Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, Kate Mara

Director: McG

Summary: In November 1970, a plane carrying almost the entire Marshall University football team, its staff and fans crashed, killing 75 people in all and devastating the small town of Huntington, West Virginia. WE ARE MARSHALL tells the tragic true story of how the university and the citizens of Huntington rebuilt the football program and dealt with the loss of so many of their own.

In November 1970, a plane carrying almost the entire Marshall University football team, its staff and fans crashed, killing 75 people in all and devastating the small town of Huntington, West Virginia. WE ARE MARSHALL, directed by McG (THE O.C., FASTLANE) tells the tragic true story of how the university and the citizens of Huntington rebuilt the football program and dealt with the loss of so many of their own. The university’s president, Donald Dedmon, earnestly portrayed by David Strathairn (GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK), hires the only willing coach to take on such a daunting task, Jack Lengyl (Matthew McConaughey). With the help of the lone Marshall football coach Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) and the three remaining players who weren’t on the plane, Coach Lengyl sets out to restructure Marshall’s team, and spirit. But for some in the community it’s still too soon, including Paul Griffen (Ian McShane) who lost his football-star son. They fear that moving on so quickly is disrespectful to those who died and to the loved ones who still mourn. The film emphasizes this issue, illustrating the struggle of that harrowing time at Marshall, and in college football history.
Although WE ARE MARSHALL contains a similar theme to other sports movies, rising from adversity, the tragedy of so many lives lost in a small community and the painful recovery sets this film apart. Strong performances by McConaughey (FAILURE TO LAUNCH) - whose wit and energy adds much needed doses of comic relief - Fox (LOST), and McShane (DEADWOOD) successfully help bring the historical and inspiring story of Marshall University to the big screen, a must-see for all sports fans.

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There seems to be no end to "beating-the-odds" American football movies these days, but We Are Marshall, based on a true story, is in the top tier of that clutch of movies. Matthew McConaughey plays Jack Lengyel, who becomes head coach--more or less by default--of Marshall University's rebuilding varsity American football team in Huntington, West Virginia, after the school's 37-member team and coaches (and a number of others) die in a plane crash in the Appalachian Mountains on November 14, 1970. Facing an indifferent college president (David Strathairn) ready to shut the football program down, a morose assistant coach (Matthew Fox of Lost fame), and a charged-up player (Anthony Mackie) who missed the doomed flight due to an injury, Lengyel is faced with fielding a new team and putting the players through their paces. There are the usual, perhaps too-familiar, training montages and field action, but screenwriter Jamie Linden and director McG (Charlie's Angels) also draw some very good performances from the likes of Kate Mara and Ian McShane, contributing to an emotional tapestry conveying a powerful sense of how such a sizable loss affects a small community. --Sally Giles

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive menu
Year:	2006
Release Date:	October 22, 2007
Runtime:	126 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 083512
Keywords:	Sport, English, General, Marshall, We, Drama
Genre:	Drama