The Longest Yard [The Mean Machine] ***** (1974, Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad) – Classic Movie Review 5316

Robert Aldrich said about Burt Reynolds: ‘On occasion he’s a much better actor than he’s given credit for. Not always. Sometimes he acts like a caricature of himself. I thought he was very good in The Longest Yard (1974).’

Director Robert Aldrich’s much-loved 1974  American prison sports comedy movie The Longest Yard [The Mean Machine] provided Burt Reynolds with his biggest crowd-pleasing success as Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe, the American football former pro quarterback, now serving his time as a convict in jail. It is also one of Aldrich’s best and most popular movies, with the director clearly in his element.

Crewe leads another of The Dirty Dozen director Aldrich’s dirty dozens – a team of criminals, murderers and other undesirables – into battle against an American football squad comprised of their own guards.

The Longest Yard, re-titled The Mean Machine in the UK, is a ferocious and funny comedy action movie, wittily and cleverly written by Tracy Keenan Wynn (son of actor Keenan Wynn) from a story by the film’s producer Albert S Ruddy.

It is directed for maximum excitement by Aldrich, and scores with unstoppable turns from Reynolds and Eddie Albert as the horrible, sadistic prison Warden Hazen, who gets Crewe to assemble a team of inmates to take on the guards in exchange for an early release.

Also in the cast are Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad, Jim Hampton, Harry Caesar, John Steadman, Charles Tyner, Mike Henry, Bernadette Peters, Anitra Ford and Richard Kiel. It also features many real-life football players, including Green Bay Packers legend Ray Nitschke.

It was shot on location at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia, with the cooperation of the then Governor Jimmy Carter, though filming was periodically delayed because of prison uprisings.

It opened on 21 August 1974 in New York and was released in Los Angeles on 25 September 1974 followed by a general release in October 1974. On a low cost of $2.9 million, it earned a sensational $43 million (including $22 million in North American theatrical rentals).

Reynolds said they would film a take as written and then he would ask for a ‘schtick take’ to ‘clown around’. Reynolds said Aldrich knew comedy was ‘not his strong suit’. He claimed the completed film used the schtick scenes about ’65 per cent of the time.’

Aldrich said about Reynolds: ‘On occasion he’s a much better actor than he’s given credit for. Not always. Sometimes he acts like a caricature of himself. I thought he was very good in The Longest Yard.’

The Longest Yard [The Mean Machine] is directed by Robert Aldrich, runs 121 minutes, is made by Long Road Productions and Albert S Ruddy Productions, released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Tracy Keenan Wynn from a story by Albert S Ruddy, shot by Joseph F Biroc, scored by Frank De Vol and set designed by James S Vance.

It was reworked as a vehicle for Vinnie Jones in 2001, Mean Machine, and again as the 2005 film remake The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler and Reynolds as coach Nate Scarborough.

The cast are Burt Reynolds as Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe, Eddie Albert as Warden Rudolph Hazen, Ed Lauter as Captain Wilhelm Knauer, Michael Conrad as Nate Scarboro, James Hampton as James “Caretaker” Farrell, Harry Caesar as “Granny” Granville, John Steadman as Pop, Charles Tyner as Unger, Mike Henry as Rasmussen, Jim Nicholson as Ice Man, Bernadette Peters as Miss Toot, Pepper Martin as Shop Steward, Robert Tessier as Connie Shokner, Richard Kiel [Dick Kiel] as Samson, Anitra Ford as Melissa, Ray Nitschke as Bogdanski, George Jones as Big George, Joe Kapp as Walking Boss, Pervis Atkins as Mawabe, Ernie Wheelwright as Spooner, Sonny Shroyer as Tannen, Ray Ogden as Schmidt, Sonny Sixkiller as Indian, and Michael Fox as Announcer.

Albert S Ruddy wrote the story in the late 1960s and hired Tracy Keenan Wynn as screenwriter after his teleplay for a hit TV movie about life in prison, The Glass House. Finance was raised through Paramount Pictures, who released Ruddy’s 1972 film The Godfather.

Aldrich said he took the third act of the film, in which a character falls from grace and tries to redeem himself, from Body and Soul (1947) on which he worked as assistant director. He revisited this theme in …All the Marbles. (1981).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5316

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