How To Respond After Tragedy - A Nice Story

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2007)

This was a nice movie, interesting all the way, a combination sports film and melodrama and based on a tragic real-life event: a 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people including all but a couple of the players and coaches on the Marshall University football team.
It's a film that when it is over, you're glad you watched it. That's a good endorsement right there.
I only found one scene overdone and a typically hokey, and that's the one football game that is featured more than any other. However, I found the rest of it totally believable and entertaining. Well, I should slight amend that in that Matthew McConaughey's role as head coach "Jack Lengyel-" was a little goofy. I question whether the real coach was this "quirky," but I'm not complaining because it made "Lengyel" -- in the film - a lot of fun to watch. They probably did that for just for that purpose, and it worked.
The football action is good, the characters are based on real people, it's nicely filmed and moves very fast. The film involves you right from the beginning and is solid entertainment. I can't see where too many people, unless they are hard-hearted cynics, would not enjoy this film.
By the way, check out the bonus feature about "Living Legends." It has a half-dozen famous coaches in America give their philosophies on coaching and some of the segments are very interesting with some profound statements in them