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The Longest Yard Details

1974 DVD Certificate 15.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 1171 members

In Robert Aldrich's crowd-pleasing classic, Burt Reynolds stars as convict Paul Crewe, a former football player doing time in a prison controlled by two authoritarian sports fanatics, warden Hazen (Eddie Albert) and captain Knauer (Ed Lauter). When Crewe sees that the guards have a top-notch football team, he takes it upon .. Read more

Starring Burt Reynolds, Ed Lauter, James Hampton, Michael Conrad
Director Robert Aldrich
Genres Comedy

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The Longest Yard

In Robert Aldrich's crowd-pleasing classic, Burt Reynolds stars as convict Paul Crewe, a former football player doing time in a prison controlled by two authoritarian sports fanatics, warden Hazen (Eddie Albert) and captain Knauer (Ed Lauter). When Crewe sees that the guards have a top-notch football team, he takes it upon himself to form a squad with his fellow dispirited inmates. As the prisoners come together, galvanized by the chance to challenge the guards, they begin to experience a sense of purpose and solidarity--and Hazen doesn't like it. With the Penitentiary Bowl approaching, Hazen pressures Crewe to throw the big game. Crewe must choose between his own freedom and supporting the newfound dignity of his convict teammates.
Aldrich brings to THE LONGEST YARD the same humor-spiked, antihero-driven feel for rousing adventure shown in THE DIRTY DOZEN and creates a film that matches gridiron favorites NORTH DALLAS FORTY and SEMI-TOUGH while also comparing to classics such as ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, STALAG 17, and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION that reveal the soul-crushing aspects of life under lock and key. Like the latter films, Aldrich's darkly funny, bone-crunching drama succeeds most enduringly by showing the small, barbed, fiercely beautiful refusal of the spirit to surrender.

Starring Burt Reynolds, Ed Lauter, James Hampton, Michael Conrad, Harry Caesar, Mike Henry, Dino Washington, Eddie Albert
Director Robert Aldrich
Studio PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 56 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres Comedy
Language English
Dubbed Fremch, German, Italian, Spanish
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Released DVD: 01 Jul 2002
Production year: 1974
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (2) of The Longest Yard

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  • A fiercely anti-authoritarian parable mixing broad, black comedy and fast action, this portrays the conflict between... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Violent, meandering comedy-drama with murderous jokes but no narrative grip.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of The Longest Yard

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  • 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Definitive proof that Burt Reynolds could act....

    The Longest Yard, previously titled The Mean Machine (Later rehashed by Vinnie Jones) is basically a story of a man who had everything, lost it all and then realised what he had wasnt worth keeping. Burt plays an aging American Football star who finds himself in Jail after over indulging one night and going for a spin! Inside he finds that the Warden is a football nut, and its plain sailing for him as he is asked to put together a team of inmates to play the guards championship winning team...... in the end he must choose between his freedom and supporting the newfound dignity of his convict teammates.

      • Gratman from WATFORD
  • Most recent members' review of The Longest Yard

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    its 'mean machine' under a different gise

    classic movie under a different name

      • paul wooding from skelmersdale
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Rating breakdown

1,171 Member ratings
  • 100
108
  • 90
120
  • 80
224
  • 70
214
  • 60
211
  • 50
120
  • 40
54
  • 30
45
  • 20
53
  • 10
22

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    • The Longest Yard
      In Robert Aldrich's crowd-pleasing classic, Burt Reynolds stars as convict Paul Crewe, a former football player doing time in a prison controlled by two authoritarian sports fanatics, warden Hazen (Eddie Albert) and captain Knauer (Ed Lauter). When Crewe sees that the guards have a top-notch ...