The simple trend of remakes has been replaced by a trend of remaking films by Robert Aldrich. He was a good director. After “Flight of the Phoenix” (1965), it’s now the turn of “The Longest Yard,” which he filmed in 1974. By the way, the remake in America is called the same – “The Longest Yard,” and only in Russia was it renamed to “Все или ничего” (“All or Nothing”) for some reason. But I wouldn’t say that Peter Segal’s new film is paler than the original. It’s funnier, more comedic – you have to consider “50 First Dates” (2004), which made Segal’s name – but the drama is also justified and not cheapened. It’s just that the constant giggling and extraordinary lightness of thought are a sign of our times.
Hollywood has been making films about prisons since time immemorial (“I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” (1932)), and the “penitentiary” genre has long had subgenres. “All or Nothing” is a sports subgenre of prison films. How to assemble a team of poor prisoners and play against a team of gleaming guards – a kind of hymn to American football, correcting morals. In Russia, by the way, there is a similar old film based on real events, when a match was arranged between Dynamo Kyiv and the German occupiers during the war. The Russians won, and they were all shot. In “All or Nothing,” of course – don’t worry, they won’t be shot, but, despite the seemingly complete genre convention, the film turned out to be almost lifelike. It starts very lively with a rich babe who supports former famous football player Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler). The court, however, acquitted him for the sold match, but his career ended. And so he watches football on TV, lives with the babe, bickers with her, drives her luxurious Bentley, and teases the traffic police with a large pack of beer. He went on a tear. This is filmed freely, in detail, close to the Russian soul. He woke up already in the zone.
Here again, it’s not immediately football, but pictures of prison life. How they beat. How they eat. How they trade underground. How they snitch. Also very similar to us. Sandler is immediately given the prison warden (James Cromwell) and the head of security (William Fichtner) as enemies, and the inimitable guy with the self-playing name Hustler (Chris Rock) as friends. Then the plot began. It is simple, clear, frivolous in relation to the hard prison life. Almost completely predictable. Slightly colored by the problem of blacks and the problem of gays. Slightly complicated by the problem of deals with conscience. The plot works for several reasons. First, the types are very accurately found. There are countless characters, you can’t dramatize everyone, so Segal went the way of external expressiveness. The gays are hilarious, the blacks take up space (the debutant Dalip Singh is a real 218 cm), Burt Reynolds is a memory. In the original 1974 film, the young Reynolds played Sandler’s role, and now he plays the old-timer coach and will even score at the end in his seventies. He arranged a benefit performance for himself. Chris Rock also hosted the last Oscars for a reason. He knows how to be witty, and a lot, and accurately. Perhaps his role is the strongest in the film. Sandler is also in his element. He is not so witty, but quite organic in any farcical situation, from basketball with a big black man to ping-pong with a very big Indian.
The Football
Secondly, for the used principle of “montage of attractions” there were enough attractions, and the best of all is football itself. This is not the football that we play, and the rules are unknown. But when it started, the men in the hall reacted exactly like on TV. They shouted, cheered, waved their hands. In general, everything is clear without any rules and it takes over. It is filmed very beautifully – they run, fight, catch, drop. And indeed, much can be forgiven, if only they would let them play. Any game without cheating emphasizes real life, like green against red. This entertains, life rejoices, which Segal was trying to achieve, unlike the skeptical Aldrich. Without bothering especially, he honestly spent 82 million dollars of the budget and has already recouped them twice.