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Actors: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Tim McGraw
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Friday Night Lights |
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The film opens in the small town of Odessa, Texas where the local high school football team, The Permian Panthers, face the town's expectations of winning a state championship. We are introduced to Mike Wincher, the quiet quarterback who seems caught up in the hype surrounding this team.
When star player James "Boobie" Miles goes down with a knee injury, the team must rebound and find a new identity without the man their entire offense was built around. However, even as the team begins to pull things together, they end up coming face to face with Dallas Carter, the best team in the entire state. The pressure can't be any higher as coach Gary Gaines fears his job is on the line in this game as well.
--Adam Whitton, Resident Scholar
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It's the 1988 season for the Permian High Panthers, the high school football team which carries the weight of all the hopes and disappointments of the depressed oil town of Odessa, Texas. Mike Winchell (Black) is the sober quarterback with a very sick mother, Don Billingsley (Hedlund) is the receiver whose concentration is riddled by his father's abuse. (Charles Billingsley, the alcoholic veteran of a former state champion team from Permian, is played by country star Tim McGraw.)
The team's best ball carrier, high-flying and fun-loving Boobie Miles (Luke) suffers a bad knee injury early in the season, and the pressure mounts on straight arrow coach Gary Gaines (Thornton) to guarantee a win at state against traditional rival Midland and the big, bruising Dallas-Carter team. This 2004 film, based on the book of the same name by H.G. Bissinger, has all the elements of a typical high school sports movie, with a few bittersweet twists stirred in.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Friday Night Lights |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kind of sports story:
- football
Sports story?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- athlete
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) very short/crewcut
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
- (man) muscular
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) very short/crewcut
- (man) short/standard wavey
Body type
- (man) muscular
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 80%
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Texas
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- dumb Rednecks, like Gomer Pyle
Misc setting
- sports arena
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- all mixed up
- thoughtful
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
- kissing
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Modern rock/pop
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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