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North Dallas Forty (1979)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
1/05, 11/08, 9/25
11/08:
North Dallas Forty is the most famous football picture made because of the fiction book that Peter
Gent wrote, reflecting his playing days with the Dallas Cowboys during the 60's.
A lot of the content feels dated. Looking at Nick Nolte's body, I have a hard time believing he's a professional
football player. A guy like him won't make any college football team today. The excessive amount of chain-smoking
and beer-chugging, jeez...no wonder why it's such a pain to get up and walk around in the morning.
If Phil Elliott doesn't like where he's at, then why not quit the team and find something else to do? Oh, don't
like the pay? Well, that's more than what most people made at the time. It doesn't matter anyway because the
joke is on him as he'll end up paying for it big time through medical bills.
For two hours, North Dallas Forty contains little, albeit real, football action,
some talk, and a lot of nothing in between. Save for a few, there isn't much of character development, and the
plot is at best minimal. Yet there are memorable moments that underscore what it's like to be a football player.
Mac Davis, who plays the quarterback, bears an uncanny resemblance to Family Feud's host Richard Dawson.
All in all, I don't mind seeing North Dallas Forty again later.
9/25:
The following is what happened for North Dallas Forty:
During the middle of the shooting for Who'll Stop the Rain, Nick Nolte
was reading Peter Gent's book. Anthony Zerbe walked by him and said, "That's your next film." He was like,
"Oh, really." So, he began to be serious about it and went to see his agent and manager, declaring his intentions.
They told him, "No, no, no." Afterwards, he decided to go at it alone, pitching the idea to a friend of his, and
they worked on the script which led to a big meeting with the head honcho who agreed to finance the project. As
a result, Nick Nolte fired his agent and manager, the film became the most famous of his career, and he simply
took off from there on.
North Dallas Forty holds up well today although it can be dated here and there, mostly because of the
dialogue. Many things may be hard to believe, but I encourage people to check out Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson's
book, Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty, and be even more blown away by what it is like to
play for the Dallas Cowboys. Another outstanding book is Hearing the Noise: My Life in the NFL by
Preston Pearson.
G.D. Spradlin is absolutely spot-on as an imitation of Tom Landry except he always ended the end of his
talk with "Okay?" In one scene, a black player took out his dentures; that's accurate because if one tackles a
powerful runner the wrong way, he's liable to lose all of his front teeth. The stuff about drugs and alcohol
was very common back then. Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Bo Svenson, and John Matuszak, among others, are perfect.
All in all, before Any Given Sunday came out, there was
North Dallas Forty.