# Rudy (film)

Rudy is a 1993 film about Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, who had always been told that he was too small to play college football, and his quest to become a Notre Dame football player.
    Directed by David Anspaugh. Written by Angelo Pizzo.

## Father Cavanaugh

* Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and...I am not Him.

## Pete

* Well, you know what my dad always said, Having dreams is what makes life tolerable.

## Coach Warren

* Let me tell it to you as clean as I can. We have 95 players here so accomplished as athletes in high school, we gave them full scholarships to the best football program in the country. NCAA regulations allow us to dress just 60 for home games. Which means at least 35 scholarship players are gonna be watching the games from the stands. So, if any of you has any fantasies about running out of that stadium tunnel with your gold helmet shining in the sun, you'd best leave them right here. Of you 15 dreamers out there, maybe we'll keep one or two. My job is to basically beat the shit out of you for the next five days. Our first teams are gonna pound on you like you're their worst enemies. Your greatest value to us is, we don't care whether you get hurt. Like what you hear so far? Anybody want to run home to Mama? Joe, they're all yours.

## Dialogue

    [Rudy sneaks into Notre Dame Stadium]
    Fortune: Hey kid! You're not supposed to be here!
    Rudy: Hey this place is really something else huh? Someday I'm gonna come out of that tunnel and I'm gonna run onto this field.
    Fortune: Well it ain't gonna be this day...
    Rudy: I'm here to play football for the Irish!
    Fortune: Coach Parseghian know about it?
    Rudy: No... not yet.
    Fortune: Well maybe you best tell him first...
    Coach Parseghian: What's your problem, O'Hare, what's your problem?
    Jaime O'Hare: It's the last practice of the season and this asshole thinks it's the Super Bowl!
    Coach Parseghian: You just summed up your entire sorry career here in one sentence! If you had a tenth of the heart of Ruettiger, you'd have made All-American by now! As it is, you just went from third team to the prep team! Go on get out of here!
    Rudy: Coach I just wanted to thank you for letting be a part of this football program this year.
    Coach Parseghian: Rudy, I never I thought I'd be saying this but it's been an honor.
    Rudy: But I've come to realize that God made some people out to be football players and that I'm not one of them.
    Coach Parseghian: I wish God would put your heart in some of my players bodies.
    Rudy: [laughs] Yeah, I have this wish to let my father watch one of his sons play football for the Irish and I was wondering if I could possibly dress for one game next season?
    Coach Parseghian: Rudy the NCAA is really strict with this 60 player rule, and in some positions we only have one backup and you know that every year we are competing for the national championship. [pause] Is this wish just for your father?
    Rudy: No it's for everyone who told me that being a Notre Dame football player would be impossible. My brothers, the guys I work with at the mill...they can't come to practice and see that I am a part of this team.
    Coach Parseghian: [sighs] OK.
    Rudy: OK?
    Coach Parseghian: You deserve it. You will dress for one game next season.
    Rudy: [can barely hold in his excitement] Thank you Coach!
    Fortune: Hey, hey, hey what are you doing here don't you have practice?
    Rudy: Not anymore. I quit.
    Fortune: Oh, well since when are you the quitting kind?
    Rudy: I don't know I just don't see the point anymore.
    Fortune: So you didn't make the dress list, there are greater tragedies in the world.
    Rudy: I wanted to run out of that tunnel for my dad to prove to everyone that I worked...
    Fortune: PROVE WHAT?
    Rudy: That I was somebody.
    Fortune: Oh you are so full of crap. You're 5 feet nothin', a 100 and nothin', and you got hardly a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years. And you're also gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this lifetime, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody - except yourself. And after what you've gone through, if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen. Now go on back.
    Rudy: I'm sorry I never got you to see your first game in here.
    Fortune: Hell I've seen too many games in this stadium.
    Rudy: I thought you said you never saw a game...
    Fortune: I've never seen a game from the stands.
    Rudy: You were a player?
    Fortune: I rode the bench for two years. Thought I wasn't bein' played because of my color. I got filled up with a lotta attitude. So I quit. Still not a week goes by I don't regret it. And I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walkin' out, letting them get the best of ya. You hear me clear enough?
    D-Bob: Remember Elza? She's my girl now. We're engaged. Ain't that goddamn something?
    Elza: Dennis!
    D-Bob: Oh yeah, I ain't allowed to say "goddamn" no more.
    Steele: I want Rudy to dress in my place coach. He deserves it.
    Coach Devine: Don't be ridiculous, Georgia Tech is one of the top offensive teams in the country. [Pause] You're an All-American and our captain; act like it.
    Steele: [laying down his jersey] I believe I am.
    Steele: Rudy,are you ready for this, champ?
    Rudy: I've been ready for this my whole life!
    Steele: Then you take us out on the field.

## Taglines

* When people say dreams don't come true, tell them about Rudy.
* Sometimes a winner is a dreamer who just won't quit.
* It's not the size of the dog in the fight, It's the size of the fight in the dog....

## Cast

* Sean Astin - Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger
* Jon Favreau - D-Bob
* Ned Beatty - Daniel Ruettiger, Sr.
* Charles S. Dutton - Fortune
* Jason Miller - Ara Parseghian
* Scott Benjaminson - Frank Ruettiger
* Lili Taylor - Sherry
* Robert Prosky - Father John Cavanaugh
* Vince Vaughn - Jamie O'Hare
* Chelcie Ross - Dan Devine
* Steve Hely - Ed Silver
* Christopher Reed - Pete

## External links

* Rudy quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Rudy at Rotten Tomatoes