The Longest Yard (1974)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Paul Crewe	Burt Reynolds	½
Warden Hazen	Eddie Albert
Captain Knauer	Ed Lauter
Nate Scarboro	Michael Conrad
Caretaker	Jim Hampton
Granville	Harry Caesar
Pop	John Steadman
Unger	Charles Tyner
Rassmuesen	Mike Henry
Ice Man	Jim Nicholson
Warden's Secretary	Bernadette Peters
Mawabe	Pervis Atkins
Samson	Richard Kiel

Review

With an intro as stylish and chic as arguably anything starring Burt Reynolds before or since, The Longest Yard may well deceive you at first, because what follows is nothing like the jazzy, erotic opening; it is a gritty, sweaty, old-fashioned prison/football movie in which David faces Goliath, and all that implies. Burt stars as an ex-pro football player who upon being sent to a prison run by football crazies, is being persuaded into putting together a team of inmates to face the guards' team of semi-pros. Although the film is full of archetypes and cliches, it is also quite fun and full of heart. And there's nothing simplified about the big game of football which is to settle it all; that runs for a full 47 minutes and is both meticulous and enjoyable enough to satisfy both fans of the sport and probably most others.