The Final Season

Last updated
The Final Season
Final season poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by David Mickey Evans
Written byArt D'Alessandro
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDan Stoloff
Edited byHarry Kerimidas
Music by Nathan Wang
Distributed by Yari Film Group
Freestyle Releasing [1]
Release date
  • October 12, 2007 (2007-10-12)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,159,691 [2]

The Final Season is a 2007 baseball film starring Sean Astin, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tom Arnold, Powers Boothe, Larry Miller, Brett Claywell, Michael Angarano, and Marshall Bell and directed by David Mickey Evans. The film wrapped production in 2006 in Shellsburg, Iowa, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was released in the United States and Canada on October 12, 2007, by Yari Film Group.

Contents

The film premiered three times at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.[ citation needed ] The film also premiered in Cedar Rapids on October 7, 2007.

Plot

This is the true story of Kent Stock, who in 1991 takes on what he perceives as the job of a lifetime as head coach of the Norway High School Tigers baseball team, which has won 19 state titles and has a baseball tradition in Iowa tantamount to that of the New York Yankees nationally.

Stock joins the team in 1990 as assistant coach, excited to learn from the legendary Tigers coach Jim Van Scoyoc. The Tigers win the 1990 title, the twelfth under Van Scoyoc. Stock is unaware that he has been picked by the school's Principal Halberstorm to replace Van Scoyoc in order to facilitate a losing 1991 season. The principal is pushing a consolidation of Norway with the larger "Madison School District" (in real life, the Benton Community School District), but the town is opposed, centered mainly on not wanting to give up the successful baseball program. The principal only knows about Stock's experience as a girls' volleyball coach, unaware that Stock was a star player for his Division III college baseball team and is a student of the game.

Several of the Tigers' returning stars refuse to go out for Coach Stock, who must win over the rest and convince them, the skeptical townspeople and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes, all while dealing with the reality that this will be the team's final season due to the impending merger. With the support of a young female state auditor whose findings helped push through the merger, and a gadfly baseball writer from Des Moines who is following the team, Kent learns to motivate the team his own way.

In May 1991, Norway High's baseball tradition ends on a triumphant but somber note as it wins its 20th state championship in its final season. A video clip of the actual Coach Stock thanking Van Scoyoc publicly for the opportunity opens the final scene.

Cast

Reception

The film grossed $1,159,691 in the USA. [2]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 25% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The critics consensus reads, "The Final Season recycles clichés we've seen in countless other sports movies, making for an unoriginal and uninspiring addition to the genre." [3] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". [4]

John Anderson of Variety wrote: "There's not quite as much corn in The Final Season as there is in the Iowa farm fields that run through it, but it's close." [5]

Heather Boerner of Common Sense Media rated it 3 out of 5 and called it a "Heartwarming-but-trite drama for baseball fans." [6]

Production notes

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shellsburg, Iowa</span> City in Iowa, United States

Shellsburg is a city in Benton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 961 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bo Rein</span>

Robert Edward "Bo" Rein was an American football and baseball player and football coach. He was a two-sport athlete at Ohio State University and served as the head football coach at North Carolina State University from 1976 to 1979, compiling a record of 27–18–1. Following the 1979 season, Rein had assumed the role as head coach at Louisiana State University, but was killed in an aircraft accident in January 1980 before he ever coached a game for the Tigers. Rein is the namesake of football player awards at Ohio State and NC State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lute Olson</span> American basketball player and coach (1934–2020)

Robert Luther "Lute" Olson was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats men's team for 25 years. He was also head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes for nine years and Long Beach State 49ers for one season. Known for player development and great recruiting, many of his former players have gone on to have impressive careers in the NBA. On October 23, 2008, Olson announced his retirement from coaching. Olson died on August 27, 2020, in Tucson, Arizona. He was 85 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Stewart</span>

Norman Eugene Stewart is a retired American college basketball coach. He coached at the University of Northern Iowa from 1961 to 1967, but is best known for his career with the University of Missouri from 1967 until 1999. He retired with an overall coaching record of 731–375 in 38 seasons. The court at Mizzou Arena is named in his honor.

Earle Bruce was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa (1972), Iowa State University (1973–1978), Ohio State University (1979–1987), the University of Northern Iowa (1988), and Colorado State University (1989–1992), compiling a career college football record of 154–90–2. At Ohio State, Bruce succeeded the legendary Woody Hayes and won four Big Ten Conference titles. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2002. Bruce returned to coaching in 2001 to helm the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League for a season and also later guided the Columbus Destroyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chip Hale</span> American baseball player & coach (born 1964)

Walter William "Chip" Hale is an American professional baseball infielder, coach, and manager. Hale played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1989 through 1997, and managed in MLB from 2015 through 2016. He was named head coach of the Arizona Wildcats of the University of Arizona in July 2021.

Bruce Edward Kimm is an American former professional baseball catcher, manager and coach. He played all or part of four seasons in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox between 1976 until 1980.

Brett Quillen Claywell is an American actor best known for playing the roles of Tim Smith on The WB/CW series One Tree Hill, and Kyle Lewis on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. J. Stewart</span> American athlete, coach, and administrator (1877–1929)

Edward James "Doc" Stewart was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was also the founder, and player-coach of the Massillon Tigers professional football team.

Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District.

Alan D. Lowry is a former National Football League (NFL) and college football coach, best known as the architect of the Music City Miracle. He coached for several teams over more than 25 years, winning one Super Bowl and going to another. Prior to coaching he played football at the University of Texas, where he won a national championship and three conference championships, was named to the All-Conference team twice at two different positions and was named the 1973 Cotton Bowl Offensive MVP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSU Tigers women's basketball</span> Louisiana State University team

The LSU Tigers women's basketball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I women's college basketball. The team’s head coach is Kim Mulkey, the former head coach at Baylor University, who was hired on April 25, 2021 to replace Nikki Fargas, who had been head coach since the 2011-2012 season. The team plays its home games in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center located on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Duncan (baseball)</span> American baseball player and coach

Jeffrey Matthew Duncan is an American baseball coach and former Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets. He is the head baseball coach at Kent State University. Duncan played college baseball at Iowa State University in 1998 before transferring to Arizona State University from 1999 to 2000 to play for coach Pat Murphy. After a standout college career, he would be drafted in the 7th round in 2000 by the New York Mets. He then played in the Major Leagues for the New York Mets in 2003 and 2004. Duncan also played in the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Toronto Blue-Jays organizations. He hit and threw left-handed.

The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team is part of the University of Iowa athletics department.

Norway High School was a high school located in the town of Norway, Iowa. It was closed after the 1990–1991 school year, and the majority of students were merged into Benton Community High School. The school's final baseball season was the subject of the movie The Final Season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent State Golden Flashes baseball</span>

The Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. The team competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Mid-American Conference. The head coach is retired Major League Baseball player Jeff Duncan, who was hired in June 2013.

Robert Van Scoyoc is an American professional baseball hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District</span> Public school district in Vinton, Iowa, United States

Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District (VSCSD) is a school district headquartered in Vinton, Iowa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landen Akers</span> American football player (born 1997)

Landen Akers is an American football wide receiver for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football at Iowa State.

Desi Druschel is an American professional baseball coach for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball.

References

  1. ↑ "The Final Season". freestylereleasing.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  2. 1 2 "The Final Season (2007)". Box Office Mojo . boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  3. ↑ "The Final Season". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  4. ↑ "Final Season, The (2007): Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  5. ↑ Anderson, John (7 October 2007). "The Final Season". Variety .
  6. ↑ Heather (14 April 2008). "The Final Season - Movie Review". Commonsensemedia.org.
  7. ↑ "Cinematographer Dies In Plane Crash". KCHistory.org. Kansas City Public Library . Retrieved July 17, 2022. Source: The Kansas City Star
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.