Movie Reviews for A Shot at Glory

A Shot at Glory

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Movie Reviews of A Shot at Glory

Movie Review: a great sports movie
Summary: 4 Stars

Movie Review: Should have dressed Duvall in a kilt
Summary: 3 Stars

A long way from Lonsome Dove on the Rio Grande, Robert Duvall plays Gordon McLeod, the coach of the team playing for the town of Kilnockie. The club's owner, Yank Peter Cameron (Michael Keaton), has just acquired, to Gordon's disgust, mega-star Jackie McQuillan (Ally McCoist). Jackie, though a talented player, has a volatile temper and is the philandering husband of Gordon's daughter Kate (Kirsty Mitchell). Adding insult to injury, McQuillan had persuaded Kate to marry outside of her parents' church.

As Kilnockie, a second-tier team, battles its way into the company of the Big Boys and the Scottish National Cup championship match against the powerhouse Glasgow Rangers, Duvall's sometimes incomprehensible Scottish brogue is the best reason to see A SHOT AT GLORY. I'm no judge of the dialect, but Duvall seemed a natural at it. And I could lose myself in Mitchell's strikingly beautiful eyes. However, if the film appeared in an "art theater" near me, I can understand why it must have been for no longer that it takes to kick a penalty shot. Besides the relatively unfamiliar milieu, the unusual (for the genre) ending might perhaps be uninspiring. The inclusion of the Kelsey (Cole Hauser) character, an American rookie goalie that gets thrust into a tough spot, could have provided a subplot of considerable substance if fully developed; but it wasn't. Even putting Duvall in a kilt would have raised it a notch. A soccer fan will likely rate the movie higher as is, especially since McCoist played magnificently for many years with the real-life Glasgow Rangers and was Europe's top scorer in the early 90s.

Because of Duvall's top billing, I wanted to like A SHOT AT GLORY much more than I did. I guess I'll just have to plug in my much-viewed copy of LONESOME DOVE and once again watch old Gus herd those beeves to Montana.

Movie Review: A good story... ruined by a wildly impossible sub-plot
Summary: 2 Stars

First the good bits. Kilnockie - an invented Scottish second division side - embark on an unlikely run in the Scottish Cup. So far so unoriginal. But the on-field scenes are superbly realistic - comfortably the best I have ever seen in any sport-related film.

Then we have a real professional sportsman playing the lead - but amazingly this is a real professional sportsman who can act. Indeed he acts the pants off several better known actors and is utterly believable.

It is also unpredictable - just at the moment you expect the "usual" to happen... it doesn't! There is a standard love interest, for example, but it doesn't get in the way.

Throw in a sectarian sub-plot (about which more could have been done in fact) and this could have been a classic. So why the **** did some eejut allow this stupid sub-plot about an American owner threatening to move the club to Ireland?

Not only was this clearly and obviously shoe-horned into the script at the last minute, not only was the American owner - played by Michael Keaton - unconvincing (and appalingly performed) to the point of absurdity, but as a storyline it is utterly, utterly, utterly impossible.

Anyone who knows anything about the game will know that a club based in one country cannot play in another's league. UEFA wouldn't wear it, even if the SFA allowed it (which they would not). But like a bad penny - every time the film getting going - this inept plot line shows up and has the effect of chalk being scraped across a blackboard. Eeeeghhhhh!!!!

Yes - we can all guess WHY this stupid idea was added - because US audiences would identify with it. But the trouble is it destroys the film for anyone who knows anything about football by constantly highlighting the fiction. One can only suspend belief so far!

And its all SUCH a shame!!!

Movie Review: Alright but ...
Summary: 2 Stars

Whilst the idea of a First Division (and yes i got that right, First Division is second-tier. Premiership being the top) being moved might be appealing to US audiences, it makes anyone from Europe laugh. Not just would the governing bodies of the sport not allow it, the idea of a club moving would be considered heresy. So that idea is a bit stupid, and instantly off putting to anyone that knows the sport. As as the concept of an American owner and goalkeeper at a small Scottish club. Never happen especially in the case of the playing staff as they'd have to be capped sufficiently by the US to allow them a work permit. And if they're that good they wouldn't be there.

Okay none of this has anything to do with the film or acting theoretically but it made me roll my eyes. As did Duvalls accent, which went from one area to another and other to Ireland at one point. Far far too thick, only induced laugher from me. As did the concept of Super Ally's character being ex-Celtic. For the uninititated he's a Rangers man who hates Celtic.

The acting is passable and the story cliche ridden, although McCoist and Keaton were actually alright. Simply put, a great film for an American who knows nothing about the sport of the country but horrific for a Scottish person and a Scottish fitba' fan at that.

p.s Please don't call them "the Rangers or "the Celtics" like some reviwers elsewhere have. It's just Rangers and Celtic, no "the" or an "s" on Celtic.You'd be liable to be punched by a fan, or possibly applauded if they happen to hate them.