"Leatherheads" DVD Review

PASSING THOUGHTS

Refreshing.

Think of a Norman Rockwell Coca Cola painting: simple, fun and direct with no elaborate visuals or questionable content; a herald back to a younger, carefree America.

That’s “Leatherheads”.

It’s refreshing to see a fight scene that doesn’t feature dramatized kung-fu, slow motion, and over-the-top sound effects. Ditto that for cinematic football game footage.

It’s refreshing to see a relationship that goes “kiss”, “proposal”, then “children” instead of the other way around.

It’s refreshing to see fellas duking it out with each other and sharing drinks afterwards instead of pulling out a gun and shooting the place to Hell.

It’s refreshing to see simple physical comedy that is more reminiscent of the classic Looney Tunes rather than the antics of crass, drunk teenagers who lack control of their hormones and bodily excretions.

George Clooney referred to “Leatherheads” as a “screwball comedy” with an “elevated sense of reality”. I find that to be an apt description, as well as a terrific vision for how he wanted to tell the story. Usually when the director’s description of the film he wanted to make is reflected by the final product, the result is a solid presentation that carries a distinct flavor.

And whether you’re a fan of it or not, “Leatherheads” does have that distinct flavor.

Unlike some of Hollywood’s latter period films, this one doesn’t try to contemporize the characters or the mood. Movies like Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Knight’s Tale” took modern clothes, attitudes, and even music and applied them to stories set hundreds of years ago. “Leatherheads” bucks the trend by making sure that the dialogue, attitudes, and soundtrack are distinctly 20’s, which almost gives it a surreal effect. America has changed drastically in the past eighty-five years—so much so that it doesn’t even seem like the events in “Leatherheads” could have happened in this country. Yet the film was loosely based on real events, and real footage of old football games and world events give credence to what is brought to the screen. In fact, were it not for the colorful, crisp footage and the familiar faces of modern celebrities, you might think this was actually shot in the 20’s; not as a documentary, but as a product of filmmakers of that time period.

“Leatherheads” isn’t for everyone, but it will certainly resonate with anyone who enjoyed football in their youth—when everything was still fun, pure, and simple.

BASICS

Your Cup O’ Tea:
If you enjoy classic movies (40’s and 50’s) that are rife with wit and snappy dialogue, or if you want a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you want a casual throw back to the good ol’ days with a little football and romance thrown in, this is right up your ally. It’s also good if you want a family-oriented movie: there’s no sex, violence, cheap laughs, or gross-out humor.

Steer Clear:
If you’re looking for a typical gridiron flick with an emphasis on football action, or if you want a deep, dramatic look at the life of a football player in the 20’s. There’s about 7-10 total minutes of football action, and a lot of that is theatrical/comical. This is not an “Any Given Sunday” or “The Program”-type flick.

Nothing New Under the Sun:
The antics remind me of “Necessary Roughness”, “Major League” or “The Replacements”, although the overall style is completely different; in “Leatherheads”, football itself is the underdog, not a team or individual. Like most typical sports movies, there is a romantic aspect, dramatic tension, and a happy ending, but you probably haven’t seen a movie like this since the 50’s. Also, the dialogue often makes me think of “Ocean’s Eleven”, only with more classic vocabulary.

Buy or Rent:
RENT. The DVD features are respectable, but unless the style and feel of the movie grabs you, you won’t be watching it a whole lot. It might be a good purchase if you want to have a quality film that mom, dad and the kids can watch together, but a good portion of the comedy might be lost on a younger audience.

FEATURES

-Language Selection

-Scene Selection

-Deleted Scenes
Approx 8 minutes. Ten scenes ranging from thirty seconds to two minutes. The first two are extra scenes from early pro games (in the cow pasture), and the third is a lengthy scene where Dodge, Rutherford, Lexie, and C.C. are on the train discussing Rutherford’s diet. The third scene also shows/discusses C.C.’s womanizing. The fourth scene is the same as the third scene, only without the C.C. element. The fifth scene is a snippet showing how much Rutherford has helped football financially, the sixth scene shows the army soldiers loaning their uniforms to Dodge’s teammates, the seventh scene is a short exchange between Lexie and her editor, the eighth scene touches on the topic of prohibition in the commentator’s booth, the ninth scene is extra footage of the Chicago game, and the final scene shows a cleaned-up Dodge looking around the empty stadium after the game and then getting his leg humped by the team mascot. The train scene is really the only in-depth addition, the rest simply add a few more lines.
DUH! FACTOR: 7 out of 10

-Football’s Beginning: Making of “Leatherheads”
Approx 6 minutes. This feature looks at some of the true history of football, along with what the game was like in the 20’s. Writers, director, and producers all chime in with bits of the period they found fascinating, as well as how much effort went into recreating the details of the time period. Clooney also talks a little bit about the filmmaking style he chose to use. Unless you’re something of a football/history buff, most of this will be relatively new information.
DUH! FACTOR: 4 out of 10

-No Pads, No Fear: Creating the Rowdy Football Scenes
Approx 9 minutes. This deals mainly with discussing the differences on the field between modern football and what it was in the 20’s. It introduces Coach TJ Troup who is a football historian and helped the actors and stuntmen perform like authentic period players. There are some interviews with the cast about injuries and what it was like to partake in the physical aspects of the game.
DUH! FACTOR: 5 out of 10

-George Clooney: A Leatherheaded Prankster
Approx 3.3 minutes. Footage of a rather elaborate prank Clooney played on some of the cast. Not “ha-ha” funny, but very amusing. First “prank” feature I’ve seen on a DVD.
DUH! FACTOR: 1 out of 10

-Visual Effects Sequences
Approx 5.3 minutes. This feature shows scenes from the movie in split-screen; half of the screen is the final footage as seen in the movie, and the other half of the screen is the original footage before all the CGI was added. It won’t hold your attention for too long, but the split-screen really helps illustrate how extensive the computer effects were.
DUH! FACTOR: 5 out of 10

-Woulda Been Nice: The ol’ staple: bloopers. There wasn’t any other aspect of the movie that wasn’t addressed to some degree in the special features.

- Jesse Gray