lacked genuine drama or conflict. McConaughey 's performance was, according to some critics, one of the film 's highlights. Roger Moore from the Orlando Sentinel gave it 4 stars out of 5 and said in his review that `` We Are Marshall ( it 's the rally cry of the team ) does n't always have a handle on the grief, but it does keep emotions close to the surface. That allows McConaughey to be the most refreshing, funny and believable he ever has been. '' References Jump up ^ `` We Are Marshall ''. The-numbers.com. Retrieved 5 November 2014. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Archived September 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Jamie Linden ''. IMDb. Retrieved 5 November 2014. Jump up ^ `` '' We Are Marshall '' And `` The Marshall Story '' - Hollywood vs Reality ``. Corn Nation. Retrieved 5 November 2014. Jump up ^ `` Deborah Novak et al v. Warner Bros Pictures LLC et al ''. Justia Dockets & Filings. Retrieved 5 November 2014. Jump up ^ Josh Grossberg, Warner Bros. Wins Marshall Suit Archived September 18, 2016, at the Wayback Machine., E ! Online, October 28, 2008. Accessed January 3, 2014 Jump up ^ `` We Are Marshall ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved June 23, 2012. Jump up ^ `` ' Marshall ' fumbles in telling moving true story ''. SFGate. Retrieved 5 November 2014. Jump up ^ Howell, Peter. `` ' We Are Marshall ' : Predictable pigskin tale ''. Toronto Star. Star Media Group. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2014. Jump up ^ ( 2 ) External links Official website We Are Marshall on IMDb We Are Marshall at Box Office Mojo We Are Marshall at Metacritic We Are Marshall at Marshall University Films directed by McG Charlie 's Angels ( 2000 ) Charlie 's Angels : Full Throttle ( 2003 ) We Are Marshall ( 2006 ) Terminator Salvation ( 2009 ) This Means War ( 2012 ) 3 Days to Kill ( 2014 ) The Babysitter ( 2017 ) Marshall Thundering Herd football Venues Central Field ( 1895 -- 1926 ) Fairfield Stadium ( 1927 -- 1990 ) Joan C. Edwards Stadium ( 1991 -- present ) Bowls & rivalries Bowl games East Carolina Ohio : Battle for the Bell West Virginia : Friends of Coal Bowl Western Kentucky Culture & lore Marco the Bison `` Sons of Marshall '' Marching Thunder Southern Airways Flight 932 Marshall University : Ashes to Glory We Are Marshall People Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders Seasons 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 2017 National championship seasons in bold Marshall University Located in : Huntington, West Virginia Academics Marshall University Forensic Science Graduate Program Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Marshall University -- South Charleston Campus Athletics Marco the Bison Baseball Basketball ( men ) Basketball ( women ) Football Soccer ( men ) Appalachian Power Park Cam Henderson Center Joan C. Edwards Stadium Kennedy Center Field Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex Battle for the Bell Friends of Coal Bowl Campus List of buildings Arthur Weisberg Family Engineering Laboratories Health and Wellness Center Marshall Commons Forensic Science Center Rural Health Clinic Old Main Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center Media The Parthenon West Virginia Public Broadcasting WMUL WYSN Related John Marshall Scholars Society of Yeager Scholars List of Marshall University people Southern Airways Flight 932 Marshall University : Ashes to Glory We Are Marshall Founded : 1837 Students : 13,631 Endowment : 106 million Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=We_Are_Marshall&oldid=788190594 '' Categories : 2006 films English - language films American films 2000s drama films American drama films American football films Films directed by McG Films produced by Thomas Tull Films set in the 1970s Films set in West Virginia Films shot in Georgia ( U.S. state ) Films shot in West Virginia Legendary Pictures films Marshall Thundering Herd football Sports films based on actual events Wonderland Sound and Vision films Film scores by Christophe Beck Warner Bros. films Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from November 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano Magyar मराठी 日本 語 Polski Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 30 June 2017, at 00 : 27. 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Question: where is the movie we are marshall based on
Answer: It depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, along with five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and a crew of five.