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In Reply to: Friday Night Lights posted by jamesgarvin on February 16, 2005 at 08:23:15:
Those differences, like how the Boobie character really got hurt and how the school treated him afterwards are done for more dramatic effect and soft peddled in the movie (the dramatic effect being how the injury happened and the soft peddling being how the school treated him and how the coaching staff felt about him).This is just one of many differences in both content and tone.
The book is for sure a couple of orders of magnitutde better than the movie.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
Follow Ups:
does this FILM compare to other films which touch on the same topic?
I remember Tom Cruise, early on in his career, starred in a film about h.s. football. Isn't Hoosiers about h.s. athletes, as well?
Can you compare it to them?
And how about Billy Bob's performance?
If you'd never read the book, in other words, would you have liked the film and appreciated BB's portrayal?
I thought BB did an excellent job and it is certainly in the upper tier of sports movies. I don't think it has the depth of Hoosiers (it never slows down long enough) but it's worth seeing for sure.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
It has been so long since I have seen those films. As I recall, those films were fictional, and there were no suggestions that they were based on any specific, true story. I would suggest an analogy: I have seen many killings in film, and they have very little impact. Witnessing a actual live killing, either live or on television, leaves a more lasting impact. I think the same applies here. There have certainly been sports films about high school sports, but very few that are non-fiction. I felt that this left more of an impact because you know that the events depicted happened, and are happening every day under your nose.
He was on the D.V.D., as were approximately four other players. The players, including Boobie, stated that in reality he was arrogant, did not work very hard, did not study, and was sometimes hard to deal with. I think that came through in the film.There was one very poignant scene when Boobie is sitting on his porch, nursing his injury, and he sees garbage men collecting garbage. He looked at them with urgency because he, at that moment, saw his future, and it did not include football, or even a profession. Rather, it included menial, mindless, unglamorous labor. Everyday. In Odessa. For the rest of his life. I do not know whether that event actually happened. But it certainly added to the point of the story, and succinctly sums up the underlying theme of the film. I thought that scene added to the appeal of the film. Whether it actually took place makes no difference to me. Because it should take place, everywhere stories like this occur.
I have no doubt that the there were some pertinent facts that were changed, enhanced, etc. for dramatic effect. Believe me, I do not recall ever watching a film, from any source, thinking that it is 100% accurate. But based upon the interviews with the former players, and from a columnist with the local paper, I was left with the impression that most of the film is accurate.
I think that the point of the film remains intact. Which is that a high school sport consumes these smaller, depressed towns, such that the sport is more important than the player's health and education, their families, and the coaches. Most people assume those things take place at the college level. But I think that most assume High School sports are immune from the zealousness that pervades college athletics.
I think that this film, more so than any film I have seen since "Hoop Dreams", brought this reality into my living room. I have no doubt that the book was better. But then, is it not that way with most films that are developed from a book? To compare a book with a film is not fair, because a writer has two hundred plus pages to tell a story.
I agree with everything you said. My post was just in response to this sentence..."What I learn is that the events in the film are real, and not 'glorified' by the screenwriter or the studio."
I read it quickly amd probably gave it more weight than I should have. I liked the movie and I saw it before I read the book. I highly recommned the book, it goes waaay deeper into the whole football as religion thing. It's quite a read.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
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