Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

Last updated
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Directed by Kevin Rafferty
Produced byKevin Rafferty
Starring Tommy Lee Jones
Brian Dowling
CinematographyKevin Rafferty
Edited byKevin Rafferty
Production
company
Kevin Rafferty Productions
Distributed byGravitas Ventures
Kino International
Release date
  • September 5, 2008 (2008-09-05)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 is a 2008 documentary film by Kevin Rafferty, covering the 1968 meeting between the football teams of Yale and Harvard in their storied rivalry. The game has been called "the most famous football game in Ivy League history". [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Story

For the first time since 1909, the football teams of Harvard and Yale were each undefeated with 6-0 records in their conference (8-0 overall) when they met for their season's final game on November 23, 1968 [1] at Harvard Stadium. [7] Led by their quarterback captain Brian Dowling, nationally-ranked Yale was heavily favored to win and they quickly led the game 22–0. [8] With two minutes remaining on the clock they still led 29–13. [1] As the last seconds ticked down, Harvard, coached by John Yovicsin, tied the game, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds. [1] [8] The Harvard Crimson declared victory with a famous headline, "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29," [1] [8] providing the title for Rafferty’s documentary. [2] [3] [4] [5] [9]

Production

Created essentially as a one-man production, Rafferty followed a simple production plan by inter-cutting broadcast video of the game with interviews he'd done with close to 50 of the surviving players. [4] The broadcast video was a color kinescope of the WHDH telecast, with Don Gillis doing the play-by-play. [10] The film was set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1968 game between Yale and Harvard. [11]

The documentary includes game footage with contemporary interviews with the men who played that day, as well as contextual commentary about the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, Garry Trudeau's Yale cartoons, and various players' relationships with George W. Bush (Yale), Al Gore (Harvard), and Meryl Streep (Vassar).

Cast

Reception

The documentary received numerous positive reviews: Steven Rea of Philadelphia Inquirer wrote "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 is a comeback story, a classic underdog yarn. But this winning doc also offers serious reflection on how events from our past continue to loom large in our lives - as regrets still counted, as lessons learned, as triumphs that awe and amaze." [12] J. Hoberman of Village Voice wrote "This may or may not be the greatest instance of college football ever played, but Brian's Song , Jerry Maguire , and The Longest Yard notwithstanding, Rafferty's no-frills annotated replay is the best football movie I've ever seen: A particular day in history becomes a moment out of time." [11] Michael Sragow of the Baltimore Sun called the film "Kevin Rafferty's magnum opus". [13] Mark Feeney of Boston Globe called the film "terrifically entertaining". [2] Manohla Dargis of the New York Times found the film to be "preposterously entertaining". [14] Tom Keogh of Seattle Times called it "a delightful documentary". [15] In greater depth, Bob Hoover of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote "Despite his annoying style of lingering a bit too long on his subjects, Rafferty, mainly a TV documentary maker, pries fascinating stories and insights from the now aging players," [16] and Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times wrote "A look at the legendary Nov. 23, 1968, game, "Harvard Beats Yale" is both an irresistible human story and as fine a documentary on football as " Hoop Dreams " was on basketball", calling the film "a memorable winner". He further notes that the passage of 40 years allowed a unique perspective as the players spoke about "what was not only the game of their careers but possibly the experience of their lives", and made note of how time led to other celebrity for some of the players, with Tommy Lee Jones becoming an Oscar-winning actor, Brian Dowling becoming the character "B.D." in the Doonesbury comic strip (Garry Trudeau attended Yale), and player Bob Levin remembering dating a Vassar undergraduate named Meryl Streep." [4]

Underscoring that the film had appeal to more than just sports fans, Bruce Eder of All Movie Guide began his review with "it is only fair of this writer to point out that he cares not one whit about, and has not a scintilla of interest in football. Having said that, we can also say, without equivocation, that Kevin Rafferty's Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 is a dazzling, engrossing, must-see piece of film all about...football. Except that it's also about a lot more." [17]

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The 1967 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1967 Big Ten Conference football season. In its ninth year under head coach Bump Elliott, Michigan compiled a 4–6 record, tied for fifth place in the Big Ten, and were outscored by a total of 179 to 144.

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The 1966 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1966 Big Ten Conference football season. In its eighth year under head coach Bump Elliott, Michigan compiled a 6–4 record, tied for third place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 236 to 138.

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The 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game was a college football game between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson, played on November 23, 1968. The game ended in a 29–29 tie after Harvard made what is considered a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie the game against a highly touted Yale squad. The significance of the moral victory for Harvard inspired the next day's The Harvard Crimson student newspaper to print the famous headline "Harvard Beats Yale, 29–29". In 2010, ESPN ranked it No. 9 in its list of the top ten college football ties of all time.

The 1910 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football during 1910 college football season. In Dan McGugin's 7th year as head coach, the Commodores as members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) compiled an 8–0–1 record and outscored their opponents 165 to 8, winning a conference championship.

1912 Vanderbilt Commodores football team American college football season

The 1912 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1912 college football season. The 1912 season was Dan McGugin's ninth year as head coach. Members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the Commodores won their third straight conference title this year, posting an 8–1–1 win–loss–tie record. The team played its home games at Dudley Field. It used the short punt formation as its offensive scheme.

1919 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team American college football season

The 1919 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team represented the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado of the Georgia Institute of Technology during the 1919 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The Tornado was coached by John Heisman in his 15th year as head coach, compiling a record of 7–3 and outscoring opponents 257 to 33.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 American Heritage Magazine, ed. (2001). Overrated/underrated: 100 experts topple the icons and champion the slighted (illustrated ed.). Black Dog Publishing. p. 164. ISBN   9781579121631 . Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 Feeney, Mark (July 26, 2009). "Fit to be tied at Harvard Stadium". Boston Globe . Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  3. 1 2 Feeney, Mark (November 18, 2008). "Forty years ago, it wasn't only a game". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Turan, Kenneth (March 6, 2009). "review: 'Harvard Beats Yale 29-29'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Whiting, Sam (March 6, 2009). "A toss back in time: 'Harvard Beats Yale 29-29'". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  6. ↑ Jorgenson, Todd (April 11, 2009). "Harvard-Yale Rivalry Inspires Film". Dallas Morning News . Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29".
  8. 1 2 3 Bob Boyles, Paul Guido (2007). 50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 232. ISBN   9781602390904.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  9. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (2009). "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (2008)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  10. ↑ McGrath, Charles. "Harvard Beats Yale 29–29" (November/December 2008). Yale Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Hoberman, J. (November 8, 2008). "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 Wraps Up the Boomer Era". Village Voice . Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  12. ↑ Rea, Steven (February 20, 2009). "Thrilling football documentary with a serious side". Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  13. ↑ Sragow, Michael (January 30, 2009). "'Harvard Beats Yale 29-29' is Kevin Rafferty's magnum opus". Baltimore Sun . Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  14. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (November 19, 2008). "Back in 1968, When a Tie Was No Tie". New York Times . Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  15. ↑ Keogh, Tom (March 19, 2009). "Yale-Harvard football documentary scores a touchdown". Seattle Times . Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  16. ↑ Hoover, Bob (April 16, 2009). "review: 'Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  17. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "review; Harvard Beats Yale 29-29". All Movie Guide . Retrieved August 21, 2009.

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