Un amore una vita

Superbly acted film about a rocky relationship between a Sugar Bowl all-american (Quaid) and the Magnolia Queen (Lange). The story takes us through over 25 years of triumph and tragedy with great support from Hutton and an especially good performance from John Goodman. Look for "Seinfeld's" Wayne Knight here.

This film tells the story of anyone who has looked back on their life with fondness, embarrassment, nostalgia, sorrow, joy, and any other emotion you can think of. Dennis Quaid does some of his finest work as an All American college football player who is a superstar in spite of himself. While he enjoys the spotlight and all that goes with it to a certain extent, he just wants everyone to accept him for who he is. Jessica Lange does her usual stand out job portraying a prototype southern debutante who starts out happy to be her man's woman, but as time goes on discovers herself. Timothy Hutton plays the cousin to Quaid's character and finds himself woven into the lives of the born to be together couple. John Goodman turns in a great performance as a friend and teammate to the "Grey Ghost" that coincides with the beginning of his long running role as the quintessential suburban husband to Roseanne. While this film is entertaining to the sports fan, it also appeals to anyone who wishes they might have done things differently. If the ending doesn't grab you just a little, you're not human.

My favorite line in the movie is a colloquy towards the end between Cake's (the academic)girlfriend and Gavin. She offhandedly, and almost sarcastically, remarks to Gavin that he can't "let the old team down". With profound seriousness he responds "Honey,I never did". For those of us who have starred on the athletic field, this sentiment often drove us. For me, this movie realistically captured the experience of being an athletic hero. As I tell my young atheletes who I now coach, no matter what tribulations and setbacks may befall you; no one can ever take away from them what they have achieved on the field. I recommend the movie.

This movie is more than just a football movie, or a character study of an athlete that can't hang up his shoes. It's a movie about friendship, glory, and how you can't hang on and stop time. It's a theme that's echoed in the civil rights back story as well. Wonderfully acted, this movie always makes me a little sad for Gavin and the gang. No matter how hard they try, they just can't recapture the good times and glory of yesteryear. Whether those good times are scoring on the field, or in love. Tim Hutton, Jessica Lange, and Dennis Quaid all give great performances. This movie is often underrated and overlooked in lists of great sports movies.

As I recall this movie was panned by the critics and was a box office

bomb when it was released in '88 but I consider it one of the best films in recent years and one of the best sports movies of all time.

Gavin Grey is a '50s LSU football star who has few interests or talents off the field. He's seen as a shallow. but basiclly decent, product of the 1950s south. He's under no illusion about the fleeting nature of his fame, and the movie avoided the usual cliche of protraying him as a bigoted simpleton or a sanctimonious do-gooder. It takes you through his pro career with the Redskins, a humiliating stint with the Denver Broncos when he's way past his prime, and the final heartbreaking episode with his 1955 teammates at LSU Tiger stadium. In the meantime wife Jessica Lange has found unknown talents as a businesswoman, adding to the pathos of Grey's status as a has-been. Dennis Quaid is superb as Grey, especially when showing him as a middle-aged ex-jock.

Everybdy's All American? Everybody connected with this project should be congratulated. I'd like to think that, someday, this film will get the credit it deserves.