MOJO, a team, a legend....

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2004)

Great story with minor flaws , none the less I can't wait for the DVD! As a native Texan, I'm very familiar with Odessa and the Permian Panthers, the MOJO as everyone calls them.....ask anyone in TX about MOJO and they know exactly who you're talking about, they've been making noise in the entire state for years. I was fascinated by the book and always wondered why nobody had made it into a movie....its a great story to be told and now we are able to watch the drama unfold on film. The movie is definitely an abbreviated version of the book and I wish they would have included a bit more back story...for instance, I would have liked to seen the game day ritual of some of the players involving a particular song from Bon Jovi....(those whom have read the book know what I'm talking about), and the story behind the Pepettes involvement with the players. I also wish they would have been more faithful to the game schedule, scores and game sites...some of those were just plain wrong! I do understand that Hollywood has their own set of rules when it comes to drama but true stories should be an exception and should be allowed to be displayed as they happened....an example was Boobie, when he got injured he left the team for good, he didn't travel with the team as the movie showed. Those were just a few things that I hoped would have been included and not changed...now the good things about the movie. I thought the MOJO fanaticism was captured well as evident by the towns people, and businesses closing shop and displaying signs "gone to game", the filming of the coin toss to break the 3 way tie, and that they captured the flat desert like landscape of Odessa(actual locations), the movie soundtrack was dead on, I can't get that little tune out of my head ...the movie was well casted, Billy Bob was believable as coach Gaines, Lucas Black which grew on me through the whole film was excellent as QB Mike Winchell...I had a lump in my throat on the last play against Dallas Carter when Winchell tells his teamates in the huddle "this is for the state championship, I love you all man, I love you all" that really was a defining moment and showed the camaraderie he felt for his teamates...the ending was sad but thats real life! Go see it, read the book....it will touch you hard. I've seen the movie twice and still can't get it out of my head.