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| McFarland USA movie poster |
The Travelling Toe and the Friday Movie Mavens went to the multiplex at the mall to see the movie, "McFarland USA". This Disney movie is based on true events.
Jim White, played by Kevin Costner, is a high school football coach who is at the end of all his second chances. He takes an assistant coaching job at McFarland High School in McFarland, CA. Jim must moves his wife and two daughters to this small, rural Hispanic town in the California farm country. It becomes a big adjustment for him and his family. He finds that most of the families, including the children, are "pickers" - picking the fruits and vegetables that we all eat. The kids often must get up early and help pick the produce then run to school and then go back to pick more in order to help support their families.
Coach White clashes with the senior football coach and most forge a different coaching career path as a PE teacher. Seeing the young boys running laps and not even being out of breath, he beings to form an idea of putting together a cross county team - even though he has no experience in it. As they begin competing, the McFarland "Cougars" are often the underdogs in a sport considered to be for only elite schools.
In the process of building the team, the coach and his family build a home and begin to make friends in the Hispanic community - where family is everything.
Kevin Costner, as the coach, does a fine job of playing a guy struggling to find himself in an foreign environment. In turn, he helps build a team that the whole community supports and is proud of.
This is a fun and heart warming movie - so what else would you expect from Disney? The ending is predictable but then you see all the coming victories that the school has win since the beginning of the cross country team - it is not just a one time event. The team sport has proven it is there to stay.
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| City of McFarland |
City of McFarland CA
At the very end of the movie, the real Jim White and his original team members are shown running with the new cross county team kids. What a lovely moment. Most of those young men went on to college, most graduated and all have returned back to McFarland as teachers, coaches, a police detective, and city supervisor. They all continue to give back to the community that supported and cheered them on.
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| Niki Caro Director |
Disclaimer: The Travelling Toe is not a professional movie critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.
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