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Topic: The Longest Yard Full Feature

Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted April 23, 2015 04:24 PM

Thursday evening we decided to filmguard our full length marketing feature of
The Longest Yard, (aka in the UK as The mean machine) with Burt Reynolds. Once it was done we hesitated putting it through for a viewing as we last watched it in 2007. Being a marketing film we thought it must have faded, especially as every full length feature we read about from marketing always seems to either be red or well on the way.
Well, what a terrific surprise, the colour is as good today as it was when we bought it God knows how many years ago. It was just after they released the 3 x 400 footer which we had but thought it was a poor cut. The image is also pin sharp, this is either a total fluke or its been kept in optimum conditions here but either way it was a great relief as this was one of the very few full features we purchased brand new.
Print quality is and A an the sound B+/A-.Good clear sound but could have done with a little more bass, luckily we put all our films through a Pioneer stereo amp so this makes up for it. Originally supplied on 6 very full 400 ft spools and in an awful cheap card box. We have since mounted it on 3 x 800 ft spools with a good old home made Tom Photiou box.
I think most people know the plot by now but just in case you don’t here it is.

Paul "Wrecking" Crewe is a former star pro football player & walks out on his wealthy girlfriend Melissa (Anitra Ford) in Florida. He takes her Maserati-engined Citroën SM without permission and leads police on a car chase, choreographed by Hal Needham With Burt Reynolds doing his own stunt driving. Crewe is eventually caught and sentenced to 18 months in Citrus State Prison.
The convicts disrespect Crewe because he was dismissed from the National Football League for point shaving. The sadistic warden, Rudolph Hazen, is a football fanatic who manages a semi-pro team made up of prison guards & wants Crewe to help coach the team and win the championship.
Responding to pressure from the guards' leader and coach, Captain Wilhelm Knauer, Crewe initially refuses, but eventually relents, (after a beating), and agrees to form a prisoner team to play the guards' team in an exhibition tune-up game. Paul Crewe forms a team that includes Samson, a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) former professional weightlifter played the late Richard Kiel, credited in this film as Dick Kiel, and Connie Shokner, a serial killer and martial arts expert, (Robert Tessier).
With the help of the clever Caretaker, (James Hampton), former professional player Nate Scarborough and the first black inmate willing to play, "Granny" Granville, plus long-term prisoner Pop , and with an assist from the warden's amorous secretary, Miss Toot—Crewe moulds a team nicknamed the "Mean Machine". He agrees to play quarterback himself. After witnessing Granny being harassed by some of the prison guards without breaking, the black inmates decide to volunteer their services and join the team. Unger, one of the prison trustees, persistently asks Crewe if he can replace Caretaker as manager of the team, which Crewe refuses to do. In retaliation, Unger attempts to kill Crewe by fashioning a home-made bomb from a light bulb filled with a combustible fluid, designed to detonate inside Crewe's cell when he turns on the light. However, Caretaker is killed instead when he enters Crewe's cell to retrieve some papers and Unger closes the cell door, locking him in and preventing rescue. Crewe's team mates are given a stern lecture from Hazen about the consequences of any attempted escape after the game. Afterward, Crewe re-energizes the team with a surprise - presenting them with professional uniforms (stolen from the guards by Caretaker before he was killed). They run onto the field, to the shock of the guards and Hazen, in their new uniforms.
The "Mean Machine" starts out surprisingly well, and at halftime the game is close, with the guards leading, 15-13. Hazen threatens Crewe as an accessory to Caretaker's murder unless Crewe loses the game to the guards by at least 21 points. Crewe reluctantly agrees, but obtains a promise from Hazen that if he cooperates, the other prisoners will not be harmed.
Hazen double-crosses him, telling Captain Knauer to order his players to "inflict as much physical punishment on the prisoners as humanly possible" as soon as they are ahead by 21 points. Crewe makes deliberate mistakes, putting the "Mean Machine" down by more than three touchdowns, 35-13, & then takes himself out of the game. The teammates feel betrayed. The guards then take out their anger on the prisoners, causing several injuries.
A depressed Crewe goes back into the game. At first, the prisoners provide him with no protection or co-operation, but he convinces them of his change of heart. The "Mean Machine" gets back into the game, trailing 35-30. Knowing that Crewe needs help, Nate, despite his bad knee, scores one of the touchdowns, but is immediately cut down at the knees by guard Bogdanski, crippling him. As he is wheeled off the field, Nate tells Crewe to "screw Hazen" and win the game. They turn the tables on the guards in terms of the violence, including a clothesline from Samson that apparently breaks a guard's neck.
Crewe scores the winning touchdown with no time left and the "Mean Machine" wins, 36-35. As the prisoners celebrate and Crewe walks across the field in what appears to be an attempt to escape, Hazen furiously orders Knauer to shoot him with a rifle, but he refuses before Crewe picks up the football and hands it to Hazen.

This is a film that has everything, comedy, drama & action with a very good cast of characters. To be honest I could never understand why they re-made this film not once but three times, all of them pretty awful.
First one was in 2001 with Vinnie Jones, hopeless and lacking in any characters,
Second one in 2005 the longest yard with Adam Sandler & featuring Burt Reynolds in a supporting role.
third In 2015 as "Captain Masr" Which translates to "Egypt's Captain" starring Mohamed Imam, taking place in Egypt and changing the sport from American Football to Association Football.
These images were all taken during projection but really don't do the print any justice.

I suspect this full length feature was not a big seller but it remains one of the best films in our collection and it actually did quite well upon its cinema release in 1974.
The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in 1975. Burt Reynolds was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Eddie Albert was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and James Hampton was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor.