Rudy (Anspaugh 1993)
Kids
Teens
Adults
The first film I revisited was Rudy, an inspirational drama the entire family can enjoy together:
A blue collar kid dreams of playing football at Notre Dame, even though the odds are stacked against him.
It’s a great film to help teach a “never give up” attitude and very valuable as a conversation starter with your children. It has a great message, and I really hope you’ll check it out.
*Disclaimer* that it glorifies playing sports and going to college as a goal. I never thought that would be a disclaimer I would have to write, but I guess it just goes to show how far those institutions have fallen.
Besides those caveats, since succeeding in sports is so rare, and college is no longer an automatic stepping stone to a better job and life, this film is wholesome and the type of movie people think of when they hear “family” film.
And the way college and sports are presented provides a great frame of reference to discuss with your kids why college is the right choice for some, but not others. Same with sports. While Rudy may achieve his nearly impossible goal of playing football for Notre Dame, he wasn’t going to ever play professionally or make a living off of it.
It’s also a great chance to talk about not giving up — that most people quit right before they succeed. Even though it can be a cliche in movies, it’s a cliche for a reason.
Because it happens all the time.
We grind and grind and make sacrifice after sacrifice. And most people give up right before it finally pays off. A huge opportunity as far as family discussion.
There is no sex or innuendo, one fist fight, and a scary death. But mainly just hard work and determination.
From a filmmaking standpoint, Rudy is excellent, and a benchmark in the sports genre. The shot of Rudy walking onto the empty field for the first time at Notre Dame Stadium is one of the “great shots” from all of cinema, yet alone sports films.
And it still hits as hard today as it did when I was a fourth grader and my friend thought I should watch it. He was right, and it had a major positive impact on my childhood.
Thank you so much for your interest in Family Movie Night. If you find this content valuable, please make sure to share with your friends and family across the interwebs.
If you have any movies you’d like to see featured in the newsletter, please be sure to let us know! Also keep an eye out for the upcoming home theater guide!
And if you haven’t subscribed, sign up today to be notified when new movie/series profiles are added to the repository.
If you haven’t tried Prime, you can get a 30 day trial here, or check out the steep discounts for students or those on government assistance.
Thank you, we enjoyed watching this last night with our 7 and 9-year-olds.
I love this movie!