The Mighty Ducks

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For the NHL team, see Anaheim Ducks. For the AHL team, see Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. For the animated series, see Mighty Ducks (TV series).
The Mighty Ducks

Promotional film poster
Directed by Stephen Herek
Produced by Jon Avnet
Jordan Kerner
Written by Steven Brill
Starring Emilio Estevez
Joss Ackland
Lane Smith
Heidi Kling
Josef Sommer
Vincent Larusso
Joshua Jackson
Elden Henson
Shaun Weiss
Jussie Smollett
M.C. Gainey
Matt Doherty
Brandon Quintin Adams
J.D. Daniels
Aaron Schwartz
Garette Ratliff Henson
Marguerite Moreau
Gords Silva
Brock Pierce
Music by David Newman
Cinematography Thomas Del Ruth
Editing by Larry Brock
John F. Link
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) October 2, 1992
Running time 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Followed by D2: The Mighty Ducks

The Mighty Ducks is the first film in The Mighty Ducks trilogy, produced by Avnet-Kerner Productions and Walt Disney Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution, and originally released to movie theatres on October 2, 1992. In the UK and Australia the film was titled Champions. UK video and DVD releases are now titled The Mighty Ducks are the Champions, reflecting both titles.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (December 2009)

Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is a successful yet flamboyant Minneapolis defense attorney, whose truculent courtroom antics have earned him no friends among his peers. One day Gordon is arrested for drunk driving after celebrating another courtroom victory. Having the book thrown at him by vengeful prosecutor Frank Huddy and the judge Bombay belittles in a previous trial, he is sentenced to community service - namely, coaching the local "District 5" PeeWee hockey team. Bombay has a history with the sport, although his memories are far from pleasant: he blew a penalty shot that would have won his team the state championship, costing them the title for the first time ever and disappointing his hyper-competitive coach, Jack Reilly (Lane Smith).

When Bombay meets the team, he realizes the kids have no practice facility, equipment and ability to go with it. The team's first game with Bombay at the helm is against the Hawks, the team he had played for in the past. Reilly is still head coach and remains bitter about Gordon's shortcoming in that fateful game (the team's second-place banner still hangs amidst the row of championships along the arena walls). District 5 gets pummeled in the game 17-0, and after Bombay berates the team for not listening to him, the players challenge his authority. Meanwhile, Bombay discovers his old mentor and family friend, Hans (Joss Ackland), who owns a nearby sporting goods store, was in attendance.

The following practice, Bombay attempts to teach the team to dive for the next game, but this plan backfires when the players exaggerate their falls so much the referee threatens to forfeit the game to their opponents. After the game, one of the fathers expresses his displeasure over the fact that he is giving up overtime at work in order to see his children play only to see them taking dives. Needing some guidance, he heads to Hans' store. There, he recalls the tragedy of losing his father four months before the championship game, the reason why Bombay quit playing hockey. Hans gives him a pair of newly sharpened skates, encouraging him to rekindle his childhood passion.

Bombay approaches his boss Gerald Ducksworth (Josef Sommer) to sponsor the team, which Ducksworth reluctantly agrees when Bombay offers him his own jersey. The result is a complete makeover for the team, both in look (as they can now buy professional equipment) and in skill (as Bombay has more time to teach the kids hockey fundamentals). Now playing as the "Ducks", they fight to a tie in the next game, showing signs of a turnaround. Along the way, they recruit three new players: the sibling team of Tommy (Danny Tamberelli) and Tammy Duncan (Jane Plank), and slap shot specialist and enforcer Fulton Reed (Elden Henson). Charlie "Spazway" Conway (Joshua Jackson), one of the Ducks showing the most potential, catches Bombay's eyes and he takes him under his wing as his protégé.

Despite their poor record before Bombay's arrival, the Ducks learn they still have a chance to make the playoffs, following the withdrawal of a rival team for the season, due to measles. Bombay also learns that Adam Banks (Vincent Larusso), star player of the Hawks, actually resides in the Ducks' recently-redrawn district boundaries. He approaches Reilly about the situation, threatening the Hawks with forfeiting every game for the remainder of the season if Banks does not join the Ducks. Reilly chastises him for employing such underhanded tactics when the team has no chance to win anyway, but Bombay concurs - albeit sarcastically - within earshot of two Duck players, Peter Mark (J.D. Daniels) and Jesse Hall (Brandon Adams). The team fails to recognize the context of the argument, devastated to hear Bombay belittle them. The following game, the rest of the team hears about Bombay's argument and apparent lack of faith in his players. This demoralizes the Ducks, and Bombay is forced to forfeit the game when only Charlie and Fulton take the ice.

After considering leaving the team, Charlie is talked out of it by Gordon. Bombay goes to see Ducksworth, who tells him his community service is over. However, Ducksworth turns out to, along with Reilly and Adam's dad Phil (an old friend of Ducksworth), have made a deal with the peewee hockey league to allow Adam Banks to stay on the Hawks for the rest of the season. The league would redraft the lines the next season. The condition to this deal was that Bombay drop his protest with the league. All of this violates what Ducksworth expected Bombay to learn about fair play with this sentence, with Ducksworth, Reilly and Mr. Banks attempting to change the rules, as Bombay had agreed to follow the rules. Therefore, Bombay refuses to drop his protest reminding Ducksworth that Bombay wanted him to learn about fair play, and despite that he claimed he didn't learn everything, Bombay tells them about how his father taught him that, "A team isn't a bunch of kids out to win. A team is something you belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn." The hypocritical Ducksworth offers Bombay an ultimatum: drop his complaint or be fired from the firm over "some kids and some game." Bombay takes the latter, "quacking" at Ducksworth on his way out.

Bombay then goes to the Ducks' school to speak with them. All of them had just got detention for quacking at the principal, which started when Peter and another Duck, Dave Karp (Aaron Schwartz), taunt Charlie about his loyalty to Bombay. When Bombay comes to see them in detention, writing "I will not quack at the principal" many times on the chalkboard, he convinces the team to give him another chance in their last game of the season. The pep talk comes none too soon, as the team becomes fired up to win. In the meantime, Adam finally joins the roster, and although met with uncertainty for being a former Hawk, he proves to be a valuable asset. Thanks to Reed's last-second slap shot, the Ducks are propelled into the playoffs. At this time, a budding romantic begins to emerge between Bombay and Charlie's divorced mother, Casey Conway (Heidi Kling).

The Ducks win their next two games, sending them to the championship against the dreaded Hawks. When the game begins, the Hawks immediately take an early lead, as Adam (whose father still sits with the Hawks and is now cheering against his own son) gets continually harassed by the Hawks' defense. Not content with simply winning, Reilly instructs his players to "drop [Banks] like a bad habit". The following play, Adam manages to score a goal, but is sent crashing into the goal, rendering him unable to play the rest of the game. The Ducks, who were standoffish around Adam, now accept him as part of the team. Despite this situation, the Ducks manage to pull off goal-scoring opportunities, bringing the game into a tie, with Bombay content to see the game into overtime. Unfortunately, Charlie is hooked from behind following a breakaway run as time expires. The Ducks earn a penalty shot and though Charlie's shooting has been inconsistent, Bombay nominates him to take it, encouraging him by stating he is proud of Charlie to have reached this point (a sharp contrast to Reilly threatening Bombay before his own penalty shot that his failure would let down the entire team). Inspired, Charlie employs the same "triple-deke" technique Bombay had attempted in the past and wins the state championship.

The movie ends with Bombay boarding a bus headed to a minor-league tryout. Although he seems daunted at the prospect of going up against younger players, he receives the same words of encouragement and advice from the Ducks he had given them, promising he will return next season because they've "got a title to defend".

[edit] Reception

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While reviews from critics were very mixed, the film became a surprising success. It grossed $50,752,337 in the U.S. alone (not counting inflation). The film's success inspired two sequels, an animated TV show, and an NHL team was named after the trilogy. While both sequels box-office totals didn't match the first movie, they were still financially successful.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links


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The Mighty Ducks films
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