COURT ORDERS: Basketball coach Cathy Rush (Carla Gugino) leads her Catholic women’s college team to divine glory in ‘The Mighty Macs.’
Posted on 10/22/2011 4:30:07 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
I suppose that this is a vanity, but I feel compelled to recommend a wonderful movie I saw last night -- The Mighty Macs. A trailer is here: The Mighty Macs. It is rare that you can find a movie that will entertain a whole family -- from kids to grandparents -- and leave them laughing, crying (a little) and inspired, with nobody embarrassed. This film is G rated, but it is neither juvenile, nor insipid. It's full of positive life lessons too.
It should be to Hollywood's shame that this film (finished in 2007) sat on a shelf for 4 years because they couldn't find a distributor. The powers-that-be wanted to send it directly to DVD, but the film makers held out for theater distribution first. And I'm glad that they did!
What a treat!
The Mighty Macs is a film about a young coach who takes the job to build a basketball program at a small Catholic Women's College in Pennsylvania. There is no money, no gym, no uniforms, and no tradition. It is the first year that women's basketball is freed from the old half-court rules and embarks on full court play -- just like the men. The coach, Cathy Rush, builds a team that vanquishes all the obstaces and ultimately saves the school from the wrecking ball. In so doing, she changes the face of women's basketball forever because many of her players have gone on to be influential coaches too.
She Dared to Dream. They Dared to Believe.
It's 1971. Cathy Rush is a woman ahead of her time ... and she's about to embark on an adventure for the ages. A new era is dawning in the country and in collegiate athletics, where a national champion will be crowned for the first time in women's basketball.
In the lead up to this historical season, major universities are preparing their game plans to win that first title. Meanwhile a tiny all-women's Catholic college in Philadelphia has a more modest goal: find a coach before the season begins. Providentially, Cathy Rush is about to find Immaculata College.
Recently married, Cathy is dealing with the aftermath of a truncated playing career. While cultural norms would have her staying at home, she's willing to do the hard work necessary to help her new team reach their goals—or perhaps she's just trying to achieve her unfulfilled dreams through them.
From the beginning, her challenges are as imposing as the big-school teams Immaculata will face on the court. Cathy learns there is no gymnasium on campus, she receives little support from the school's Mother Superior, and the school is in dire financial straits. To top it off, she may not even have enough players to field a team!
While it appears the Macs don't have a prayer, all hope is not lost. With the help of Sister Sunday—a spunky assistant coach—and the support of a booster club of elderly nuns, Coach Rush creates a new game plan that just might bring the team—and the school—together.
Will this pioneer buck cultural norms and spur her rag-tag team to unexpected heights? Or will her hard-driving ways create a wedge between the coach and everyone around her? One thing's for certain: there's never been anyone like Cathy Rush at Immaculata!
THE MIGHTY MACS is based on the incredible true story of the 1971-72 Immaculata College team that started in obscurity but became the original Cinderella story in women's basketball. This team of pioneers went from barely making that inaugural tournament to the first dynasty in their game. And Cathy Rush, the woman that was ahead of her time, became immortalized when she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
THE MIGHTY MACS stars Carla Gugino as Cathy Rush; David Boreanaz as her husband, NBA referee Ed Rush; Marley Shelton as Sister Sunday; and Academy Award and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn as Mother St. John. The film was written, directed, and produced by Tim Chambers. The film's executive producers are Pat Croce, the former president of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, and Vince Curran, a successful businessman and former basketball star at Penn. Curran and Chambers are founders and partners of Quaker Media.
Get ready to cheer on a true Cinderella team when THE MIGHTY MACS opens in theaters on October 21.
COURT ORDERS: Basketball coach Cathy Rush (Carla Gugino) leads her Catholic women’s college team to divine glory in ‘The Mighty Macs.’
I don’t have a ping list, but this is a family friendly movie that will leave you laughing and cheering. Please ping this review to anyone that you think may be interested.
ping
Thanks for the review. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this movie. Loved the trailer.
Dang. I got excited thinking this was about some new hamburgers.
Thanks for the heads-up!
‘Mighty Macs’ movie is a jewel for whole family
http://stlouisreview.com/article/2011-10-12/mighty-macs-movie
That’s a great review — much better than I could write — and I agree with every word of it.
However, if this film is going to be judged by its first 3 days, it has already failed because there couldn’t have been 25 people in the theatre last night. But, there was no publicity around here and no quality rating on it in the paper yesterday, other than the G.
I am doing everything in my means to spread the word about this great film.
Take a friend and go see it. You won’t be sorry. I was so bold as to phone the Dean of a local Catholic College at 8 AM (we often see her and her husband at Fri. night movies) and told her that she had to get over to the theatre to see this. She was attending a wedding last night, or she would have been there. She’ll make it this weekend for one of the showings.
There were so few people in the theatre last night that we struck up a conversation with strangers who sat in our same row afterward. He turned out to be the football coach for a small Lutheran college here (so small that I didn’t even know they had a footbal program). He said that his wife whispered in his ear, “Get that girls’ basketball team over here to see this before their next game. Required viewing.”
Thanks for pinging your list.
Nevermind.
I just posted it on my Facebook page and also e-mailed it to some friends.
Let's see how it does today and tomorrow because there are people all over the country who want to take their kids to the movies on the weekend. There are rarely any family-friendly movies out there, and people have to spread the word.
I won't be able to see it tonight because we have plans, but I will get there soon.
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I would be very interested in seeing this movie with my children. We just went to see ‘Courageous’ with almost 100 people from our church. It was absolutely life changing.
You’ll love it!
THUMBS UP! WAY UP! :)
ALL movies are easily avoided and no need to pay money to hollyweird.
http://www.themoviespoiler.com
check out movies before you pay for movies.
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