Paterno

As I studied at PSU (The Pennsylvania State University) in 2009, I felt fortunate to have this opportunity to learn, albeit a surreal sadness at some dark happenings underneath the "Happy Valley" life, as it's known colloquially. This movie seemed to capture the essence of my memories - a work ethic and a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League, and esprit de corps which few will ever rival... I only met Joe-Pa one time, at a game. I felt so lucky to shake his hand, and knew I was in the presence of greatness, a man larger than life, a man with his name on the library I would spend so many hours sleeping in... haha That said, I only met Graham Spanier one time, by happenstance - I was searching for a seminar related to Asian Diaspora, but walked into the wrong lecture hall. I have never been greeted with more rudeness, or condescension in my life. I felt so small, and he gave me his card, advising me to refer any problems (regarding my attendance, etc.) to a number, which I just discarded.

There were good and evil people who manifested this story. I felt no sadness for President Graham Spanier, as I thought very little of the man. I felt no empathy for the "security": Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley. In my humble opinion, these men were negligent in their most basic of duties, and I don't feel the need to extrapolate. I must come to terms and accept that this will never happen again, but only if people become less like my hero: Joe-Pa, a man only guilty of being naive in a world which doesn't revolve around football. Naivete aside... The acting, on all accounts, and by all involved, is stupendous! I cannot believe the low ratings, but I feel it will never be appreciated by those who never met the men involved, or understand the deep love of sports, success, and all those who facilitate it and further great institutions. I hope people may see beyond the media hype, and see this as a story of victimization, which can no longer be an ignored secret. We can no longer tolerate a society which ignores social problems, such as child abuse. I hope this movie, done in excellence, as far as acting and directing, iserves as a cautionary tale and is not judged simply because it was not as exciting as a Marvel flick. This should go down as one of Pacino's unrecognized, great works, for those of us who revered Joe Paterno. Thank you for reading, and stay ever vigilant in today's society. (9/25/2018)

Cable TV is really hitting it out of the park these days. Paterno is one of the better movies I've seen in awhile including theatrical movies. I probably don't need to recap the entire plot for anyone, since the news covered it widely at the time. This film centers on the horrific Penn State scandal of sexual molestation of young boys by a man who was at one time on the Penn State coaching staff and was a "pillar of the community." What makes this different though than any news coverage you've seen is that it goes inside Joe Paterno 's life to show the downfall of a community and sports icon from the inside.

Of course, one must take into account that filmmakers take some license when it comes portraying Paterno and his family. While I'm sure they did their research, they weren't actually sitting at his dining room table for those intimate encounters with his kids during the aftermath of all of this. I think a question that most people had when they heard about the scandal was, "What was Joe Paterno thinking? Why did this powerful leader not do more? What was going on inside head?" This movie delves into that, giving an interesting and very possible take on what really was going on inside Paterno's head. Other great things about this movie: Riley Keough is fantastic as the reporter who originally breaks the case, and Al Pacino is so amazing as Paterno that you will forget you are even watching Pacino.

Barry Levinson's Paterno wants the viewer to know that this legendary college football coach, Penn State University and its football team supporters cared more about its football program than the fate of some of the young people sexualy abused by an assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky.

The film opaquely hints as to how much Paterno might had known as to the abuse taking place and like other people just turned a blind eye.

After a wonderful expansive opening where Paterno as head coach takes the team to a record breaking streak. This HBO film settles down as a Shakespearean tragedy, almost like a stage play.

Al Pacino's Paterno is a man out of his time. Confused, weak and sick. He is an octogenarian who knows all about college football but has no way to handle the mess he finds himself in.

The film contrasts Paterno's fate with that of local newspaper reporter Sara Ganim (Riley Keough) who doggedly pursued the story of the child abuse and who earned the trust of the families.

However the flip flopping between the two story strands feels like a distraction. Levinson's approach comes across as mild, even anodyne lacking the moral outrage of a movie like Spotlight.

I'm not going to talk about the film as a film because, it seems to me, a pointless exercise. We all know the story. Painful, bitter, shattering. What we didn't know, what we couldn't even imagine is what was in Joe Paterno's heart in mind. Now we have a plausible, profoundly human version of it, in Al Pacino's eyes. I saw a decent man of his generation confronted by the new approach to decency. I saw in his eyes a sort of resignation, the kind of resignation suffered by the decent man who knows he's guilty. Al Pacino is still breaking ground, still at the vanguard of his own profession. Hurrah !

I thought the movie was going to be your typical made for TV movie and that's exactly what we got. Not good, not bad just somewhere in the middle. That being said this movie wasn't meant to be uplifting, it was meant to be dark and brooding because of the subject matter. This movie absolutely should have been about Paterno because he is the story here. The most powerful person in the state who could have stopped this long ago but was too worried about his sport, his university and his legacy to lift a finger. Paterno was made out to be a idiot in this movie because when the scandal broke that's exactly how he acted, the portrayal is spot on. He played the old man card in the most transparent way possible, blaming his memory and feeble mindedness when asked questions after it broke that he knew what was going on. I kept expecting to hear him say no habla ingles towards the end.

Far as I'm concerned he was portrayed accurately I could care less about his legacy and even the most loyal and diehard Nittany Lion fan should feel the same.