Madison

This is a heartwarming, true story with a great performance by Jim Caviezel. It puts the small town of Madison, Ind., an historic town along the Ohio River in its best light. However, this film's release has been delayed for a variety of reasons including the ongoing problems with the Premiere Marketing and Distribution Group, which was charged with promoting this fine movie. There are shades of Mayberry in the message of this movie. And, if you lived or been to Madison you'll love the wonderful scenery. It's well worth seeing. Bill Bindley does a fine job directing. However, if there are four or five good movies out there to see, this one probably wouldn't be at the top of list. I hope this movie comes out as currently scheduled at the end of January. The people of Madison deserve to see their hard work -- as well as the cast, crew and actors -- finally get the wide distribution it deserves. Sundance and the Heartland Film Festival acclaims are nice, but this movie is solid entertainment that the general public should have an opportunity to see.

My twin nieces, Haley and Hunter Reed, were in the movie Madison. They weren't even a year old (now they are 3) when they shared the part of Jim and Bonnie McCormick's baby daughter! Our family was lucky enough to see the film in Indianapolis in October of 2001 during the Heartland Film festival. They have a lot of scenes in the movie that I didn't expect to be there. A heart wrenching scene where one of them is crying in the back seat of the car made it in...I just happened to be at the set the day they filmed the scene. It was hard to watch it that day too! They are my little movie stars in the making!

The movie was great! Jim Caviezel was amazing! I can't wait for it to be released so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be soon. I saw a portion of the movie before John Mellencamp did the narration and I think that he definitely added a lot to the film! It is great to have another movie that Indiana can be really proud of. I would rank it up there with Hoosiers and Breaking Away!

I have lived in and around Madison for 47 years. In the movie the voice over says that the Miss Madison had not won a race since 1973. Well that all changed in 2001 (30 years after the movie was set) when the Miss Madison won the Gold Cup in front of the hometown crowd a second time.

In that race Steve David brought the Miss Madison to the win in his first appearance in our hometown. He has since stayed with the team and they are showing quite respectfully.

The sport has meant a lot to the town but unfortunately the fan basis seems to have tapered off. As a youngster I remember the river bank being filled like it was portrayed in the movie. I hope this movie helps breath some life into both the sport for the Miss Madison and the town of Madison.

I just saw this film at Sundance 2001.

A feel good movie that's honest. The treatment is respectful and moving. The acting is very good, production value is very good. Good casting. It really captures the essence of the struggles of life along the Ohio in the middle of the 20th Century.

I look forward to seeing it again during the theatrical release.

This is, to my knowledge, the only feature film ever to be made about professional boat racing. And it tells what is probably the most compelling story the sport has ever produced: how the little river town of Madison, Indiana, came to host the 1971 APBA Gold Cup race (the sport's equivalent of the Indy 500) and how driver Jim McCormick struggled to lead Madison's community-owned racing boat, the Miss Madison, into the race.

As a sports movie, "Madison" feels fairly similar to the Disney baseball movie, "The Rookie", which came out a few years ago. It places the sports story squarely within the context of family life, and its fundamental message is that of the value of community--especially small-town communities like Madison. (Hoosier rocker John "Small Town" Mellencamp even provides the narration for the movie.) Since this is a story about small-town underdogs taking on the big city favorites, it resembles other Indiana sports movies in many ways--"Breaking Away", "Rudy", "Hoosiers", etc. Its storyline is not really unique in that respect. But the movie is reasonably well done, and it really pulls you into the excitement of boat racing in the final sequence, through some really nice cinematography.

I guess I can't help but feel like there was a missed opportunity here, though. It is unlikely that there will ever be another movie made about professional boat racing, so it would have been nice if "Madison" could have taught us more about what makes the people who are involved in the sport tick. There is one interesting comment made towards the end of the film about how "only someone who's raced boats can understand why so many men have given their lives for the sport." There was a lot behind that statement, I think--especially when made in reference to a sport which has such a notoriously dangerous reputation as boat racing. I just wish I could have come away from this movie with an even better understanding of where it came from.

Besides that...this is a nice little movie, and a fine tribute to Jim McCormick and the people of Madison. Go ahead and take your kids to it, and don't forget to stick around for the final credits...