The Longest Yard Lockdown Edition - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Paul “Wrecking” Crewe (Reynolds) is a down on his luck ex-football star (kicked out of the game for illegally shaving points), following a drunken car ride in his girlfriends Maserati he finds himself doing time in Florida's Citrus State Penitentiary where the warden offers him a chance, either he agrees to put together a team of cons to take on the guards in a football game or he faces an extra ten years in prison… mmm, choices, choices, choices!!

SO IS IT ANY GOOD?

With a new version starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock about to hit the big screens the time is definitely right to catch up with the original mean machine Burt Reynolds as Paramount release The Longest Yard on DVD. It’s easy to forget now how big a star Reynolds was back in the seventies and the Longest Yard is from his prime major star era, made in 1974, it’s a tough, somewhat stylised tale of prison life with football trimmings and groovy 1970’s fashions. Ed Lauter as the evil prison guard is a standout but most of the Kudos has to go to Reynolds, great in his early scenes as the down on his luck football player and better when he realises what is at stake in the prison. Add to that some realistic game sequences (quite a few real life football players featured in the cast) and you have a movie that the new release is going to have to go a long way to beat.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

There are quite a few special features on this disc including an insightful commentary from star Reynolds and writer/producer Albert S. Ruddy; Doing Time on The Longest Yard is a 10 minute doco offering a background look at the movie; Unleashing the Mean Machine features NFL players talking about how much they liked the movie; There is also the original trailer and a preview of the upcoming Sandler/Rock remake.