Friday Night Lights (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Friday Night Lights


caption = Theatrical release poster
writer = Buzz Bissinger (original book)
David Aaron Cohen
Peter Berg
starring = Billy Bob Thornton
Derek Luke
Lucas Black
Eric Towne
Garrett Hedlund
Lee Thompson Young
and Tim McGraw
director = Peter Berg
producer = Brian Grazer
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = October 8, 2004
runtime = 119 min.
country = United States| white people language = English
budget = $30,000,000| music = Brian Reitzell
Explosions in the Sky
David Torn
awards =
imdb_id = 0390022

"Friday Night Lights" is the 2004 movie that documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, ', was authored by H. G. Bissinger and follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team as they made a run towards the state championship. A television series inspired by the movie — also called "Friday Night Lights" — premiered on October 3, 2006 on NBC. This movie ranked number 37 on "Entertainment Weeklys list of the [http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1532588_1_0_,00.html 50 Best High School Movies] . The release of the film saw it premiere in Franklin,Tennessee.

Cast

Plot

Bissinger followed the team for the entire 1988 season, which culminated in a loss in the State semi-finals against Carter High School from Dallas, who eventually went on to win the championship game but would have their title stripped for playing an ineligible player. However, the book also deals with — or alludes to — a number of secondary political and social issues existing in Odessa, all of which share ties to the Permian Panthers football team. These include socioeconomic disparity; racism; segregation (and desegregation); and poverty.

The coach, Gary Gaines, is constantly on the hot seat. After a loss, he comes back to see "For Sale" signs on his lawn. Tied into the successes and failure of the coach and the team in general are the conflicts the players struggle with on and off the gridiron. The coach overuses his star player, running back James "Boobie" Miles, who gets seriously injured (Miles tore his ACL, missed the playoffs, and had a limp for the rest of his life). When this happens, sports radios are flooded with calls for his resignation. Miles' once-arrogant attitude vanishes as he sees his once promising chance of playing big-time college football disappear and starts to question his future after he notices his not-so promising academic standing. Quarterback Mike Winchell struggles with being able to play consistently, and his inability to make decisions for himself. Fullback Don Billingsley has a rocky relationship with his father, who won a state championship at Permian and carries on a feud with his son for not performing on the level he'd like to see, despite the fact that Don doesn't do anything to light his father's temper. Third-string running back Chris Comer, who takes the spot of Miles after his injury, attempts to get rid of his fear of being hit and getting injured, especially when the player who last occupied his spot suffered a season ending injury. His obsession with fame and recognition also comes at a high price that he is at first not ready to pay. Safety Brian Chavez is harassed by his teammates for being the "black sheep" of the team due to his lack of pure football instinct, although he is easily the smartest player on the team, and the most confident in his future after high school football. One of the themes of the movie depicts the coach as a father-type figure for the players. Most of the players that are the central characters of the movie have some sort of struggle when it comes to their father.

Coach Gaines triumphs and struggles with winning football games and connecting with his players a number of times during their tremulous season. His job depends on the Panthers making the playoffs, and his team is in a three-way tie with two other teams at the end of the regular season. Under Texas rules for ties, the tiebreaker is a coin-toss. In an effort to prevent a riot, the location of the coin-toss is kept under wraps, and the Texas TV stations air it live at an unearthly hour. Permian gets a spot. They make it to the finals, where they narrowly lose to a powerhouse Dallas high school team. The players are in tears as the game ends, but unite when they finally see the amount of success they had over their season given their situation, and how unmeasurable it all was, by a championship ring or anything else. The movie ends with the coach removing the departing seniors from the depth chart on his wall. Notably, the depth chart has "Case" at quarterback. This refers to Permian's real-life backup quarterback in 1988, Stoney Case, who would go on to lead Permian to the 5A state title the following year, and still later made it to the NFL. The final scene consists of Winchell throwing a football to a bunch of pee-wees playing pick-up football before leaving with Billingsley and Chavez.

Differences between the movie and actual events

Players

*Many players names and numbers were featured in the movie. Some of these were real and some were false. Brian Chavez's number was actually 85, and Boobie Miles' number was actually 35. However, player's numbers such as Wide Receiver Michael Aguirre's number 15 were correct. Other differences included where the Panthers lost and won games or where the games were actually played.
*In the movie James "Boobie" Miles is depicted as one of the team's three captains, but that honor was held by Ivory Christian, Mike Winchell and Brian Chavez.
*In the movie some of the players' numbers and positions were changed: Boobie Miles in the movie is #45 and playing tailback, but in the book he is playing fullback (while Don Billingsley was the tailback) and was #26. In the movie, Brian Chavez is the #4 strong safety, while he was actually the #85 tight end and defensive end. Ivory Christian, in the film, is a defensive end and wears #90, while he was really the #62 middle ("Mike") linebacker. (Note: At the beginning of the film, as the camera pans over Coach Gaines' depth chart, you can see the name 'Miles' listed under the FB tag.) Chris Comer was also the backup fullback in the book, not a third-string tailback. One of the athletic directors in the stadium booth also mentions "I think he's a Sophomore.", when Comer was really a Junior in real life. Comer also wore #45 in the real season, but in the movie he wears #42. Also, Alan Wyles is depicted as a wide receiver when he was actually the placekicker.
*Don Billingsley's father Charlie is depicted in the movie as having won a state championship. In reality, his Permian team lost in the state finals.

Regular season

In the movie the team is depicted as practicing in full pads and with full contact on the first day of practice. Under rules of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body for Texas public-school sports, teams cannot use pads or hit until the 4th day of practice.
*A Permian booster is heard toasting Coach Gaines' second season as Permian's head coach. It was actually his third.
*Boobie Miles, in the book, injured his leg by getting his foot caught on AstroTurf during a pre-season scrimmage against Amarillo Palo Duro at Jones Stadium in Lubbock. In the movie he is tackled by two players at the knee during a blowout non-district game at Ratliff Stadium.
*In the movie, the top-ranked Permian Panthers defeated the hapless Marshall Bulldogs in a non-district game. In real life, the third-ranked Marshall Mavericks (whose colors are red and white, not purple and gold) defeated fourth-ranked Permian 13-12. In the movie, the game is the season opener, and played on a Friday night in Odessa. In real life, it was Permian's second game of the season, and played at Maverick Stadium in Marshall on a Saturday afternoon. Permian's football team chartered a jet for the 500+ mile trip from Odessa to Marshall, spawning controversy on the cost of the trip. Played before a crowd of more than 12,000 fans at Maverick Stadium, the game was on a searing September afternoon where the temperature topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 °C). The footage shown in the movie is from a game against the Midland High Bulldogs, who weren't mentioned in the movie. Permian defeated the Dawgs 42-0 in district play, but the two teams ended up in a three-way tie along with Midland Lee for the district title.
*In the movie, district play began in week 2. In the real regular season, district play would have begun in week 4.
*In the movie, Permian defeats "North Shore Galena" in a mid-season (presumably district) game. In reality, North Shore High School is located in Galena Park, a suburb of Houston, over 500 miles (800 km) southeast of Odessa. Although North Shore and Permian have both been 5A football powerhouses, they have never played.
*In reality, the three teams tied for best district record were Permian, Midland Lee, and Midland High, all with 5–1 district records. In the movie, Permian and Lee are joined not by Midland but by Abilene Cooper, and each team has two district losses. The tie breaking coin flip was held at a truck stop outside of Midland, and Midland High lost (Cooper in the movie), so Permian and Lee went on. Midland High's missing the playoffs was particularly poignant as it had not been to the playoffs since 1951 and would not get to go on to post-season play until 2002.
*In a few scenes, players are shown wearing Under Armour-branded apparel and facemask shields when in 1988, Under Armour and visors hadn't been invented yet (future Under Armour founder Kevin Plank was a high school football player in 1988). The book actually says Dallas-Carter wore green visors, which at the time of filming had been declared illegal by high school football's governing body—although A "goof" that wasn't">as noted below, Texas does not use standard high school football rules.

The playoffs

*Permian's first opponent in the playoffs was Amarillo Tascosa and not Dallas Jesuit as in the movie. In fact, in 1988 Texas public schools (such as Permian, Carter, and Tascosa) and private schools (such as Jesuit) competed in separate leagues with separate playoffs. Jesuit was not allowed to join the previously all-public school UIL until 2003, starting football competition in 2004. Dallas Jesuit and Strake Jesuit of Houston are currently the only private schools who play in the UIL, the rest competing in leagues such as TAPPS and the SPC. Also, given the district setup at that time, it would have been impossible for Permian to play a team from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex until the third round for the playoffs. Now, however, Permian would play Fort Worth-area teams in the first round of the playoffs, but still could not play Jesuit until round 3. Permian did play Dallas Jesuit in Odessa during the regular season in 1988, winning 48-2. Jesuit's only points came on a missed-PAT return, which was a new rule instituted that year. Also, Jesuit's helmet is shown as white and orange with a sort of wildcat's head logo on it: in actuality, the Jesuit Rangers' football helmets are solid gold, with no logo on them.
*In the movie, it is said that Carter was the state's top-ranked team, when Carter was never ranked higher than No. 3 in the "Associated Press" poll.
*Carter is depicted playing “Hays” High School in the playoffs. Hays High is depicted as wearing green and white and nicknamed the Rams. The real Jack C. Hays High School, located 15 minutes south of Austin in Buda, instead uses red, white, and blue as its colors, and its nickname is Rebels. Hays was a Class 4A school in 1988 and did not become 5A until 2000. Hays was in the movie because the makers filmed crowd shots at Hays High during a Rebels home game against the Austin Westlake Chaparrals, another team depicted as being a Permian playoff victim.
*In the movie, Permian plays Amarillo High School in the semifinals. Amarillo is depicted wearing blue and white, while their actual colors are black and gold.
*Permian was also depicted as playing “San Angelo” in the quarterfinal round. There are actually two high schools in the San Angelo Independent School District; San Angelo Central High School (the district's only 5A school) had, until 1998, been in the same district for football as Permian (having since been transferred, for football only, to the district with Lubbock and Amarillo schools), and could only have played Permian in the quarterfinal round (owing to the structure of UIL playoffs) if they had qualified. However, Central finished 5th in the district that year, and as only two teams from each district qualified in 1988, Permian and Central did not play in the 1988 playoffs.

Permian vs. Carter
*Since 1982, the UIL Class 5A football playoffs have had six rounds (though a second, parallel playoff bracket of five rounds was added in 1990, later also expanded to six rounds in 2006), so while Permian did play Dallas Carter in the fifth round, in reality it was a semi-final and not a final. In the Texas playoffs, a team from North or Western Texas always plays a team from Southern Texas in the final. So the Carter vs Permian final would not have been possible. The actual final featured Carter versus Converse Judson (who would later defeat Permian in the 1995 state championship). The Carter-Permian game was played in front of 10,000 people in a heavy downpour at The University of Texas at Austin's Memorial Stadium, not in front of 55,000 in the Astrodome in Houston. The movie highlights a call made by a black referee of a catch where the ball skips the ground; that play did or did not happen depending on which side you supported. The incident is mentioned in the book however. While the game in the movie was a high-scoring affair (34–28), the score of the actual game was 14–9 in favor of Carter. In real life Permian held a 9–7 lead for most of the game and it was Carter who made the dramatic fourth quarter comeback to win. On the last play of the game, Winchell threw an incomplete ball tipped by Carter player and later NFL-Pro Bowler Jessie Armstead , rather than running it himself close to the goal line.
*Many people in Dallas were highly upset at how the Dallas Carter coach was portrayed as villainous. The actual coach, Freddie James, was highly respected and considered a Dallas legend. The movie version of the book depicted the Carter team as unsportsmanlike and arrogant. The game was played without incident and without any confrontation between either team.

The school and the city

*Ratliff Stadium is depicted as the location for Permian football practices. In reality, the team mostly practices on campus, and the stadium (which both Permian and Odessa High use) is on the outskirts of town in a fairly unpopulated area and about three miles (five km) away from the Permian High campus. It is also unlikely that children would be playing touch football near the stadium, as depicted in the movie, as few houses were nearby at that time. The area around the stadium has grown dramatically since then (which caused an anachronism in the movie — the houses you see near the stadium weren't there then!).
*Also, while Ratliff Stadium has had artificial turf since its opening, in 1988 it had the original AstroTurf, not the modern FieldTurf surface seen on the stadium in the film.

Anachronisms

During a football scene, the modern logo for Bank of America can be seen underneath a stadium scoreboard. Although Bank of America existed in 1988, the logo seen in the film was not used until 1998, when today's Bank of America was created via the purchase of the original Bank of America by NationsBank. In other scenes, however, period-specific ads were used, including Pan Am and Oldsmobile logos at the Astrodome.

In the championship game versus Dallas Carter, the Carter players are wearing Under Armour products; the company was not founded until 1996, and in 1988, the founder Kevin Plank was a high school football player in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition, while showing scenes from the town, a silver Dodge Durango can be seen, which was not produced until 1998.

A "goof" that wasn't

During the opening kickoff of the championship game between Dallas-Carter and Permian, the Permian returner attempted to run the ball out of the end zone and is tackled at the three yard line. Most followers of high school football would consider this a "goof", because under the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the ball is ruled dead immediately and a touchback is called once the ball enters the end zone by breaking the plane of the goal line.

However, this scene is actually an accurate depiction of Texas high school football. The UIL, despite being a member of NFHS, does not use NFHS rules for football, choosing instead to play under NCAA rules (with minor modifications). Under NCAA rules, a kickoff that crosses the plane of the goal line remains a live ball. (It must also be noted that the rule allowing a missed PAT to be returned by the defense for a 2-point score, mentioned earlier in the article, is also an NCAA rule that is not used by NFHS.)

Cameo roles

*Detroit Lions wide receiver Roy Williams (a Permian alumnus) has a cameo in the movie, ironically as an assistant coach for Midland Lee (Permian's arch-rival).

*Former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Ty Law plays a wide receiver for Dallas Carter, the team Permian plays in the movie's state championship game (as noted earlier, the real Permian-Carter game was a semifinal). He wears jersey #2, his last name is Graf, and he eventually catches a one-handed touchdown pass.

*The real James "Boobie" Miles plays a Permian assistant coach in the film. Although he has no lines, he is seen several times. In the locker room scene at halftime of the state championship game, he is seen standing next to the fictional "Boobie" Miles as Coach Gaines gives his speech.

*Although not a cameo role, country music star Tim McGraw plays Don Billingsley's football obsessed father.

oundtrack

The soundtrack for the film predominantly features post-rock band Explosions in the Sky. Music by Daniel Lanois and rock band Bad Company are also included. The pump up song that is featured as the team runs through the tunnel in the game against Dallas Carter is "New Noise" by the seminal Swedish punk band Refused. Also, during the start of the third quarter during the Championship game, the song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges is used.

External links

* [http://www.fridaynightlightsmovie.com/ Official web site]
* [http://www.fnl-online.com/ FNL-Online] a Friday Night Lights Fansite
* [http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/fridaynightlights Friday Night Lights Reviews] at Metacritic.com
*imdb title|id=0390022|title=Friday Night Lights
*rotten-tomatoes|id=friday_night_lights|title=Friday Night Lights
*mojo title|id=fridaynightlights|title=Friday Night Lights
* [http://www.mojoland.net Odessa Permian Sports website in Texas.]