Knute Rockne All American

The true life story of perhaps the greatest football coach the game has ever known. Knute Rockne led the game of football out of the "stone age" with innovations such as the forward pass and offensive formation shifts. But he is probably best known for his motivational locker room speeches. Along the way, he brought fame and glory to a tiny, little, unknown Catholic school in Indiana. Pat O'Brien is incomparable in his role as Rockne. Terrific cast that includes Ronald Reagan who gives a great performance as Notre Dame's first, true superstar, George Gipp.

For Football aficionados, this is the greatest football movie ever made. Do yourself a favor and rent the black and white version. (Some versions have deleted scenes for some reason) If you got the good version, look for a brief cameo by the immortal Jim Thorpe as he sticks his head in the locker room telling Rockne and the team they only have a few minutes left before the 2nd half begins.

You don't have to be a Notre Dame football fan to enjoy this, because I am not....but, as a football fan in general, this was fun to watch. It almost makes me a Fighting Irish devotee. If you can't get caught up in the emotion in this film, gridiron fan or not, you better check your pulse because this is an emotional film with some very touching scenes.

As a sports fan, I loved watching the classic footage of early college games. They had some pretty wild plays back then with a lot of laterals. They interspersed that footage with Pat O'Brien shown as head coach Knute Rockne on the sidelines and some of the players, such as George Gipp (Ronald Reagan).

Reagan gets pretty good billing in this film but his part really isn't that large. O'Brien is the only actor with a large role in here. The rest - all playing nice characters - include Gale Page as Rockne's wife "Bonnie;" Donald Crisp, as the Notre Dame's "Father John Callahan;" Albert Bassermann as chemistry professor "Father Nieuwland" and Reagan, as Gipp, perhaps Notre Dame's most talented and famous player ever.

What this film does nicely is balance the personal story with the football. Neither angle is overdone. The characters in here all people you can root for, as there are no villains. On my last look, it was interesting to discover Johnny Sheffield - Tarzan's son - playing Rockne at the age of seven and to see George Reeves, TV's Superman, as one of the players.

There have been very few football movies made in Hollywood, for some reason, and precious few good ones. This is one of them.

Pat O'Brien had his best role ever as Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. From humble beginnings, Rockne entered Notre Dame as a student circa 1910. He is into chemistry but becomes a marvelous football player and hero.

Upon graduation, he teaches chemistry at the school but he has got the football fever that tugs at him, this forces him to give up chemistry to pursue his dream of coaching the game. In a way, too bad, the school probably lost a great chemistry teacher-certainly far better and nicer than the one I had in high school. (Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn to be exact.)

He motivates his students. He will not tolerate academic underachievement. He is a coach for all seasons.

O'Brien captures that common kind touch. One of his students, George Gipp, is memorably played in a fine brief supporting performance by Ronald Reagan.

The years pass and the achievements run high-but Knute remains the same kind coach who testifies before Congress when football is called into question.

Donald Crisp is outstanding as a Notre Dame priest who knew that Rockne was destined to coach football. Albert Basserman is adequate, but his Jewish accent in the portrayal of a priest is awkward at best. Basserman was nominated that year in the supporting category for "Foreign Correspondent."

Rockne's tragic death, in a plane crash, robbed the world of many more years of a totally professionally wonderful human-being. The film is great.

I caught this on TCM this afternoon and kept in on to catch Ronald Reagen as George Gipp. As another commentor noted, it comes across as pure documentary and this movie is only for those who harbor an interest in football and are familiar with the story of "the Rock." Pat O'Brien appears to be looking off-screen at cue cards and Reagan, in the scene in Rock's living room, coughed as if instructed by a doctor.

I much prefer The Pride of the Yankees with Gary Cooper, which was released only two years later and nominated for Best Picture by the Academy. However, Knute Rockne All American not so bad that you can't enjoy it and I especially enjoyed the stock footage of Notre Dame football.

The only other thing that puzzled me was the pronunciation of his name. For years I've heard it pronounced NEWT with the silent k, but here it's pronounced KA-NEWT. I guess I learned something else...

Knute Rockne All American (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Fun, winning story from Warner about the life and career of Knute Rockne (Pat O'Brien), the man who will forever be remembered as changing the way football was played while coaching at Notre Dame. If you're looking for a 100% accurate biography on Rockne then you might not want to start here but there's no question that the producers and studio had their hearts in the right place and they've at least delivered a very entertaining look at several highlights in the career of Rockne. I thought the film was highly entertaining from the start as we see Rockne's family coming to America and all the way up until the final day in the life of the legend. The film covers his days of attending college, his work as a chemist, his marriage to Bonnie Skiles (Gale Page) and of course his relationship to George Gipp (Ronald Reagan). The film certainly makes you care about Rockne and especially his fast-talking style, which someone like O'Brien can do with ease. The actor certainly turns in a very good and energetic performance as he has no problems making you believe he knows football and his speeches are flawless. Page is also good in her supporting role as is Donald Crisp and John Litel. Reagan appeared in countless films in his career but it's easy to see why his four-or-so minutes here are his most remembered. The football scenes are all directed extremely well, although there are still moments where stock footage is used. I think the film works best whenever we see Rockne on the field, coaching up his boys and working new plays to change the way the game was played. KNUTE ROCKNE ALL American is very "American" in the way he shows football as a patriotic thing and this too is something that helps carry the film.