::: Great Cinema at the Ancient Theatre:::

:: DETAILS

Reg./Dir.:
David Anspaugh
Scen./Script:
Angelo Pizzo
Fot./Phot.:
Johnny E. Jensen Asc
Mont./Ed.:
Bud Smith & Scott Smith
Ian Crafford & Lee Grubin
Mus.:
William Ross
Scg./Art Dir.:
Linda Burton
Cos.:
Jane Anderson
Int./Cast:
Wes Bentley (Walter Bahr)
Gerard Butler (Frank Borghi)
Patrick Stewart (Dent McSkimming)
John Rhys-Davies (Bill Jeffrey)
Gavin Rossdale (Stanley Mortenson)
Louis Mandylor (Virginio Pariani)
Prod.:
Howard Baldwin
Karen Baldwin
Ginger T. Perkins
Peter Newman per/for
Bristol Bay Productions
Peter Newman Productions
InterAl
Baldwin Ent. Group
Orig.:
Usa 2005
90’ / v.o. inglese / 35 mm

:: PLOT

In the spring of 1950, the United States was extended an invitation to compete in the World Cup in Brazil. Faced with budgetary restrictions and no official soccer team to call their own, the U.S. set out to recruit players in the soccer hotbed of St. Louis, Missouri, where they found a group of young friends. Once these men reached others in NY, they were all forced to see past one another’s differences and become a full- fledged team. With the odds considerably against them, the U.S. team arrived in Rio with little training and even less fanfare. After a crushing defeat, the Americans expected more of the same but then something remarkable happened: they scored a victory against England that did more than just provide an upset defeat – it opened the door for soccer in the United States. The American World Cup team of 1950 would soon quietly return to their families and jobs, treasuring this historic victory, which would forever be known to them as The Game of Their Lives.

:: BIOGRAPHY

DAVID ANSPAUGH
He began shooting 16mm sports films while at the University of Indiana, and then attended USC’s School of Film and Television. After four years of teaching high school in Colorado, he moved back to Hollywood and began a career in television, working his way up to multi-Emmy Award status as producer of Hill Street Blues and as director of many hit shows including Miami Vice , Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere . He made his feature film directorial debut with Hoosiers , written by Angelo Pizzo, starring Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper, that earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination. He went on to direct Fresh Horses, and then re-teamed with writer Pizzo for Rudy. Other feature film credits include Moonlight and Valentino starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Whoopi Goldberg and Wisegirls starring Mira Sorvino and Mariah Carey.

:: FILMOGRAPHY

1986
Hoosiers
1988
Fresh Horses
1993
In the Company of Darkness
Rudy
1995
Moonlight and Valentino
2002
Wisegirls
2005
The Game of Their Lives