''Forever Strong'' is a 2008 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Ryan Little Ryan Little (born 28 March 1971) is a Canadian film director, cinematographer and producer. He is perhaps best known for his 2003 film '' Saints and Soldiers.'' His work has a broad range of genres including war films and children's subjects. ...

, written by David Pliler and released on September 26, 2008. The film stars

Sean Faris Sean Faris (born March 25, 1982) is an American actor and model. He is known for his roles as Jake Tyler in ''Never Back Down'', Kyo Kusanagi in ''The King of Fighters'', and Rick Penning in ''Forever Strong''. He also played Tom in '' Ghost Ma ...

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the T ...

Neal McDonough Neal McDonough (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn Compton, Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001), Deputy District Attorney ...

Sean Astin Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor. His acting roles include Samwise Gamgee in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003), Mikey Walsh in ''The Goonies'' (1985), Daniel Ruettiger in ''Rudy'' (1993), Doug ...

Penn Badgley Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in The CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012) and as Joe Goldberg in the Netflix thriller series '' You'' (2018 ...

and

Arielle Kebbel Arielle Caroline Kebbel (born February 19, 1985) is an American actress and model. She has appeared in various television series, including ''Gilmore Girls'' (2003–2004), ''The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017), ''Life Unexpected'' (2010), ''90 ...

. The film is about a troubled

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who must play against the team his father coaches at the national championships. ''Forever Strong'' is based on a compilation of individual true stories.

Plot

Rick Penning (

) is captain of his high school rugby team whose coach Richard Penning (

) is his father, and whose players indulge in drugs and alcohol. After losing the championship to their rivals the Highland Rugby Team, Rick drinks and drives, resulting in a crash that seriously injures his girlfriend, Tammy (

Tyler Kain Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

). He is sentenced to a boys' Juvenile Detention Center in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. The manager of the center, Marcus (

) puts him on the Highland rugby team much to his chagrin, coached by

Larry Gelwix Larry Gelwix (born in Oakland, California) has been the coach of the Highland Rugby team since its founding in Salt Lake City in 1976. The movie '' Forever Strong'' (2008) was inspired by him and his team's history. The Highland rugby team has c ...

(

). He struggles to adapt to this new team's ways. A friend sends him a rugby ball with drugs hidden in the stitching. He uses the drugs until, influenced by something one of his new teammates tells him, he throws the drugs away. He works hard and finds the strength to become a member of the widely admired Highland team. Each day when he arrives at team practice he criticizes the coach for sitting around chatting with different team members and not doing any real coaching. Then it is his turn to sit with the coach and finds himself confessing to the drugs hidden in the rugby ball. The coach deals with it and tells him that his teammates want him to be a captain. He is influenced by brotherhood and can cope with his homesickness. Driving home after a celebration meal, the team are helping a mother and two children with a flat tire when a passing car clips one of the boys. Rick now must deal with the death of his first true friend Kurt ( Michael J. Pagan). Rick is released and returns to live with his parents. His father wants him to tell about the Highland team's moves and plays but Rick resists and they argue. His father makes it up by lending Rick the keys to his sports car, and Rick drives to meet up with Tammy and his old friends. They too become angry that Rick won't reveal the Highland team's secrets and a fight breaks out. They plant drugs and alcohol in the sports car and Rick is arrested when the police show up. Tammy tells the police what really happened and Rick is released. Rick finds himself again in the national championship, this time against the former friends on his old team coached by his estranged father. The game is hard fought. Players from his old team try to hurt Rick through cheap shots to collect the bounty on his head. Coach Penning tells Rick if he stays down Rick will end up like him. Rick gets back up and, in the final seconds, scores the winning try for Highland. As the film ends it is shown that in real life, under Coach Gelwix, Highland has been winning almost every year.

Cast

as Coach

as Marcus Tate *

as Coach Richard Penning *

as Richard 'Rick' Seymour Penning, Jr. *

as Lars * Michael J. Pagan as Kurt Addison *

Nathan West Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...

as Quentin 'Q' Owens *

Max Kasch Joseph Maxwell Kasch (born December 6, 1985) is an American actor and musician. He played "Zig-Zag" in ''Holes'' (2003), T-Dog in '' Waiting...'' (2005), and Troy in '' Shrooms'' (2007). Early life Kasch was born in Santa Monica, California, t ...

as Griggs *

Julie Warner Juliet Mia Warner (born ) is an American actress. She is best known as Danni on ''Family Law'' (1999–2001) and Megan on ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003-2006), Elaine in '' Mr. Saturday Night'' (1992), Michelle in ''Tommy Boy'' (1995), Micki in '' Wedding ...

as Natalie Penning *

as Emily Owens *

as Tammy *

Larry Bagby Larry Bagby (born March 7, 1974) is an American actor and musician, who is best known as Ernie 'Ice' in '' Hocus Pocus'', Larry Blaisdell in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Pvt. Shirley "Hickey" Kendrick in '' Saints and Soldiers'', Marshall Grant ...

as Coach Cal * Ryan Roundy as Himself

Production

The movie was filmed in Salt Lake City beginning in July 2006 at three local high schools. Sean Faris ran six miles twice a day to get in shape for the film. During filming, Faris sprained his ankle, but had the ankle taped, and continued filming. Several All-American rugby players, predominantly from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

, played in the film. Some Highland Rugby alumni and current players also played roles in the film. The name of the film is based on a phrase that Gelwix often shares with his team members, "kia kaha" which in the Maori language means ''Stay strong''. The longer version: "Be forever strong on the field, so that you will be forever strong off the field." The players call them "Gelwixism". ''Forever Strong'' is based on an amalgam of true stories about the Highland Rugby high school team. The character Rick Penning is based on a real member of the rugby team who played in Flagstaff, Arizona and was sent to a group home in Salt Lake City. The story attracted the production company Go Films. "Forever Strong" was the first sports themed film Go Films had made. Producer Adam Abel and Director Ryan Little were attracted to the story because of Highland Rugby's tradition of winning both on and off the field. The film name "Forever Strong" is taken from the team motto of the Highland High School rugby team. ''Forever Strong'' was released in the fall of 2008 and distributed by Crane Movie Co., a short-lived division of

Excel Entertainment Group Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...

Soundtrack

# "Ready Or Not" – Manbreak # "Pimpin Hard" – B.A.S.K.O. # "Nothing Less" –

The Travezty ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

# "Mele Kalikimaka" – Mugsy # "Corporate Logic" – Stereoliza # "Don't Make Me Dance" –

Joshua Creek Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

# "The Deal" –

Clay Duncan & Allday Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

# "Forever Strong" –

Sink To See A sink is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing. They also include a drain to ...

Maori culture

''Forever Strong'' contains use of the ''

haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...

'' (traditional Maori dance and song) "

Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebration of life over death after his lucky escape fro ...

". The ''

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

'' (tribal grouping)

Ngati Toa ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

chief

Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars, receiving the nickname "the Napoleon of the South". He was influential in the original ...

is credited with composing this particular haka. The film contains a scene in which one player translates the lyrics of "Ka Mate" for his teammate.

Critical reception

As of October 10, 2008, the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 29% of critics rated the film positively based on 14 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100 based on 9 reviews — indicating generally negative reviews. However, the public rated the movie much more favorably, according to

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

, which reported an average score of 7.3/10 from 8,204 users.

References

External links

* * * * {{Ryan Little 2008 films Rugby union films Sports films based on actual events Films shot in Salt Lake City College rugby union in the United States Cultural depictions of American men Cultural depictions of rugby footballers Films set in Utah Films set in Salt Lake City Films directed by Ryan Little 2000s English-language films American films based on actual events American sports drama films 2000s American films