RUDY Director’s Cut Released for 30th Anniversary
By Movieguide® Contributor
The director’s cut from the 1993 football underdog movie RUDY just released on Tuesday in honor of the movie’s 30th anniversary.
“The bonus features include five deleted scenes, plus a commentary with director David Anspaugh and writer Angelo Pizzo, who first collaborated on the iconic 1986 hoops film HOOSIERS,” USA Today reported.
Slash Film reported the new director’s cut version of the classic is “a 127-minute cut, which is 13 minutes longer than the 114-minute theatrical cut.”
“I’m so pleased to share this new version of RUDY, now in its full and intended Director’s Cut presentation. It’s a different movie, but in a very good way! The 4K and Atmos upgrades also perfectly enhance the experience, making this the ideal gift for RUDY fans everywhere. Never give up!” the director, David Anspaugh, said.
The new clips shed light on the familial and historical importance of Rudy making it onto the Notre Dame football team. Rudy’s father explains that when he came to America from Ireland in the 1930s, there was a lot of hatred toward Catholic immigrants like himself. So, “every victory by Notre Dame is a victory for us.”
Tailback Jamie O’Hara (played by Vince Vaughn) makes a couple more appearances.
One scene is ”set in the gym where Rudy (who’s not yet attending Notre Dame) tries to buddy up to Jamie, who’s not having it. ‘We might as well be friends, we’re going to be on the same team next year,’ Rudy says, with Jamie snarling, ‘In your dreams.’ In another new scene, Jamie runs into Rudy and his sportswriter friend Mary (Greta Lind) at the local bar, and Mary knows all of Jamie’s impressive high school stats,” USA Today reported.
Sportswriter Mary (played by Greta Lind) also becomes more significant in the new cut. Mary asks Rudy to let her write about him, and she is one of the first people that Rudy informs when he gets approved for the team.
USA Today reported, “The most interesting of the five deleted scenes is an alternate ending: The original movie finishes with Rudy being carried off the field by his teammates and a picture of the real Ruettiger, but a sequence included on the new director’s cut shows a group of kids going outside to play football.”
Movieguide®’s review of RUDY reads:
The film RUDY tells about Rudy’s struggle from boyhood to manhood to disprove his father’s dictum that dreamers are not doers. Despite the obstacle of his size, “5 feet nothing, 100 pounds of nothing, and virtually no athletic ability,” Rudy desires to play football for no less than Notre Dame. No one, including his father, his more talented brothers, his classmates, and certainly not his coach, takes him seriously. Rudy’s repetitive question as to whether he has done all he can do to achieve his goal leads him into conversations with a priest, to prayer and eventually to come to terms with his size, and in particular, with the sovereignty of God by making peace with his size.
Rudy is a modern-day hero, an overcomer with an indomitable spirit. His victory against the odds makes him a real-life model not only for his five younger brothers, but also for the viewer. Rudy accomplishes something rare in today’s movies. He makes one care about even his smallest struggles. This identification is a tribute to the fine casting, acting, realistic sets and scripting. Regrettably, the depiction of Catholicism is somewhat skewed, although a sovereign God is implicitly extoled; and, the film is marred by some foul language, although the character using the most profanity is reformed by his girlfriend.
- Content: +2Share:
- Content: +4