Gridiron Gang

Infobox_Film
name = Gridiron Gang


caption = Theatrical release poster
imdb_id = 0421206
writer = Jeff Maguire
Lee Stanley
starring = Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Xzibit
L. Scott Caldwell
Kevini Dunn
Danny Martinez
Maurice McRae
Jade Yorker
director = Phil Joanou
producer = Neal Moritz
Lee Stanley
Shane Stanley
Michael I. Rachmil
distributor = Sony Pictures
released = September 15, 2006
runtime = 120 min.
country = United States
language = English
music =
awards =
budget = $30 million
gross = Domestic:
$38,432,823
Worldwide:
$41,480,851

Gridiron Gang is a 2006 film starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell, and Kevin Dunn. It was filmed in California at Camp Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County Probation Department facility. It is loosely based on the true story of the Kilpatrick Mustangs during the 1990 season, the very first in which they played eleven man football. Kilpatrick is a facility located in Malibu, California for juvenile delinquents with multiple offenses, such as gang violence. The overall moral is that even though people deal with difficulties in their lives, these young teenagers overcome their fears and frustrations using self-discipline and learn to leave their problems on the football field.

ynopsis

The movie starts during an evening at the Kilpatrick detention center. Their supervisor, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit), is minding his own business when a kid named Roger (Michael J. Pagan) wraps his fist in a pillow case, gets up, and starts throwing punches at the kid sleeping next to him. Roger is immediately taken to another building, called "The Box", where they lock up kids with behavior problems.

Their other supervisor Sean Porter (The Rock) walks into Roger's cell and starts beating Roger with a rolled-up magazine. Roger pleads that the guy he beat up was disrespecting his gang. Sean tells Roger he beat him because that is what Roger did to the rival gang member and tells him that he will only end up dead. Roger cools down and seems to understand what Sean is trying to tell him.

Roger is walking down the street with his cousin Willie Weathers (Jade Yorker) and Willie's girlfriend Danyelle (Jurnee Smollett). They are approached by C-Co and Skinny, two teenage members of their gang, the 88's. The two members inform Willie and Roger that a rival gang, known as the 95's, has stolen one of their little brother's bikes. Roger and Willie just want to chill, but C-Co keeps forcing the gun into Roger's hand. They decide to go. Danyelle gets upset at this crazy act and walks away. Just when the four teenagers are heading towards the other gang's territory, a drive by occurs. When Skinny gets shot, Willie and Roger try to help him. Willie and Roger start to run as the drive by shooters in the car chase them. They run up against a fence and Willie climbs over, but Roger is too late and is run over by the car.

While Willie is crying, his gang mates approach him and ask Willie to get revenge for his cousin. Free (Omari Hardwick) hands Willie a gun and tells him where to find the brother of the person behind the attack. Willie walks towards a grocery store and sees the target with his family. As Willie pulls out the gun, he is startled by the clerk, and he shoots at a window and runs home.

Back home, Willie's little brother is on the couch watching TV. When Willie sees his mother she has a black eye and bruises on her face, an obvious sign of abuse. Willie tells his mom to leave the man she is with and stop letting him do that to her. She tells Willie to "keep it down as he's in the kitchen," and Willie continues to tell his mother to "leave him and don't let him back in." The man gets physical with Willie because Willie refuses to back down. When Willie is pushed to the nearby couch, his mother comes to his defense. When the man hits his mother, Willie pulls out a gun and shoots the man. The police come and arrest Willie.

Back at the juvenile, Malcolm tells Sean the bad news about Roger's death. Sean is happy, knowing that he could do very little for the kids out there. Sean figures he needs a new method to help keep these kids from getting killed on the street. Sean visits his sick mother (L. Scott Caldwell) in the hospital and they talk about how much he used to love football, so Sean decides to install football into their correctional center program. Reluctantly, he is granted permission by his supervisors.

He picks out a few kids in the room that he feels will benefit from this program and requires that they practice with him the following day. The next day Sean explains the rules about being on the football field. They will obey all orders and they will have to learn to like one another, even if they are from different gangs. Willie and Kelvin (David Thomas) cannot get along, as they are rival gang members.

Sean and Malcolm travel around town to look for teams to play. Not many schools are willing to have their students play against criminals, so finding teams to play is difficult. Then Sean finds a league that is willing to accept the kids and uses funds from the program to get his kids equipment.

The first game is against the best team in the league, Barrington. The game starts out somewhat positive for the Mustangs, as they recover a fumble on the first drive, but things quickly turn. They are demolished by Barrington, losing by 38 points. During the game, Sean keeps on yelling at his kids, making them feel small and useless. After the game, Sean realizes he has not only lost the game, but also the trust of his team. Sean goes to visit his mother and tells her about how he sounded just the way his father used to. After his mother gives him some guidance, Sean goes back and apologizes to his kids.

Sean slowly gains the trust of his team back, as each day the kids start to have a better relationship with each other -- all except for Willie and Kelvin. After starting 0-2, the Mustangs start winning games as they learn to work together. Kelvin and Willie finally shake each others' hands when they win a game by one touchdown after Kelvin makes a big block for Willie.

Near the end of the season, the Mustangs are headed for the playoffs. They are getting more publicity and more fans along the way. Even Willie's gang mate Free is in the crowd. Free flashes some gang signs at Kelvin, a member of the rival gang, and the two vow to kill each other. After one game, as the players and families walk onto the field, Free intentionally bumps into Kelvin. When Kelvin pushes back, Free shoots Kelvin, hitting him in the shoulder. As Free prepares to put another bullet in Kelvin's head, Willie runs toward Free and knocks him over. Free is stunned, but then the police arrive and Free takes off running. He fires at the responding officers who return fire, killing him. Although Kelvin survives the attack, he will not be able to play in the finals.

The Mustangs now face Barrington, the team that beat them by 38 points at the beginning of the season, again. Although the Mustangs are a different team, they are still intimidated by Barrington. During halftime while the Mustangs are trailing 14-0, Sean and Malcolm allow the kids to motivate themselves in the locker room. The kids pump each other up and come out of the locker room a different team. They beat Barrington on the last play of the game and celebrate. Porter reveals in the narration that they lost the championship game, but no one called them losers.

A few months later, Sean's football method is officially made part of the program. Nearly all the kids who were on the Mustangs are now somewhere doing good things. Willie Weathers is playing football for a top boarding school, Kelvin Owens is playing football for Washington High, Kenny Bates is living back with his mother, Junior Palaita is working for a furniture company. Unfortunately Bug Wendal was killed in a drive by shooting in Compton. 24 of Porter's kids went back to school, 3 work full-time jobs, and only 5 are back in jail.

During the credits, footage of interviews with the real Sean Porter and other juveniles are shown .

Cast

oundtrack

The soundtrack music was written by Trevor Rabin.

Box Office

The film earned $14,414,640 at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. As of June 12, 2007, it has grossed $41,480,851 worldwide. [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gridirongang.htm]

External links

*imdb title|0421206
* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/gridirongang/index.html Official site]
* [http://www.visualartsentertainment.com Visual Arts Ent. Official site]
*rotten-tomatoes|id=gridiron_gang|title=Gridiron Gang

Box Office Leaders USA
before = The Covenant
date = September 17
year = 2006
after = Jackass Number Two