Rudy ( film ) Rudy is a 1993 American sports film directed by David Anspaugh . It is an account of the life of Daniel " Rudy " Ruettiger , who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles . It was the first movie that the Notre Dame administration allowed to be shot on campus since " Knute Rockne , All American " in 1940 . In 2005 , " Rudy " was named one of the best 25 sports movies of the previous 25 years in two polls by ESPN ( # 24 by a panel of sports experts , and # 4 by espn . com users ) . It was ranked the 54th - most inspiring film of all time in the " AFI 100 Years " series . The film was released on October 13 , 1993 , by TriStar Pictures . It stars Sean Astin as the title character , along with Ned Beatty , Jason Miller and Charles S . Dutton . The script was written by Angelo Pizzo , who created " Hoosiers " ( 1986 ) . The film was shot in Illinois and Indiana . Plot . Daniel Eugene " Rudy " Ruettiger grows up in Joliet , Illinois dreaming of playing college football at the University of Notre Dame . Though he is achieving some success with his local high school team ( Joliet Catholic ) , he lacks the grades and money necessary to attend Notre Dame , as well as the talent and physical stature to play football for a major intercollegiate program . Ruettiger takes a job at a local steel mill like his father Daniel Sr . , who is also a Notre Dame fan . He prepares to settle down , but when his best friend Pete is killed in an explosion at the mill , Rudy decides to follow his dream of attending Notre Dame and playing for the Fighting Irish . He resolves to do everything he can to get into the football powerhouse . He leaves for the campus but fails to get admitted to Notre Dame . With the help and sponsorship of a local priest , Rudy starts at Holy Cross College , a nearby small junior college , hoping to get good enough grades to qualify for a transfer . In keeping with his football dream , he goes to the Notre Dame stadium groundskeeper named Fortune and volunteers to work for free . Simultaneously , he sneaks in and out of Fortune ' s office at night through a window and sleeps on a cot , having no place to live of his own . At first , Fortune is indifferent toward Rudy but gradually sees his sincerity and later provides Rudy with a key of his own to his office . The next day , Rudy thanks Fortune for the key , but Fortune responds that he knows nothing about it , tacitly exhorting Rudy to keep it a secret . Rudy learns that Fortune has never seen a Notre Dame football game , despite having worked at the stadium for years . At Holy Cross , Rudy befriends D - Bob , a graduate student at Notre Dame and a teaching assistant at Rudy ' s junior college . The socially - awkward D - Bob offers to tutor Rudy in exchange for help in meeting girls . Suspecting an underlying cause to Ruettiger ' s previous academic problems , D - Bob has Rudy tested , and Rudy finds out that he has dyslexia . Rudy learns how to overcome his disability and becomes a better student . Meanwhile , Rudy ' s efforts at setting D - Bob up with attractive girls at Holy Cross prove fruitless , until one girl offers to set D - Bob up with Elsa , a shy and homely co - ed . At Christmas vacation , Rudy returns home to his family ' s appreciation of his report card but is still mocked for his attempts at playing football and loses his fiancée to one of his brothers . After numerous rejections , Rudy is finally admitted to Notre Dame during his final semester of transfer eligibility . He rushes home to tell his family , with his father announcing the news to his steel mill workers over the loudspeaker . Rudy goes to the stadium , thanks Fortune for his help , and returns the office key . Rudy persuades Fortune to promise to come see his first game if Rudy dresses . After " walking on " as a non - scholarship player for the football team , Ruettiger convinces coach Ara Parseghian to give him a spot on the practice squad . An assistant coach warns the players that 35 " scholarship " players won ' t even make the " dress roster " of players who take the field during the games but notices that Ruettiger exhibits more drive than many of his scholarship teammates . Coach Parseghian agrees to Rudy ' s request to suit up for one home game in his senior year so his family and friends can see him as a member of the team . However , Parseghian steps down as coach following the 1974 season and is replaced by former NFL coach Dan Devine . Just before Rudy ' s final year , D - Bob visits and announces he is leaving for law school in Miami with Elsa , now his fiance . Rudy thanks D - Bob for all his help . Coach Devine keeps Rudy on the team , but refuses to list him on the active playing roster before games . When Rudy sees that he is not on the dress list for the team ' s next - to - last game , he becomes angry and quits the team . Fortune sees Rudy at the stadium and asks why he is not at practice . Rudy tells him he has quit , and Fortune chastises Rudy for giving up . Rudy learns for the first time that Fortune " has " seen his share of Notre Dame games because he was once on the team but has never seen a game from the stands . Fortune had quit the team because he felt he was not playing due to his skin color . Fortune reminds Rudy of all he has accomplished , that he has nothing to prove to anyone but himself , and that not a day will go by when he will not regret quitting . With that , Rudy is persuaded to return to the team . Led by senior team captain and All - American Roland Steele , the other seniors rise to Rudy ' s defense and lay their jerseys on Devine ' s desk , each requesting that Rudy be allowed to dress in his place for the final game of the season . In response , Devine lets Ruettiger suit up for the final home game , against Georgia Tech . At the final home game , Steele invites Ruettiger to lead the team out of the tunnel onto the playing field . Before the team runs out , Rudy sees Fortune ( who is at his first Notre Dame game as promised ) and smiles . As the game nears its end with Notre Dame up 17 - 3 , Devine sends all the seniors to the field but refuses to let Rudy play , despite the pleas from Steele and the assistant coaches . As a " Rudy ! " chant spreads from the Notre Dame bench into the stadium , the offensive team , led by tailback Jamie O ' Hare , overrules Devine ' s call for victory formation and scores another touchdown instead , providing defensive player Ruettiger with one more chance to get into the game and thus be entered onto the official roster of Notre Dame football players . Devine finally lets Rudy enter the field with the defensive team on the final kickoff . He stays in for the final play of the game , sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback , and to cheers from the stadium , is carried off the field on his teammates ' shoulders . Soundtrack . The soundtrack to " Rudy " was composed and conducted by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith . Goldsmith had previously worked with filmmakers Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh on their successful 1986 film " Hoosiers " , garnering the film an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score and thus making Goldsmith their first choice to compose a soundtrack for " Rudy " . According to Soundtrack . net , the music from " Rudy " has been used in 12 trailers , including those for " Angels in the Outfield , The Deep End of the Ocean , Good Will Hunting " and " " . In 2008 , Senator John McCain used " Take Us Out " as an official anthem during his presidential run . The piece of music was played at major events such as after Senator McCain ' s acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention and after John McCain announced Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in Dayton , Ohio . Notes and background . In reality , Coach Devine had announced that Rudy would dress for the Georgia Tech game during practice a few days before . The dramatic scene where his teammates each lay their jerseys on Coach Devine ' s desk in protest never happened , though according to Ruettiger , Devine was persuaded to allow him to dress only after a number of senior players requested that he do so . Also , Coach Devine had agreed to be depicted as the " heavy " in the film for dramatic effect but was chagrined to find out the extent to which he was vilified , saying : " The jersey scene is unforgivable . It ' s a lie and untrue . " As a guest on " The Dan Patrick Show " on September 8 , 2010 , Joe Montana , who was an active member of the team when Ruettiger played in the Georgia Tech game , also confirmed that the jersey scene never happened , stating : “ It ’ s a movie remember . Not all that ’ s true . The crowd wasn ’ t chanting , nobody threw in their jerseys . He did get in the game . He got carried off the game . " Critical reception . " Rudy " received primarily positive reviews from critics . Roger Ebert of " The Chicago Sun - Times " wrote that " It has a freshness and an earnestness that gets us involved , and by the end of the film we accept Rudy ' s dream as more than simply sports sentiment . It ' s a small but powerful illustration of the human spirit . " Stephen Holden of " The New York Times " observed that " For all its patness , the movie also has a gritty realism that is not found in many higher - priced versions of the same thing , and its happy ending is not the typical Hollywood leap into fantasy . " In " The Washington Post " , Richard Harrington called " Rudy " " a sweet - natured family drama in which years of effort are rewarded by a brief moment of glory . " Kenneth Turan of " The Los Angeles Times " called the film " Sweet - natured and unsurprising . . . this is one of those Never Say Die , I Gotta Be Me , Somebody Up There Likes Me sports movies that no amount of cynicism can make much of a dent in . " American Film Institute recognition :