Movies - The Replacements

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	Movies - The Replacements

The Replacements is a film directed by Howard Deutch in 2000, starring Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton and Orlando Jones. The film is a comedy very loosely based on the 1987 NFL players' strike.

Tagline: Pros on strike. Everyday guys get to play. __TOC__

Synopsis

Loosely playing off of the NFL players' strike of 1987, the movie opens with scenes from a football game. During the game, John Madden and Pat Summerall (played by themselves) are discussing the fact that at midnight, all of the players in the NFL will strike after negotiations with the owners for better contracts have failed. Due to NFL regulations, the strike cannot extend into the post-season, and there are only four games left in the regular season. Edward O'Neil, owner of the Washington D.C. Sentinels, contacts former head coach Jimmy McGinty to recruit replacement players and coach them during the strike. McGinty agrees on two conditions: that he have no interference in his coaching from O'Neil and that his choices for the replacements are unquestioned. While other teams recruit semi-pro or former pro players, McGinty assembles an eclectic group of players that his coaching staff can hardly believe are being recruited.

Also joining the strike are the cheerleaders, leaving Annabelle Farrell, the head cheerleader, to find a new squad to cheer during the four games before the playoffs. The first drove of prospective cheerleaders are so God-awful at dancing and cheering that Annabelle is eager to accept Dawn and Heather, the only two so far to have any dance experience or look at all appealing. When they inform her that they dance at a strip club, Annabelle hesitates for a moment, but then agrees to recruit them and invites them to send their stripper friends over for tryouts as well. The results of having a cheerleading squad composed of strippers are uproarious, and their extremely sexual antics prove most helpful to the replacement Sentinels during the San Diego game.

At first, the team suffers from communication problems and doesn't get along, losing their first game, but McGinty's unique coaching style and a barfight with the striking Sentinels team helps the replacements to cut through their mistrust and lack of cohesion. Even after winning against San Diego and then Phoenix, however, Falco is still choking when the game is on the line. When Steve Martel, the Sentinels' contracted quarterback, crosses the picket line, O'Neil breaks his promise of non-interference and manipulates McGinty into allowing Martel to play in Falco's place; O'Neil doesn't believe that Falco has the ability to lead the team to victory against Dallas, as the team was no longer made up of replacements but of the world-champion contracted players who had all crossed the picket line. Martel's prima donna behavior causes serious problems on the field during the Washington-Dallas game; when McGinty is questioned by a reporter about what the team would need to win, he replies: "Heart... miles and miles of heart." This is a veiled message to Falco, whom he hopes is watching, because McGinty told Falco when he informed Falco about the switch to Martel that Falco had 'miles and miles of heart'. Falco makes it to the game before halftime ends, Martel is thrown out, and Falco leads the replacement team to victory. Though they are precluded from playing in the playoff spot they earned for the Sentinels, the replacement players are able to return to their lives with their heads held higher, knowing that they had finally been given their moment of glory.

There is also a fairly predictable romantic subplot involving Shane Falco and Annabelle Farrell, the head cheerleader. Players and cheerleaders are not allowed to fraternize in professional football, but the temporary status of Shane's position on the team makes the point rather moot. Shane and Annabelle become friendly, then fall for one another. Shane sets up a date with Annabelle following the Phoenix game, but he stands her up after his self-esteem takes a blow from being pulled in favor of Martel. But when he returns to the team during the Dallas game, he apologizes to Annabelle and they are beginning a relationship at the end of the movie.

Characters

Replacement Sentinels

Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones
)- a stockman in a mini-mart who can outrun anyone, but cannot catch anything. He is ecstatic to meet the real NFL players at first, but their hostile attitude towards him eventually overcomes his exuberance;
Jahmal and André Jackson (Faizon Love and Michael Taliferro)- brothers and former offensive lineman turned bodyguards who only seem to excel when they play on the same team;
Nigel Gruff (Rhys Ifans)- a British footballer (soccer player) and pub owner, nicknamed "The Leg" because he can kick a soccerball (and later football) at a yard's length. He also has a tendency to smoke on the field and has a crippling gambling addiction.
Jumbo (Ace Yonamine)- a sumo wrestler with a passion for food;
Earl Wilkinson (Michael Jace)- a former football star serving a prison sentence for assault, allowed to play with the permission of the governor of Maryland. Wilkinson is given the psuedonym 'Ray Smith' and almost no background on him is given to the commentators, likely to prevent public outcry over the recruiting of a convicted felon;
Brian Murphy (David Denman)- an excellent football player who would have been an NFL superstar had he not been born deaf;
Daniel "Danny" Bateman (Jon Favreau
)- a reserved, almost reticent man during normal interaction with people, but when placed in an adversarial situation, he goes completely berserk. A former Gulf War veteran and current member of the Washington D.C. SWAT team, he will take down anyone whom he perceives to be his enemy and anyone in the way of his target;
Walter Cochran (Troy Winbush)- a firm believer in the power of the Lord, Cochran blew out his knee as a young football player and never had a chance to turn pro. His dream has always been to score a touchdown during a professional football game;
Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves
)- a former Ohio State quarterback whose opportunities in football dried up after he choked during the Sugar Bowl of his senior year. He now lives in a boat and earns his living scraping barnacles and other debris off the boats tied at the marina.

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Movies - The Replacements

Synopsis

Characters

Replacement Sentinels

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