Everybody's All-American

Plot synopsis:
Gavin Grey (Dennis Quaid) is a 1950s star athlete known by the moniker "The Grey Ghost," who plays football at a Louisiana university. His campus girlfriend Babs Rogers (Jessica Lange), nephew Donnie (Timothy Hutton) who also goes by the nickname "Cake," and teammate Ed Lawrence (John Goodman) adore his personality and charm. During the Sugar Bowl game, Gavin's play, defining his competitiveness throughout his career, causes a player from the opposing team to fumble the ball, which he returns to score a game-winning touchdown.
As his college days come to an end, Gavin ends up marrying Babs, starts a family, and gets drafted by a professional football team. Lawrence opens a popular sports bar in Baton Rouge. Everyone is pleased for Gavin, including his friendly rival Narvel Blue (Carl Lumbly), who might have achieved professional stardom had he chosen an athletic career path. Reality quickly sets in for Gavin as life in the NFL is difficult, competition fierce, and the schedule grueling. Gavin is a respectable running back for the Washington Redskins, but hardly the idol worshipped by everyone back home during his school years. Concurrently, Lawrence has accrued a number of gambling debts. He is later murdered amid an episode of organized crime, creating more debts for Gavin and Babs, who had invested in Lawrence's business.
Babs does her best to keep up with her husband's career and mood swings, and in doing so inherits the role of the wage earner in their household. A sympathetic Donnie finds her frustrated and lonely, as his lifetime attraction to her brings them together for a brief extramarital affair. Gavin's financial setbacks encourage Babs to seek a job from Narvel to manage his restaurant.
Age and injuries result in Gavin being traded, benched, then forced into retirement. He enters a failed business relationship with entrepreneur Bolling Kiely (Ray Baker), whom he despises, spending countless hours telling old college football stories to clients. Donnie moves on with his life, becoming an author and getting engaged to a sophisticated woman named Leslie Stone (Patricia Clarkson), while supporting Gavin and Babs through a marital breakdown. A despaired figure in the end, Gavin mends his relationship with Babs as he spends his withdrawal from professional sports reminiscing about his famed athletic youth.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
This movie is more than just a football movie, or a character study of an athlete that can't hang up his shoes.
It's a movie about friendship, glory, and how you can't hang on and stop time.
Wonderfully acted, this movie always makes me a little sad for Gavin and the gang.
No matter how hard they try, they just can't recapture the good times and glory of yesteryear.
Whether those good times are scoring on the field, or in love.
Tim Hutton, Jessica Lange, and Dennis Quaid all give great performances.
My favorite line in the movie is a colloquy towards the end between Cake's (the academic)girlfriend and Gavin.
For me, this movie realistically captured the experience of being an athletic hero.
Even though I do not watch sports anymore, I used to watch them quite a lot and will still watch this movie whenever it's on TV.
Definitely one of the best sports films of all time, realistic and superbly acted, this film follows a quarterback hero and his "trophy" wife from college to well beyond retirement.
Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange give probably their best performances ever and the supporting cast does not disappoint.
It is melodramatic, but it comes from a place of integrity instilled in the writing and direction of the film.
It's too bad that so many below average sports movies get more praise than they deserve and lesser known films like this one fall by the wayside.
A movie that speaks of life..
This film tells the story of anyone who has looked back on their life with fondness, embarrassment, nostalgia, sorrow, joy, and any other emotion you can think of.
Dennis Quaid does some of his finest work as an All American college football player who is a superstar in spite of himself.
Jessica Lange does her usual stand out job portraying a prototype southern debutante who starts out happy to be her man's woman, but as time goes on discovers herself.
Timothy Hutton plays the cousin to Quaid's character and finds himself woven into the lives of the born to be together couple.
John Goodman turns in a great performance as a friend and teammate to the "Grey Ghost" that coincides with the beginning of his long running role as the quintessential suburban husband to Roseanne.
While this film is entertaining to the sports fan, it also appeals to anyone who wishes they might have done things differently.
As I recall this movie was panned by the critics and was a box officebomb when it was released in '88 but I consider it one of the best films in recent years and one of the best sports movies of all time.Gavin Grey is a '50s LSU football star who has few interests or talents off the field.
It takes you through his pro career with the Redskins, a humiliating stint with the Denver Broncos when he's way past his prime, and the final heartbreaking episode with his 1955 teammates at LSU Tiger stadium.
In the meantime wife Jessica Lange has found unknown talents as a businesswoman, adding to the pathos of Grey's status as a has-been.
Dennis Quaid is superb as Grey, especially when showing him as a middle-aged ex-jock.Everybdy's All American?
I'd like to think that, someday, this film will get the credit it deserves..
I started to watch this movie on HBO non commitedly but soon found myself engrossed.
I was struck by the brilliant performance of Dennis Quaid and my heart broke for his character Gavin.
I had never before thought of Dennis Quaid as anything other than the funny guy from Undercover Blues and I was taken aback at his acting.
The Good & Bad Of 'Everybody's All-American'.
I like most of the cast in this film.
Does that mean I enjoyed the movie?
No, this modern-day soaper was filled with mostly unlikable characters and an appealing story for my tastes, even though it had some very good points.In a nutshell, it's about an ex-college football star who doesn't know what to do when his playing days are over and nobody is cheering him anymore.To me, on the negative side were the melodramatic clichés of the typical (for movies) unhappy marriage (a Louisiana State University football star and its Homecoming Queen ), the standard (for movies) adulterous affairs, the normal (for movies) lectures about race and in particular, the South; the tale of real and not-so-real friends, the predictable getting-back together routine, blah, blah, blah.
Add in some fake Southern accents, too.On the more positive side, Dennis Quaid plays "Gavin Grey" of the title role.
The sad thing is, there are real-life stories like this, probably more than we know.
So, I am not knocking the film for its story.
Many college and professional athletes go into "the real world" unprepared, just as many beautiful Homecoming Queens are unprepared for life because their fabulous looks - not their personality or character - opened a lot doors for them."Grey" winding up telling old sports glory stories to drunks at a restaurant is the same as Jake LaMotta doing it in "Raging Bull" and "Rocky Balboa" doing the same in Sylvester Stallone's recent role.Jessica Lange plays the ditzy Homecoming queen who bears four kids and then becomes a good businesswomen.
And, at 39 years of age when she made the film, a little too old to be playing a college kid.Quaid and Lange, though, are fine in their performances, but supporting actors John Goodman and Timothy Hutton were the most interesting, in my humble opinion.Overall, so-so as a sports-soap opera.
It's not a film I have ever been interested in viewing a second time..
Superbly acted film about a rocky relationship between a Sugar Bowl all-american (Quaid) and the Magnolia Queen (Lange).
The story takes us through over 25 years of triumph and tragedy with great support from Hutton and an especially good performance from John Goodman.
Well sort of....I attended LSU during the filming of this movie.
Everyone watches movies for different reasons.
This movie is a walk through life and ultimately its message to me is to cherish every single moment as it moves by quickly.
My wife and I were at LSU during the filming so it speaks to us.
It is an emotional exploration of the personal evolution of a college and pro football star during that era- from success to near tragedy.
Lange, Hutton, and Goodman, and the supporting cast all excel in their roles.
This is an engaging film and in my opinion one of Taylor Hackford's best directorial efforts..
A Wonderful "Sports" Movie.
The jock (Dennis Quaid), the high school princess (Jessica Lange), the academic (Timothy Hutton), the party guy (John Goodman), and a great plot that realistically portrays how stars fade from greatness.
Along the way the film chronicles important periods in America, like racial segregation.Jessica Lange's performance is unparalleled (as usual).
Spanning 25 years, this film chronicles the life of 4 students at a Louisiana university.
One, a football hero, must come to grips with his life after the glory years are over.
Good performances were given by all, however, I felt the story could have been presented better in some places..
This story follows most of the life of Louisiana football legend Gavin Grey(Dennis Quaid).
The "Grey Ghost" lived big with a life sustained by adoring football fans for his exploits on and off the football field.
He married his number one fan and cheerleader Babs(Jessica Lange)who shared his glory, heartaches and tragedies.
His brother Donnie(Timothy Hutton)and best friend Lawrence(John Goodman)tried to keep Grey grounded and at the same time kept him high on admiration.
Carl Lumbly plays Narvel Blue who's competitive nature like Grey's built a strong friendship.
As years passed, so did the glory wane...the football hero just had trouble realizing it.
It's often hard for the man to live up to the image."I've always liked Dennis Quaid and thought his cockiness made the role of a self-centered football player come easy.
For the stunning Lange, she seemed flawless as the cheerleader with only one thing on her mind...her idol the "Grey Ghost".
Retired pro, semi-pro and top college athletes provided the realism on the playing field.
You don't have to be a football fan to enjoy EVERYBODY'S ALL-American..
I've never been much of a fan of Dennis Quaid, even though we hail from the same town.
John Goodman turned in a very good performance.
All three seemed a bit too old to pass for college kids, but hey, what're you gonna do when your film spans 25-plus years?
Quaid & Goodman do a very good job as jocks who try to survive life after college football, one going to the pros, the other to business management.
More importantly, the movie focuses also on the relationship between Quaid & Lange, and the film projects that focus more directly when Hutton asks Lange what her major is and she replies, "Me & Gavin (Quaid)."Going from the team's star player's girlfriend in college to a player's wife in the pros has an impact that I would not have imagined in this movie.
I went to it the first time in the theaters expecting a jock movie.
Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange are the college football star and cheerleader sweethearts who marry and join the world of the NFL.
"Everybody's All American" tells of a college football hero's trek through life.
This film is fraught with over-acting, terrible southern accents, obvious ploys to push viewer's emotional buttons, and a wandering story lacking in cohesion and integrity...to name but a few of the many flaws.
This movie is far above average, in no small part due to the performances of the principals.
But for a few cosmetic errors it might have been a classic.Quaid doesn't really seem to be on his way to impressing in the beginning; Lange is stunning as always; we don't really know what to make of Hutton; and Goodman comes across immediately as that loose cannon on deck he was to play so well in The Great Lebowsky, albeit with more irony.As time goes on these characters gain a third dimension and the actors behind them show their quality.
How they made certain hard-to-play scenes work is magnificent.Towards the end you begin to see what this movie is all about.
Ebert says we never know if the movie is about Gavin or Babs.
As the Russian choreographer was to have said, "Honey, if I could tell you that I wouldn't have had to write the ballet!"Aside from the ending which seems a bit contrived ("we gotta end this thing!"), there are no cheap shots in this movie.
Everyone both in front and behind the cameras gave their all to make a great movie..
Excellent Pure football movie..
The story of Gavin Grey, while fiction, sums up the pure aspect of football.
There were athletes who just loved to play football.
If you ever wondered what its like to be the star or captain of the football team watch this movie.
The movie smoothly moves through different parts of his life and was well directed.
Every city should have a movie filmed in it every 10-15 years.
So much of Baton Rouge that was caught on film in this movie has changed.
When Gavin runs out of the stadium and is standing by Mike the Tigers cage for instance.
Not quite sure but I believe that if he were to be knocked out of boundsby a Seahawk he would have had to have a 21 year N.F.L.career.Please correct me if i am wrong.All in all though I like the scenes from all the football clipsthey showed and that most of the players they showed were the real names of the players.
The saga of a football player is the basis of this film based on a Frank Deford novel.
The story covers twenty-five years as the lead character played well by Dennis Quaid goes from absolute Mr. Touchdown USA in college to the pro ranks with a last place team.
Jessica Lange is his sweetheart who marries her gridiron hero and quickly learns being the homecoming queen means little after the magical college days are gone.
Although the central part of the film concerns Football this film is much more as it highlights various events of the late 50's into the 60's always keeping tabs on Quaids gridiron exploits.
Good support from John Goodman as Quaids devoted college teammate and eventual business partner.
Carl Lumbly as Blue a Football player as talented as Quaids character who could have gone for the brass ring in the pro game but opted instead to make things better for his race and achieve something more for himself than scoring touchdowns and hearing cheering crowds.
Timothy Hutton is cast as Quaids cousin.
A great character study set during a time when the game produced heroes people really believed in even though their idols private lives were not always perfect like they may have imagined..
After 25 years, I finally got to see Everybody's All-American which was shot in my current hometown.
After about 25 years of reading about this movie shot in my long-time hometown of Baton Rouge, I finally watched Everybody's All-American with my mom on Netflix disc.
From the parade at the State Capitol to shots at Airline Highway near the end, I recognized many of the landmarks that were depicted in the film.
It follows Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange as football hero and homecoming queen as they go through the trails and tribulations of falling in love, getting married, making a family, and the ups-and-downs-of career and marriage.
There's also nice supporting turns by John Goodman-as a fellow player who has some personal problems, Timothy Hutton-as Quaid's cousin who becomes a writer, and Carl Lumbly-another former football star who thrives when the civil rights era passes.
"Everybody's All-American" brought forth a movie that can be seen as both a chick flick in terms of the steaming romantic chemistry between the two leading stars (Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange) and plenty of football action for the guys to enjoy.
The main character of the movie is centered around Gavin "The Gray Ghost" Grey (Dennis Quaid).
"Everybody's All-American" succeeds in that the ideas featured had potential to be an extraordinary film, but Hollywood had to water it down immensely.
The film scores high points in entertainment, but their welcome goes on too long.Based on a novel by Frank DeFord, the die-hard football fan can see through that this film is based loosely on the life of Billy Cannon.
The film center around Gavin Grey, who plays for the LSU Tigers, leading their team to the 1956 Sugar Bowl Championship.
Even though not once, LSU was ever mentioned, but Cannon played for that team at the time.What makes this film enjoyable to watch is that the characters portrayed are both likable and well developed.
Quaid shines as the star football running the "Gray Ghost" Gavin Grey.
Timothy Hutton was at his very best as history professor Cake, John Goodman is believable as a football player who turns his life to gambling and Carl Lumbly puts in his performance as black football player who later becomes a business tycoon.
It's always a great feeling deep inside to see such well developed characters and at the same time each and every one of them have a certain likeness that truly captures the spirit of this movie.
By setting this film in the state of Louisiana, we realize that the South really loves their football.
The look of the 1950's South captures a feel of nostalgia, though it's questionable if it was entirely accurate.The biggest problem I had with "Everybody's All-American" was that the two best characters were not the leading stars (though they did well), but Prof.
Cake (Hutton) and Lawrence (Goodman) were the best of the ensemble, but were sadly underused and I wanted to see more of them.
He's trying to hard to make this movie ultra serious but at the same time, the characters are also clichéd.
Even the die-hard football fan will be taken off by this sloppy mess Hackford made.Overall in spite of it's flaws it is still an enjoyable film filled with plenty of football action and romance outside the gridiron..
What got my attention is the way this film draws a caricature of our culture.It contains the following elements of American culture: football and the heroism bestowed on great athletes, a homecoming queen who lived only for her man saving herself for marriage(it was Louisana in the 60s), capitalism, the empowerment of blacks from the 60s through the 80s, the career woman becoming the head of the family (not typical of every American family, but a trend that was taking off in the 80s).
Furthermore, it contains elements typical of American film: mass appeal and a plot which is rather simple, a happy cheesy ending, rekindled love, athlete's friendship/loyalty to one another, nauseating predictability, persevering the trials of marriage (marriages everywhere have trials and athletes have loyal friends everywhere, they are just the subject of American films a lot more often).
In short, even its shortcomings are typically American.I don't really know if the creative team that realized "Everybody's All-American" (even the title is Americana to an extreme) intended to make an intelligent film that takes elements unique to our culture to a near absurd extreme, or if I interpret the film this way because I pay closer attention to everything "American" than I used to.
The beginning of the film is so cliché I can't help wonder if it is intentional: the homecoming game, the hero, his beautiful blonde girlfriend, his nerdy relative who has a crush on the girlfriend.
For me this film declares itself to be the quintessence of American culture in its title, and the storyline is right out of Norman Rockwell.
I recommend this film not for its entertainment value, but for food for thought and analysis.