The Greatest Game Ever Played

I purchased this DVD as a present for my father for Christmas. It arrived very quickly. Thank you Amazon. You've not let me down.

Even though I'm not a golf fan, this is one of the finest films I've seen. Besides all the creative technicalities, the perfect casting and wonderfully gifted acting didn't need the film's special effects to carry them through this winner. My hats off to all who were a part of this movie. It proves, once again, that hype isn't needed when true talent is involved.

Another film with a weak title that'll put the viewer off, but actually, this is a very good sports flick. There's the young hero, poor and ill treated by his pensive father, hoping for a golfing career. There's the snobbie rich guys that run the country club and the lovely rich girl that believes in him. There's the priggish brother that keeps them apart. There's the great Harry Vardan, the British Champion, a man of the lower classes himself. And there's the big US Open 1913 to play with mallet like golf clubs. It's all great fun and we get choked up at all the right places.

When my ten year old son saw that we were putting this DVD into the machine he threw a screamy fit, "Not that movie! I don't want to watch that movie!"

By the end of the film, hole 18, last putt, Francis is ahead by only one stroke, my son was on the edge of his seat with everyone else.

I didn't want to see "The Greatest Game Ever Played" at first myself. When it first came out I could not believe that a young actor with the incredible talent Shia LaBeouf demonstrated in "Holes" didn't have a better movie to star in than some snoozer about a game of golf. Golf, I thought, is one of the most useless games mankind has invented.

This film changed my mind. I can see now that golf has a certain simple charm. You hit a ball with a stick and try to get it to roll into a hole. Even my two-year-old could understand what was happening in this movie. He stood right in front of the screen and jumped up and down and cheered every time the ball went in.

I can't say enough about the impressive cinematography, from the opening titles to the last time we see Vardon get into his zone, making everything melt away except the flag at the far end of the green. The acting was good, the pacing was a little slow in places, but I tell you, we were all holding our breath there at the end.

As for family friendliness, there was only one case of biblical swearing, and that by a very non-sympathetic character. We all booed him. Best of all, this film sparked a great family discussion on good sportsmanship, which was shown by both Vardon and Ouimet.

The one thing I did not like about the film was the antagonistic father character. Why is it that the dad in these sorts of movies insists that the son to do something practical with his life rather than pursue his dreams? Do any parents really do that? Granted, my mom used to get after me for sitting in bed all morning working on my meta-science-fiction graphic novel instead of cleaning my room, and my dad once suggested to me that engineering would be a more practical course than physics, but in general they always encouraged me to develop my talents and pursue my interests. Maybe I'm lucky to have really nice parents.

But anyhow, it disturbed me that in "Greatest Game" dad made son promise to give up golf, and then son had to go and break promise in order to enter tournament and win first place. It wasn't fair of dad to extract the promise, but that was no excuse to go and break it. We talked about that issue with the children too. And what irks me most was that, in real life, Francis Ouimet's father was probably just fine with his son playing golf! Those lousy Hollywood screenplay writers always think they have to add so much drama. Bah!

So with all the good fodder for family discussion, and a sport that even a two-year-old can appreciate, I recommend this film to all ages. I think it will be an enduring classic, one of the best sports movies ever made.

I am the author of Striking It Rich: Golf in the Kingdom with Generals, Patients and Pros

"Read it, roll it and hole it."
So says little Eddie Lowery in this extremely well-made adaptation of the Mark Frost book of the same name. There were only a few questionable choices in my opinion and one glaring omission. Why was the lady bug shot in there? What does that mean?
The glaring omission was choosing to not have Walter Hagen in the story. Hagen was in 4th place in the tournament and is a giant of golf history. They could have put in his famous locker room speech.
Other than that and a slight difference in opinion with the director in the way he handled the romance with the rich girl (far too much sap in my opinion, although it did provide another great line by eddie when he handed the broach to Francis: Francis: "She gave this to me?" Eddie: "Just put it on. Don't get all sloppy about it."), this was a great movie. Every performance was excellent as was the script.
I have recently written a non fiction golf book so I can identify with the creators of this story in struggling with what to put in and what to leave out. Its not easy.
This is the best golf movie of its kind that I have seen. Every member of your family will enjoy it.