Darnell Williams

This article refers to the 2005 film. For the 1974 original, see The Longest Yard (1974 film).

The Longest Yard
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Segal
Written by	Albert S. Ruddy Sheldon Turner
Produced by	Heather Parry
Starring	Adam Sandler Chris Rock James Cromwell Nelly William Fichtner<r>David Patrick Kelly Tracy Morgan Cloris Leachman and Burt Reynolds Michael Irvin Bill Romanowski Brian Bosworth Terry Crews Nicholas Turturro Bill Goldberg Kevin Nash Stone Cold Steve Austin Bob Sapp Steve Reevis Lobo Sebastian Dalip "The Great Khali" Singh Rana
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Edited by	Jeff Gourson
Music by	Teddy Castellucci
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures / MTV Films (US) Columbia Pictures (non-US)
Release dates	May 27, 2005 (USA)
Running time	113 min.
Language	English

The Longest Yard is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. The movie features inmates at a prison who play American football against their guards. Adam Sandler plays the hero, Paul Crewe, an ex pro-football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Burt Reynolds, the original Paul Crewe, plays a major role as Nate Scarborough, the head coach and a former Heisman Trophy winner from 1955, and Chris Rock as Crewe's cell neighbor and friend known as Caretaker. The rest of the cast and professional wrestlers including Michael Irvin, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Bob Sapp, Terry Crews, Brian Bosworth, Bill Romanowski, and Dalip "The Great Khali" Singh Rana.

Plot

The film starts with Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler), an ex-NFL player disgraced for shaving points in a big game, getting in an argument with his rich girlfriend (Courteney Cox) regarding his failure. He locks her in a closet, gets drunk, and goes joy riding in

In prison, the warden asks Paul to help with the prison guards' American football team. After being roughed up a bit, Paul (against his will) decides to help him. He informs the warden that what his team needs is a tune-up game: a game where they play a team and "kick the living shit out of 'em, and get their spirits up". This gives the warden an idea: Paul, with the help of fellow immate Caretaker (Chris Rock), will make a team out of the inmates for them to play as their tune-up game. He starts off with a poorly organized team before being noticed by a former football player, Nate Scarboro (Burt Reynolds), who is residing in the prison, and decides to help him by coaching the team.

Then Paul and Caretaker find an online rating system on the criminals (up to five stars, depending on how prone to violence they are). They all set out to find and recruit some five star inmates. But after realizing their team is built on power and nastiness (primarily on defense) and there is no offensive threats on the team, Paul realizes he needs more players: linebacker Joey Battle (Bill Goldberg), fullback Turley (Dalip Singh Rana aka The Great Khali), and a safety, Torres (Lobo Sebastian), a chain-smoking outsider. Caretaker suggests that it is due to their lack of "brothers", as they only have one currently on their team, Switowsky (Bob Sapp), an unintelligent and child-like, but large strongman, as the defensive lineman.

They go to the black inmates and aproach their leader Deacon Moss (Michael Irvin), who declares that none of them want to play on his team because of Paul's point-shaving history. So Paul challenges them to a 1 on 1 basketball game where if Paul wins, the men will join the team. They play basketball and call their own fouls with Paul getting physically punished during the game. After Paul loses, Earl Megget, (Nelly), one of the black immates, was the only one to step up Paul after being impressed by his physical durability. He later becomes the team's running back and impresses Paul with his running ability.

After a tip from Unger (David Patrick Kelly) that Paul and Megget are the only real offensive threats on the team, Captain Knauer (William Fichtner) (the guards' coach) decides that the guards should try to stop Megget by trying to get him to assault one of them and sticking him in solitary confinement. Three guards Dunham (Stone Cold Steve Austin), Garner (Brian Bosworth) and Engelheart (Kevin Nash) try to provoke Megget by using racial slurs and making him pick up books they dropped on the ground repeatedly. The guards give up on this after he stands through their harassment, and after witnessing this with Moss, Cheeseburger Eddy (Terry Crews), the rest of black inmates decide to join the team. The guards go to extreme lengths to stop Paul's squad, even flooding their field, but the team overcomes these obstacles.

Paul suggests that since the guards have been playing dirty that the inmates should start acting more like criminals, such as swapping Engelheart's anabolic steroids for estrogen pills. The guards Garner, Engelheart, Holland and Lambert (Bill Romanowski) then decide to do something about Paul, and have Unger plant a bomb, disguised as a radio, in his cell. After the final day of preparation for the big game, Caretaker leaves early and places a gift for Paul in his cell and accidently sets the bomb off, and is killed in the resulting explosion.

During game day, the immates (now calling themselves "Mean Machine) begin to catch up as they inflict a lot of pain on the guards. The first half ends with the score tied. The warden is angry, and informs Paul that if he doesn't lose then he would be framed for the murder of Caretaker. Paul says spitefully, "Fine, but you get a 2 touchdown lead and you coast". The warden agrees to Paul's face, but he tells the guards' quarterback to get ahead by three touchdowns and inflict as much pain as possible. After they score two touchdowns, they start injuring players before scoring a third touchdown. After the guards injure two of the players, Paul goes back in, but the inmates don't trust him. He gets sacked twice while they're not blocking for him, then runs it in for a first down on fourth and 20 himself. After losing his helmet and still getting the first down, he admits his sabotage and they trust him again. They get back in it, but Megget gets hurt. The coach comes in, and scores a touchdown off a trick play involving a fumble called a Fumblerooski. They decide to go for the two point conversion, and the win. They get up to the line and seem to be confused, and Paul and Coach start arguing. The play is really a trick, and then a receiver gets the snap and passes it to Paul, who scores the winning conversion. Ultimately Captain Knauer respects Paul's move and lets him know he will testify that Paul had nothing to do with Caretaker's death.

The warden comes over and begins to admonish Captain Knauer for losing a fixed game and notices that Paul is heading towards the exit along with the fans. Pulling a sniper over, he demands that Paul be shot for attempting to escape. The sniper hesitates because of the numerous people near Paul, so the warden grabs the rifle and passes it to Knauer, demanding that he should take the shot. Knauer sights up Paul, but hesitates, calling out Paul's name several times to get him to stop. Paul does stop, but he was actually going to pick up the ball and head back. Knauer angrily hands the rifle back to the warden and leaves, while Paul gives the game ball to the warden, telling them to "Stick it in his trophy case." Paul and Scarborough head back towards the locker room and agree that they should tell the others where Unger is hiding.

As the warden watches them leave, Moss and Battle pour a cooler of Gatorade on Hazen in a mockery of a typical football game celebration. The Warden angrily shouts that they'll receive a week in the hotbox. Battle yells back "who gives a shit?"

Response

The overall critical response was mixed. Though they generally agreed that it was a play-by-play remake, the greatest complaint from critics was that it replaced the original's dark comedy and grit with juvenile humor and visual gags.

Nevertheless, the film managed to do well at the box office. Its $47.6 million dollar opening weekend was the largest of Sandler's career and only second to The Day After Tomorrow as the largest opening by a movie that wasn't #1. The film would go on to gross $158.1 million domestically and $190 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film produced by MTV Films. Despite the large number of remakes released at the theaters, it's worth noting that The Longest Yard is the highest grossing comedy remake of the modern box office era (from 1980 on).

Roger Ebert, in the critical minority with this title, gave it a Thumbs Up, defending it later in his Chicago Sun-Times review as a film that "...more or less achieves what most of the people attending it will expect." However, in the print review, Ebert beseeches his readers to "...seek out a movie you could have an interesting conversation about", citing films not in wide release such as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist and Kontroll, until finally encouraging his readers to "drop any thought of seeing anything else instead" if they can see Crash.

The film also earned Chris Rock a BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Theatrical Film.

Cast

• Adam Sandler – Paul Crewe
• Chris Rock – Caretaker
• Burt Reynolds – Nate Scarborough
• Nelly – Earl Meggett
• Michael Irvin – Deacon Moss
• Bill Goldberg – Joey Battle
• Terry Crews – Cheeseburger Eddy
• Bob Sapp – Switowski
• Nicholas Turturro – Brucie
• Dalip "The Great Khali" Singh Rana – Turley
• Lobo Sebastian – Torres
• Joey Diaz – Big Tony
• Steve Reevis – Baby Face Bob
• David Patrick Kelly – Unger
• Tracy Morgan - Ms. Tucker
• Edward Bunker - Skitchy Rivers
• William Fichtner – Capt. Knauer
• Bill Romanowski – Guard Lambert
• Kevin Nash – Sgt. Engleheart
• Stone Cold Steve Austin – Guard Dunham
• Brian Bosworth – Guard Garner
• Michael Papajohn - Guard Papajohn
• Conrad Goode - Guard Webster
• Brandon Molale – Guard Malloy
• Todd Holland - Guard Holland
• James Cromwell – Warden Hazen
• Cloris Leachman – Lynette
• Rob Schneider – Punky
• Courteney Cox Arquette – Lena (uncredited)

Cameos

• Chris Berman - himself
• Jim Rome - himself
• Lauren Sánchez - herself
• D-12 (excluding Eminem) - Basketball convicts

Trivia

• In the "Tree-Out" scene, a sample of music from the video game Half Life 2 is played.

• The original 1974 The Longest Yard was rated "R", but the 2005 remake was rated PG-13. There was no PG-13 rating at the time of the original release, though the original's amount and nature of profanity use may still have earned it an R-rating. The remake had less profanity than the original.

• The 1974 original was shot with spherical lenses with an original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, while the 2005 remake was shot with anamorphic lenses with an original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

• Burt Reynolds is one of the few actors to have a major role in a movie and a major role in its remake. Ed Lauter had a major role in the original, but only a cameo in the remake.

• The stolen car switches from a Citroën SM in the original to a Bentley Continental GT; instead of escaping the police vehicles, Crewe collides with them in the remake.

• During the basketball scene, rappers from D12 make a cameo appearance in the crowd (except Eminem). Swift comments "Look at this fake Slim Shady", in regards to Crewe showing up on the basketball court.

• Eddie Albert, who starred in the original 1974 movie, died just one day before the movie would be released in theaters.

• Switowski's line "I think I made him shit himself" and the subsequent repeating of the line by several different characters is a direct reference to the original, in which the line was instead "I think I broke his fuckin' neck." The line '"I think I made him shit himself" is a quote from the original film and was used in the remake. In the remake, an edited version made for tv uses the line, "I think I broke his freakin' neck."

• The 2005 remake was filmed at New Mexico State Penitentiary in Santa Fe. That was also the location of the infamous prison riot that lasted for two days, on February 2-3 of 1980, in which 33 prisoners were killed.

• The film crew working on the 2005 remake built an additional guard tower between two cell blocks, on the steps of which Burt Reynolds' character introduces himself to Adam Sandler's character.

• Rob Schneider who had played an enthusiastic fan in The Waterboy, another film in which Sandler portrayed a football player, has a brief cameo where he reprises his cheer "You can do it!"

• It seems as if the guards are playing Halo 2 in a scene where Unger reports to Captain Knauer about his spy work. In reality, they are merely watching the trailer featured on newer Halo: Combat Evolved XBOX disks.

• The name of Nelly's character, Earl Megget, is most likely a reference to former New York Giants's and New England Patriots running back Dave Meggett, who was an explosive runner and kick returner during the 1990s. Dave Meggett has also had numerous run-ins with the law.

• James Cromwell, who plays the warden in the film, also plays the warden in The Green Mile.

• Every current, or former, World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler that has appeared in this has been a World Heavyweight Champion. Stone Cold Steve Austin - WWE Championship, Bill Goldberg - WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Kevin Nash (as Diesel)-WWE Championship and The Great Khali - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

• Adam Sandler states, while explaining the concept of a "tune-up game", that his college team would "...always start out with somebody like Appalachian State, kick the livin shit out of them...". Ironically, the Mountaineers pulled off one of college football's greatest upsets by beating the perennial powerhouse Michigan Wolverines in the 2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game.

• In the original, the Mean Machine steals the guard's gear for the game. In the remake, Caretaker had gotten gear elsewhere.

• During the broadcast of the game, Chris Berman uses some of his familiar antics, such as calling Crewe Paul "Motley" Crewe (a reference to nicknames he uses for players), and the HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY!! when a player runs for a touchdown.

• Although not present in the soundtrack, the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Green River" can be heard in the movie.

When choosing to go for two they say "We always play to win" is Jimmy Joshson reason of going for a failed two-point conversion instead of kick the extra point to send Catholics vs. Convicts game into overtime.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Track listing

"Errtime" - feat Nelly "Errtime" Lyrics by Nelly, Jung Tru, King Jacob & Zachary Wallace Music by Phalon Alexander & Zachary Wallace Performed by Nelly featuring Jung Tru & King Jacob Produced by Jazze Pha for Futuristic Entertainment/Noontime Music Jung Tru & King Jacob perform courtesy of Derrty Ent. Nelly performs courtesy of Derrty Ent./Universal Records

"Talkin That Talk" Performed by David Banner & Chamillionaire.

"Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker Performed by Big Head Todd & The Monsters featuring John Lee Hooker Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc. By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing John Lee Hooker performs courtesy of Virgin Records under license from EMI Film & Television Music

"Thunderstruck" by Angus Young & Malcolm Young Performed by AC/DC Courtesy of Epic Records By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment Inc

"Boom" by Nelly and G.A. Performed by Nelly Produced by G.A. Nelly performs courtesy of Derrty Ent./Universal Records

"Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by John Fogerty Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival Courtesy of Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group, Inc.

"Hella Good" by Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Gwen Stefani & Tony Kanal Performed by No Doubt Courtesy of Interscope Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

"If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" by Angus Young, Malcolm Young & Ronald Belford Scott (as Bon Scott) Performed by AC/DC Courtesy of Epic Records By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment

"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Cameron Muncey & Nicholas Cester Performed by Jet Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp. By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

"Spirit in the Sky" Written & Performed by Norman Greenbaum Courtesy of Transtone Productions

"Stomp" by Murphy Lee, King Jacob, Prentiss Church & Fala Performed by Murphy Lee featuring King Jacob & Prentiss Church Produced by Fala Beats Murphy Lee performs courtesy of Derrty Ent./Universal Records King Jacob & Prentiss Church perform courtesy of Derrty Ent.

"Fly Away" by Kenneth Karlin, Adrea Monica Martin, Ivan A. Matias & Carsten Schack Performed by Nelly Produced by Rashad "Regus" Hill Contains a sample of "Still in My Heart" by Kenneth Karlin, Adrea Monica Martin, Ivan A. Matias & Carsten Schack Performed by Tracie Spencer Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc. Nelly performs courtesy of Derrty Ent./Universal Records.

"Move" by Asani Charles & Bryan Bonwell Performed by Natasha Barr Courtesy of Spirit Music Group/BZEE ROC Music.

"Saturday Night Special" by Edward King & Ronnie Van Zant Performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd Courtesy of Geffen Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises.

"Oh My, Oh My!" by Asani Charles & Bryan Bonwell Performed by Nicole Kindle Courtesy of Spirit Music Group/BZEE ROC Music.

"Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" by Allan Clarke, Roger Greenaway & Roger Cook Performed by The Hollies Courtesy of EMI Records Under License from EMI Film & Television Music.

"U Should Know" by Arnold Beasley, Aaron Martin & Ronald Ferebee, Jr. Performed by 216 Produced by Yonny for Yonny/Skelatune Productions 216 performs courtesy of Hustla Entertainment/Universal Records.

"Give It Up" by Alvertis Isbell, Marvell Thomas, Carlton Ridenhour, Gary Rinaldo & Sean DeVore Performed by Public Enemy Contains an interpolation of "Opus de Soul" by Alvertis Isbell & Marvell Thomas Courtesy of Terrordome Music LLC By Arrangement with Reach Global, Inc.

"Jack and the Ripper" by Michael Kamen & Buckethead Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

"My Ballz" by Denaun Porter, Ondre Moore, Deshawn Holton, Von Carlisle, Rufus Johnson, Marshall Mathers, Luis Resto & Henry Mancini Performed by D12 featuring Eminem Produced by Eminem Additional production by Luis Resto Contains elements from "Peter Gunn Theme" by Henry Mancini D12 performs courtesy of Shady Records/Interscope Eminem performs courtesy of Aftermath/Shady Records/Interscope.

"Mississippi Queen" by David Rea, Felix Pappalardi, Laurence Laing & Leslie West (as Leslie Weinstein) Performed by Mountain Courtesy of Columbia Records By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment.

"Roll It Up" by Scott Kirkland & Ken Jordan Performed by The Chrystal Method featuring Scott Weiland Courtesy of Outpost Recordings/Geffen Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises.

"Narcotic" by Tommy Lee, Timothy Murray, Scott Kirkland & Scott Humphrey Performed by Methods of Mayhem featuring Scott Kirkland Courtesy of Geffen Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises.

"Fall-Off Truck"

"Cats and Dogs" by David Shire Courtesy of TriStar Pictures, Inc.

"Railroad Blues" Written & Performed by Wayne Hancock Courtesy of Bloodshot Records By Arrangement with DePugh Music.

"Greek House" by Thomas Newman Courtesy of Hollywood Records

"Oh" by Christopher Davis, Billy Squier, Joseph Ward Simmons, Darryl Matthews McDaniels, Lawrence Smith & Jason Mizell Performed by Union Turnpike Courtesy of Epic Records By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment Contains a sample of "The Stroke" Written & Performed by Billy Squier Courtesy of Capitol Records Under License from EMI Film & Television Music Contains a sample of "Jam Master Jay" by Joseph Ward Simmons, Darryl Matthews McDaniels, Lawrence Smith & Jason Mizell Performed by Run-D.M.C. Courtesy of Profile Records, Inc./Arista Records, Inc. By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment.

"Get Back (Clean Rock Mix)" by Ludacris (as Christopher Bridges) & Dominic Bazile Performed by Ludacris featuring Lazy Eye Additional vocals by Dolla Boy & Brolic D Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group Under license from Universal Music Enteprises.

"Bootleg" by John Fogerty Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival Courtesy of Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group, Inc.

"Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder Performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers Courtesy of Capitol Records Under license from EMI Film & Television Music.

"Break U Off" by Keith Thornton & Kurt Matlin Performed by Kool Keith & Kutmasta Kurt Courtesy of Oglio/DMAFT Records.

"USC Drum Cadence" Performed by the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band Drumline.

External links

• The Longest Yard at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site