User Reviews

I read Walter Shaw's rather scathing review of the film. As an expatriated American, I have a different take on it. Don't get me wrong, I gave it a 6 (ie nothing special). What got my attention is the way this film draws a caricature of our culture.

It contains the following elements of American culture: football and the heroism bestowed on great athletes, a homecoming queen who lived only for her man saving herself for marriage(it was Louisana in the 60s), capitalism, the empowerment of blacks from the 60s through the 80s, the career woman becoming the head of the family (not typical of every American family, but a trend that was taking off in the 80s). Furthermore, it contains elements typical of American film: mass appeal and a plot which is rather simple, a happy cheesy ending, rekindled love, athlete's friendship/loyalty to one another, nauseating predictability, persevering the trials of marriage (marriages everywhere have trials and athletes have loyal friends everywhere, they are just the subject of American films a lot more often). In short, even its shortcomings are typically American.

I don't really know if the creative team that realized "Everybody's All-American" (even the title is Americana to an extreme) intended to make an intelligent film that takes elements unique to our culture to a near absurd extreme, or if I interpret the film this way because I pay closer attention to everything "American" than I used to. The beginning of the film is so cliché I can't help wonder if it is intentional: the homecoming game, the hero, his beautiful blonde girlfriend, his nerdy relative who has a crush on the girlfriend. There are two possibilities: either the creators of this film intended the film to be a reflection of American culture to be studied critically, or they produced a film that would have mass appeal because it contained all the elements that would attract an American audience.

The US is the single-most talked about/written about nation in the world. For me this film declares itself to be the quintessence of American culture in its title, and the storyline is right out of Norman Rockwell. I recommend this film not for its entertainment value, but for food for thought and analysis.

"Everybody's All-American" brought forth a movie that can be seen as both a chick flick in terms of the steaming romantic chemistry between the two leading stars (Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange) and plenty of football action for the guys to enjoy. The main character of the movie is centered around Gavin "The Gray Ghost" Grey (Dennis Quaid). "Everybody's All-American" succeeds in that the ideas featured had potential to be an extraordinary film, but Hollywood had to water it down immensely. The film scores high points in entertainment, but their welcome goes on too long.

Based on a novel by Frank DeFord, the die-hard football fan can see through that this film is based loosely on the life of Billy Cannon. Both Grey and Cannon's stories both seem eerily similar to each other. The film center around Gavin Grey, who plays for the LSU Tigers, leading their team to the 1956 Sugar Bowl Championship. Even though not once, LSU was ever mentioned, but Cannon played for that team at the time.

What makes this film enjoyable to watch is that the characters portrayed are both likable and well developed. Quaid shines as the star football running the "Gray Ghost" Gavin Grey. Lange is just adorable as Southern gal Babs. Timothy Hutton was at his very best as history professor Cake, John Goodman is believable as a football player who turns his life to gambling and Carl Lumbly puts in his performance as black football player who later becomes a business tycoon. It's always a great feeling deep inside to see such well developed characters and at the same time each and every one of them have a certain likeness that truly captures the spirit of this movie. By setting this film in the state of Louisiana, we realize that the South really loves their football. The look of the 1950's South captures a feel of nostalgia, though it's questionable if it was entirely accurate.

The biggest problem I had with "Everybody's All-American" was that the two best characters were not the leading stars (though they did well), but Prof. Cake (Hutton) and Lawrence (Goodman) were the best of the ensemble, but were sadly underused and I wanted to see more of them. And even though Ghost and Babs have good chemistry between each other, there are several holes between them that make for a gripping relationship. For instance, what does Babs really see in the Gray Ghost and vice versa? We are left clueless as to how and why they are attracted to one another. However, the romantic angle is still a joy to watch.

The fine ensemble cast carries the film splendidly, but falls short in terms of comprehension to what they're saying at times which could be due to the overdone technicalities of director Taylor Hackford.

Hackford's direction is the weakest link in this film. He's trying to hard to make this movie ultra serious but at the same time, the characters are also clichéd. With newsreels and archive footages they aren't put to good use and is taken way too seriously. You can clearly point out which of the scenes are staged and which ones are actual highlights making it all seem out of place. Even the die-hard football fan will be taken off by this sloppy mess Hackford made.

Overall in spite of it's flaws it is still an enjoyable film filled with plenty of football action and romance outside the gridiron.

After about 25 years of reading about this movie shot in my long-time hometown of Baton Rouge, I finally watched Everybody's All-American with my mom on Netflix disc. From the parade at the State Capitol to shots at Airline Highway near the end, I recognized many of the landmarks that were depicted in the film. Oh, and the shots at LSU Tiger Stadium (otherwise known as Death Valley) were glorious! It follows Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange as football hero and homecoming queen as they go through the trails and tribulations of falling in love, getting married, making a family, and the ups-and-downs-of career and marriage. There's also nice supporting turns by John Goodman-as a fellow player who has some personal problems, Timothy Hutton-as Quaid's cousin who becomes a writer, and Carl Lumbly-another former football star who thrives when the civil rights era passes. If there's some disappointment concerning the narrative, it's near the end when there seems to be some scenes missing which was confirmed when I looked at the deleted scenes section of the DVD and found a whole sequence concerning Quaid's affair with another woman in it. With that, it might have been a much better movie. Still, I enjoyed what I saw and was glad to watch this. So on that note, I recommend Everybody's All-American. P.S. I recognized singer (and New Orleans native) Aaron Neville as the man with a track pistol in the Spanish Town sequence and Patricia Clarkson (fellow N.O. native) as Hutton's fiancée. I also loved seeing Mike the Tiger when he was shown!