The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

Scores in nearly every department
By JEFFREY GANTZ  |  November 24, 2008
3.5 3.5 Stars

HARVARDYALE-INSIDE.jpg


Kevin Rafferty's 40th-anniversary documentary about the fabled Game of 1968 — when both teams were unbeaten and Harvard, after being completely outplayed by the 16th-ranked Elis, scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds to "win" — has no designs on being innovative: contemporary interviews with the players are intercut with slightly fuzzy but quite acceptable footage of the game. But it scores in every other department.

More than 40 players appear on camera; Yale running back and future Dallas Cowboys star Calvin Hill is the notable absentee. The big names are Harvard offensive guard Tommy Lee Jones and Yale quarterback Brian Dowling, but there's so much more: Harvard DB Pat Conroy talking about being a Vietnam vet; Yale fullback Bob Levin talking about dating Meryl Streep; Yale linebacker Mike Bouscaren talking about being a hit man; Yale defensive back J.P. Goldsmith lighting up every subject he touches.

Throw in Doonesbury, rooming with Al Gore and Dubya, the Yale band taunting Harvard with "The Mickey Mouse March," and the wildest final minute in the history of football and you have a movie that's easier to follow than Quantum of Solace, and lots more exciting. Harvard back-up-quarterback hero Frank Champi has the last word, and he gets it right: "I think we all won."

105 minutes | Brattle: Through November 27

Related:
  Topics: Reviews , Harvard University , Yale University , Football ,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

Today's Event Picks
-->
ARTICLES BY JEFFREY GANTZ
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   ADAM AND EVE  |  January 13, 2009
    It's boy-meets-girl at New York City Ballet
  •   TRULY TESS  |  December 29, 2008
    Hardy, for once, gets his due
  •   ARISE AND HAIL  |  December 16, 2008
    Revels goes to Thomas Hardy's Wessex
  •   NOT SO GREAT  |  December 02, 2008
    San Francisco's Nutcracker on PBS
  •   HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29  |  November 24, 2008
    Scores in nearly every department

 See all articles by: JEFFREY GANTZ

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group