Well Deserved Praise

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This may have smacked of the Ozzie and Harriet days but, what's wrong with that? About time for a return to decency! Sure, we all know that all kinds of language is used in a football camp, and we certainly know what sex scenes are all about since we are inundated with them in almost every film. What a nice break from filth this was! It proves that you can tell a story without going into the gutter. I'm surprised that it was even able to be made! Using language and sex would not in any way have enhanced this story, but it would have kept young viewers away. And during the last half hour you could have heard a pin drop as everyone in the audience was riveted. I will go out of my way to see and recommend other Angelo Pizzo films.

An elderly Coach Royal (Aaron Eckhart) is being interviewed about his playing days. He starts recounting one of his player named Freddie Steinmark (Finn Wittrock). Steinmark isn't an All-American player but he has an All-American heart. He is a hard-working, religious, and pious kid. He's the first to arrive and the last to leave. Linda Wheeler (Sarah Bolger) is his high school sweetheart. He plays for Royal's University of Texas Longhorns.Nothing really dramatic happens in the first two thirds of the movie. There are some cute stuff like his puppy love with Sarah Bolger. Wittrock isn't that charismatic and the character is very square. It's a very straight biopic. The writer should realize the meat of the story is the eventual expected medical issue. Honestly, I don't know anything about the true story. Since nothing happens for most of the movie, I assumed that some big tragedy happens in the climax. That's what happens in most of these movies and in this one, it's not that climatic.Even the twist is problematic. Essentially, Steinmark is too stubborn to go to a doctor. It's playing-thru-the-pain ethos on steroids. Even his refusing to use a wheelchair is problematic. He's willing to pop his stitches and ignore his doctor. There are ways to make this a compelling journey. It would make more emotional sense if people start pitying him. This could have been a great movie about the battle for his life. Instead, we're spending hours on the predictable football games.

From the bonus segments on the DVD of "My All-American," it is clear that the filmmakers were primarily interested in presenting an inspiring human interest story, as opposed to a football biography. They were enormously successful in achieving their goal in retelling the life of University of Texas football player Freddie Steinmark.Freddie Joe Steinmark was only 5'10 tall and weighed only 155 pounds, yet he was such an overachiever that he won a full scholarship to play for the University of Texas in the late 1960s. Legendary football coach Darrell Royal is perfectly played by Aaron Eckhart, and an outstanding young actor, Finn Wittrock, performs the role of Steinmark.For football fans, there is an excellent set of hard-hitting action scenes on the gridiron. In the bonus clip to the DVD, we learn that Mike Fisher was faced with the daunting challenge of recreating a football playbook from forty-five years ago. The sequences were entirely believable both on the practice field and in game action. The son of the Texas quarterback in the championship season of 1969, effectively played the role of his dad.The film is not perfect, and some viewers may find the interpretation of Steinmark to be overly sentimental. A legitimate question to ask is whether Steinmark was really quite the saint, as portrayed in the film.Another shortcoming was the relationship of Steinmark with his father, as interpreted in the film. The father clearly overbearing in the way he pushed his little boy to excel in football. The drama of whether Steinmark would be awarded a scholarship seemed like a life-and-death matter to the father. Why? Student loans existed in the 1960s.Inexplicably, the domineering presence of the dad never seemed to phase young Freddie Steinmark. There is an excellent film called "Fear Strikes Out" that depicts a similar father-son relationship and the damaging effects on the baseball player Jimmy Piersall. Psychologically, "My All-American" was not sophisticated in its approach to family systems. At the least, there should have been some accountability for the conduct of the father. In the film, even Freddie's close friend, Bobby Mitchell, casually observes that the father is living out his failed athletic career through his son.Still, the film was a moving depiction of a life well-lived, yet cut short. It is clear that Freddie Steinmark truly touched those around him, both with his athletic abilities and his strength of character. This is a solid family drama and worthy of viewing and reflection.

In terms of finding someone to look up to, heroes are scarce in American cinema. Superheroes, antiheroes, comic book heroes abound, but an uncompromising, generous-spirited Everyman is notably absent, despite there being a huge draw for him and a vacuum for good family entertainment.Enter My All-American, financed primarily by Bud Brigham, (a Texas oilman and prominent UT Alum) and written/ directed by Angelo Pizzo. (screenwriter, Rudy and Hoosiers) My All-American is a football story, and Freddie Steinmark is Everyman. He's a kind, generous, hard-working fellow who becomes the starting safety for the 1969 National Championship Football Team, the Texas Longhorns. Writer/director Angelo Pizzo introduces us to Freddie as a child, with sandlot dreams of playing football at Notre Dame, but Notre Dame thinks he's too small. (There are early echoes to Pizzo's prior film Rudy here.) Rather than force his way onto the Notre Dame Football team (like Pizzo's Rudy Ruettiger,) Freddie Steinmark finds a home with Darrell Royal, the iconic head football coach at the University of Texas. Despite his Steinmark's small stature, Royal recognizes his unflappable persistence and effervescent personality and offers Steinmark a football scholarship. What begins as a familiar climb to up the ladder of college football success changes at midpoint, as Steinmark discovers a nagging injury that turns out to be much more serious than first anticipated. Despite some sports personalities deeming the film this generation's Brian's Song, Pizzo does what he does best. He makes us feel like we have never seen this story before.Finn Wittrock plays Freddie Steinmark with exacting intelligence. He makes thoughts visible; he could tell the story without saying a word. In scene after scene he displays an unswerving loyalty to principle and a strong grasp on the diploma of manhood. Aaron Eckhart, as Darrell Royal, has a hard job here. (Royal referred to himself as the Barry Goldwater of college football). Eckhart's portrayal of Royal is measured, as he alternates between an extroverted warmness and a self-controlled, calculating, fear-inducing dominance which helped Royal lead the Horns to three National Championships. Juston Street, portrays his own father and UT quarterback James Street with swashbuckling candor and verve. In terms of supporting roles, he is the standout here. But Rett Terrell deserves mention, portraying Steinmark's roommate, Bobby Mitchell, with a steady stoicism and unexplored depth.My All-American is above all, a relationship movie. For those who seek love stories, there is a beautiful one here. Freddie Steinmark and Linda Wheeler are high school sweethearts who go to college together, and then are asked to endure the strain of facing a serious illness. Sarah Bolger (as Linda Wheeler) displays her own form of heroism; she is bright, playful, and child-like, yet stern and has the fortitude to confront Freddie's illness with an inflexible determinism, resolve and wisdom beyond her years. And Gloria Steinmark, Freddie's mother, is adeptly played by Robin Tunney. As the matriarch of the family, Tunney, presents Gloria with a steely strength and sympathetic tension, as she is caught between her love for her son and her ambition for him.In addition to an outstanding cast, My All-American's score, by composer John Paesano, is exquisite. His score highlights the scenes with just the right mix of melodic emotionality.While we are wholly unprepared for Steimark's untimely prognosis, Pizzo, leaves us with a form of Steinmark unbent by the weight of his sorrowful circumstances, and a heart adorned hope and love and fearlessness. The film infuses a new life and a new courage in the hearts of every movie goer: May we all face life's obstacles with Freddie Steinmark's courage and enthusiasm.