We Are Marshall

We Are Marshall
Theatrical poster
Directed by	McG
Produced by	Basil Iwanyk McG
Screenplay by	Jamie Linden
Story by	Jamie Linden Cory Helms
Starring	Matthew McConaughey Matthew Fox Ian McShane Anthony Mackie Kate Mara January Jones Brian Geraghty David Strathairn
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography	Shane Hurlbut
Editing by	Priscilla Nedd-Friendly Gregg London
Studio	Legendary Pictures Thunder Road Pictures Wonderland Sound and Vision
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	December 22, 2006 (2006-12-22)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$43,545,364

We Are Marshall is a 2006 American drama film directed by McG.

It depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team as well as five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters and a crew of five. It also addresses the rebuilding of the program and the healing that the community undergoes.

Matthew McConaughey stars as head coach Jack Lengyel, with Matthew Fox as assistant coach William "Red" Dawson, David Strathairn as University President Donald Dedmon and Robert Patrick as ill-fated Marshall head coach Rick Tolley. Then-governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue has a cameo role as an East Carolina University football coach.

The movie is rated PG. It was scored by Christophe Beck and written by Jamie Linden. Dr. Keith Spears was the Marshall University consultant.

Plot

Southern Airways Flight 932 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 that Marshall University chartered to transport the Thundering Herd football team to Greenville, North Carolina, via Stallings Field in Kinston, North Carolina, and back to Marshall's campus in Huntington, West Virginia. On the evening of November 14, 1970, the aircraft clipped trees on a ridge just one mile short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, West Virginia, and crashed into a gully.

The team was returning from its game against the East Carolina University Pirates — a 17–14 loss. There were no survivors. In all, 75 people lost their lives. The deceased included the 37 players; head coach Rick Tolley and five members of his coaching staff; Charles E. Kautz, Marshall's athletics director; team athletic trainer Jim Schroer and his assistant, Donald Tackett; 25 boosters; and five crew members.

In the wake of the tragedy, President Donald Dedmon leans towards indefinitely suspending the football program, but he is ultimately persuaded to reconsider by the pleas of the Marshall students and Huntington residents, and especially the few football players who didn't make the flight. Dedmon hires a young new head coach Jack Lengyel, who with the help of Red Dawson (the sole surviving member of the previous coaching staff), manages to rebuild the team in a relatively short time. They are aided by the NCAA's waiver of a rule prohibiting freshmen from playing varsity football (a rule which had been abolished in 1968 for all sports except for football and basketball, and would be permanently abolished for those sports in 1972).

The new team is composed mostly of the 18 returning players (three varsity, 15 sophomores) and walk-on athletes from other Marshall sports programs. Due to their lack of experience, the "Young Thundering Herd" ends up losing its first game, 29-6 to the Morehead State Eagles. The Herd's first post-crash victory is a heart-stopping 15–13 home win against Xavier University in the first home game of the season.

Cast

• Matthew McConaughey - Jack Lengyel
• Matthew Fox - William "Red" Dawson
• Anthony Mackie - Nate Ruffin
• Arlen Escarpeta - Reggie Oliver
• David Strathairn - Donald Dedmon
• Ian McShane - Paul Griffen
• Kate Mara - Annie Cantrell
• January Jones - Carole Dawson
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley - Sandy Lengyel
• Brian Geraghty - Tom Bogdan
• Tommy Cresswell - Gene Morehouse
• Christian Kanupke - Keith Morehouse
• Nina Jones - Mrs. Morehouse
• Robert Patrick - Coach Rick Tolley (Uncredited)

Filming

Filming of We Are Marshall commenced on April 3, 2006, in Huntington, West Virginia, and was completed in Atlanta, Georgia. The premiere for the film was held at the Keith Albee Theater on December 12, 2006, in Huntington; other special screenings were held at Pullman Square. The movie was released nationwide on December 22, 2006.

Several aspects of the film were changed for dramatic purposes, although the gist of the story was retained.

Home media

We Are Marshall was released on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on September 18, 2007.

Lawsuit

Deborah Novak and John Witek, who produced the 2000 documentary Marshall University: Ashes to Glory filed a $40 million lawsuit in federal court in California accusing Warner Bros. and others associated with the We Are Marshall film of fraud, copyright infringement and breach of contract. Novak, who directed Marshall University: Ashes to Glory, is a Huntington native and Marshall alumna. On November 19, 2008, a judge ruled in a summary judgment that the case was not built on solid ground and chose to dismiss it.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% out of 124 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8/10 and the site consensus stating: "Matthew McConaughey almost runs We Are Marshall to the end zone, but can't stop it from taking the easy, feel-good route in memorializing this historic event in American sports."

The film's directing was criticized by many reviewers. Peter Hartlaub, from the San Francisco Chronicle, blamed director McG for "half of the movie problems" and went further on saying that "He has a kinetic and kitschy style that could make next year's "Hot Wheels" movie a surprise hit, but he's completely out of place here." Peter Howell from the Toronto Star said the film lacked genuine drama or conflict.

McConaughey's performance was one of the film's highlights. Roger Moore from the Orlando Sentinel gave it 4 stars out of 5 and said in his review that "We Are Marshall (it's the rally cry of the team) doesn't always have a handle on the grief, but it does keep emotions close to the surface. That allows McConaughey to be the most refreshing, funny and believable he ever has been."

Allusions

The memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington, West Virginia to the victims of the Southern Airways Flight 932 crash was the site of one of the film's pivotal scenes.

• The name of the movie is based on a cheer performed by students and players at the university, which is also featured prominently in the movie.
• In the movie, newspaper headlines are from the combined Sunday newspaper of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch.
• In the movie, a radio announcer calls Marshall's opponent the "Xavier Pirates." In real life, the school's nickname was, and still is, the Xavier Musketeers. "Pirates" is the nickname of East Carolina University, Marshall's opponent in their final game before the crash.

Cameos

• In the end credits of the movie, clips are shown of some of the more prominent players in Marshall history, such as Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss; and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich.
• The real Red Dawson can be seen in the movie as the coach of Morehead State.
• 1971 quarterback Dave Walsh can be seen in the movie as an assistant for Xavier.
• The real Jack Lengyel had a cameo appearance in the movie. Another notable cameo was by Keith Morehouse, the current sports director for WSAZ-TV in Huntington and play-by-play announcer for Marshall broadcasts. He followed in the footsteps of his father Gene Morehouse, who was Marshall's play-by-play announcer when he was killed in the crash. Keith's future wife was one of the 18 children left orphaned by the crash.
• Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia at the time the movie was filmed, has a cameo role as an East Carolina assistant coach.
• Dorsey Levens, a former Green Bay Packers running back, has a cameo as the Xavier head coach. This casting is an anachronism as well—no major college football program would hire an African American head coach until 1979.
• Former Cabell County (Huntington) sheriff Kim Wolfe appears as a police officer in the scene of the crash aftermath.

External links

• Official website
• We Are Marshall at the Internet Movie Database
• We Are Marshall at Box Office Mojo
• We Are Marshall at Metacritic
• Check-Six.com - Information about the 1970 crash with crew and passenger list
• We Are Marshall at Marshall University
• Review of the Book 'The Marshall Story' - Tells the story of Marshall Football
• Marshall University Memorial page
• american football films - we are marshall