LEATHERNECKS

Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
George Clooney: Jimmy "Dodge" Connolly, captain of the Duluth Bulldogs football team
Jack Thompson: Senior Editor of the Chicago Tribune
Renée Zellweger: Lexi Littleton, newspaper writer
Stephen Root: sports journalist Suds
John Krasinski: university star football player Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford
Jonathan Pryce: sports promoter C.C. Frazier
Peter Gerety: Football Commissioner Pete Harkin

REVIEW
It comes with great credentials: a couple of established stars, some clever dialog, upbeat sound track, high production values (sets, costumes etc) and quite a few amusing moments. Yet it is nothing more than a pleasant diversion. Given that the key part of the story is sports orientated means it will not appeal to all. But more importantly the pace is ponderous; it tends to drag on too long (almost 2 hours). Cut out half an hour and we’d all be better off.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief strong language (= couple of four-letter words).

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
 Black players were not allowed in the American professional football leagues until the late ‘30’s, some 10 years after these events took place.
 While sitting on her boss’s desk, Lexi is smoking a filter cigarette. These were only introduced to the market place in 1954.
 A defensive fighting position is one of several types of earthwork constructed in a military context. One type is the foxhole (U.S. Army slang) which is only large enough to accommodate a soldier's entire body and equipment. Despite what he says, Carter and his platoon clearly are in something other than a foxhole, probably a bomb crater.
 The stadium announcer makes reference to a “Hail Mary” pass. The typical Hail Mary is a very long forward pass thrown near the end of a half or end of a game where there is hardly any possibility for any play to work. The term was first used by the Dallas Cowboy’s quarterback Roger Staubach (a staunch Catholic) to describe his game-winning touchdown pass in December 1975 with only 24 seconds remaining.
 As Dodge is walking towards the stadium exit a surveillance CCTV camera can be seen above the door. The first ever CCTV camera was not used until 1942.

P.S.
A common colloquial expression in the English language "to buy a pig in a poke (a burlap sack)” is to make a risky purchase without inspecting the item beforehand. The phrase can also be applied to accepting an idea or plan without a full understanding of its basis.