Cultural Gap Film #19: Rudy

Relevant elements:  Scrappy underdog inspires everyone around him, "RU-DY! RU-DY! RU-DY!"

Why it resonated: The American public always likes inspirational sports movies, and there's a built-in Notre Dame fan base 

General comments on the film: As faithful readers might have noticed, I have somewhat of an allergic reaction to overly earnest films that try way too hard to inspire the audience. That, of course, didn't bode well for this movie, and in fact was probably the reason I'd avoided it until now. 


In that sense, the film didn't disappoint. It plucks every formulaic schmaltz string: underdog blue-collar kid with no support for his dream whose best friend dies but he never gives up.... More than just seeming to have been written by a script machine, though, Rudy actually focuses so hard on its story that it becomes enjoyably disturbing. 

It takes a demented pleasure in beating down its protagonist for much of the movie, with family members, girlfriends, priests, student activities leaders, groundskeepers, coaches, and just about anyone else who comes across his path repeatedly telling him things like "You're too small," "Not everyone is meant to go to college," and so on. Only one person doesn't try to crush his dream, and that guy predictably dies in a steel mill explosion. It's like the scene in Airplane! when people are lined up to take a whack at the hysterical woman--everyone delights in stomping on Rudy to the point that it becomes absurd. So if you like watching Sean Astin get kicked in the head, sometimes literally, the first 90 minutes are a dream for you.

One might think that all this adversity would make Rudy a sympathetic character, but unless you accept the premise that Notre Dame is heaven on earth, his behavior comes off as pretty much psychopathic. He ditches his doting girlfriend, quits his job, goes directly from his friend's funeral to Notre Dame's campus at dawn and demands to speak to someone who will let him go there, lies, scams, forces his way into the head coach's office, and commits multiple counts of breaking and entering, all so he can get his father to validate his existence by being on the field for two plays of college football. The film provides a few epilogue sentences to give a sense of the aftermath, but I couldn't help feeling like Rudy woke up the day after his triumph and thought, "What do I do with my life now?" 

As for the sports part of the movie, I'd like to point out that his team, up two scores with under 20 seconds left in the game, runs a halfback pass to score a touchdown just to get the defense back on the field to let what is essentially their mascot get to play. Let's just say that if Georgia Tech didn't file a grievance with the NCAA about Notre Dame's sportsmanship, I'd be glad to do so on their behalf.