McFarland, USA
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''McFarland, USA'' (also known as ''McFarland'') is a 2015 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
Niki Caro Nikola Jean Caro (born 20 September 1966) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film '' Whale Rider'' was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She directed the 2020 live action vers ...
, produced by Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, written by Christopher Cleveland,
Bettina Gilois Bettina Gilois (July 9, 1961July 5, 2020) was a German-American screenwriter and author, known for her work on the HBO film '' Bessie'', and Disney's ''Glory Road'' and ''McFarland, USA''. Gilois won an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Writing o ...
and Grant Thompson with music composed by Antônio Pinto. The film was co-produced by
Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...
and Mayhem Pictures. Based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a mainly Latino high school in
McFarland, California McFarland (formerly, Hunt and Lone Pine) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California, United States. McFarland is located north-northwest of Bakersfield and south of Delano, California, Delano, at a ...
, the film stars
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...
as Jim White, the school's coach, who leads the team to win a state championship. The film also stars
Maria Bello Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include '' Permanent Midnight'' (1998), '' Payback'' (1999), '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), '' A History of Violence'' (2005), '' The Mumm ...
and
Morgan Saylor Morgan Frances Saylor (born October 26, 1994) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Dana Brody in the Showtime series ''Homeland'', 2019's '' Blow the Man Down'' and for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Leah in the 2016 ...
. ''McFarland, USA'' was released on February 20, 2015, received positive reviews from critics, and grossed over $45 million. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 2, 2015 by
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
.


Plot

In 1987,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
coach Jim White loses his job after he loses his temper and accidentally injures a team player in the locker room. He and his family relocate to his new job at McFarland High School in
McFarland, California McFarland (formerly, Hunt and Lone Pine) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California, United States. McFarland is located north-northwest of Bakersfield and south of Delano, California, Delano, at a ...
, which is predominantly Latino. The family has trouble adjusting to the Hispanic neighborhood and lament being unable to afford to live in
Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
. White is first put as assistant football coach, but ultimately loses his coaching status when he pulls an injured player, Johnny Sameniego, out of a game, causing the crass Head Coach Jenks to ask him to step down. Discovering that some of his students are strong runners, White has Principal Camillo authorize cross-country as a sport and organizes an all-boys team. He enlists Sameniego's help and recruits Thomas Valles, Jose Cardenas, Victor Puentes and brothers David, Damacio and Danny Diaz. All seven have little hope for their future, specifically Valles, who has hardships with his father and nearly throws himself off a bridge before White stops him. Jim's devotion to the team leads to him alienating his family, including forgetting to pick up his daughter Julie's birthday cake. After a few regional competitions, the team wins its first race. Shortly after, the Diaz brothers are taken off the team by their father, who wants them to work for his team of field pickers instead. In response, White joins them in the fields and convinces them to come to meets and races at earlier and later times of the day, to which they finally address him as "coach". White's wife Cheryl organizes a
tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamale ...
and car wash sale with the rest of the neighborhood to raise money for new uniforms, where the family and the neighborhood become better acquainted. Eventually, the McFarland team competes in and qualifies for the State Tournament, and White takes them to the beach to celebrate. White also makes amends with Julie by throwing her a
quinceañera A (also , , , and ) is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. It has pre-Columbian roots in Mexico (Aztecs) and is widely celebrated by girls throughout Latin America. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a (; gender (linguistics), ...
with help from the neighbors, though it goes wrong when Julie is taken out on "parade" around the town and the group is attacked by street punks. Despite the group's insistence that Julie was protected, Jim questions his family's safety in McFarland and interviews for a full-time position at
Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...
that he was previously offered, upsetting Julie and Thomas. Cheryl implores him to continue to be there for the McFarland team and their friends in the neighborhood, reminding him how much the community has embraced them. The day of the state championships comes and almost the whole McFarland community accompanies the team to the race. Because of White's rigorous training and the efforts of the entire team, McFarland upsets the other more favored schools and comes in first. After the race, Jim turns down the Palo Alto position and embraces his family and the team. A series of texts shows that under White's guidance, the team becomes outstandingly successful, winning nine state titles over fourteen years. All the members of the first team become the first in their families to go to college or into military careers. Almost all members continue to attend the practices that Jim White held for successive school cross country teams even after graduation from college. White continued teaching and coaching in McFarland until his retirement in 2003 and after that he continued living in McFarland.


Cast


Production

William Broyles Jr. William Dodson Broyles Jr.
Filmreference.com. Accessed November 28, 2022.
(born October 8, 1944) is an A ...
was hired to write the screenplay for the film, which was in development since 2004. Negotiations for
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...
to star were finalized in July 2013.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place in Camarillo, California, and many of McFarland's residents were extras in the movie.


Historical accuracy

In an interview, Jim White noted that while the film was based on a true story, it was not a documentary. He acknowledged that not everything in the film was factual, but that "it's still an enjoyable movie... it turned out fine." Some of the more notable differences included: * Jim White had not been fired from numerous prior teaching jobs before starting at McFarland. He started teaching in the McFarland school district after graduating from
Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...
in 1964. During that time, McFarland was predominantly white in terms of demographics. White taught different subjects at numerous grade levels (fifth grade science, seventh and eighth grade woodshop, and PE) before starting his coaching career in 1980. White retired in 2003 after 23 years of coaching. * White did not establish the cross-country team at the school, but instead restarted it after it had been dropped for a year. He rebuilt both the boys' and girls' cross-country teams, despite only the boys' team being featured in the film. Similarly, White took both teams to the California coast beach at
Cayucos Cayucos (Spanish for "Canoe") is an unincorporated coastal town in San Luis Obispo County, California, along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south. The population was 2,505 at the 2020 census, down f ...
during the 1985 (not 1987) season. * Not all runners from the 1987 team are featured in the film. Director Niki Caro wanted to feature more family in the film, so Luis Partida, who was on the team, was replaced with David Diaz, Damacio and Danny's brother. David, however, graduated the year before McFarland's first state title win. * Jim White and his wife Cheryl have three daughters, not two. Their oldest daughter, Tami, does not appear in the film. Julie and Jami are also portrayed relatively younger than their real ages at the time of McFarland's first state title win in 1987 (all three were in college during that time). * Danny Diaz was not overweight as a child. He was, however, the seventh person on the team and still instrumental to its 1987 state title win. * McFarland was not rivals with Palo Alto High School (the schools are 4 hours apart) nor did the schools ever race each other. This was made up to serve the plot.


Release

The film was previously slated for a November 21, 2014 release, under the title ''McFarland'', but was pushed back to February 20, 2015 and given a new title. The film was released in Canada under its original title, ''McFarland''.


Home media

''McFarland, USA'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 2, 2015 by
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
.


Soundtrack


Reception


Box office

''McFarland, USA'' grossed $44.5 million in North America and $1.2 million in other territories for a total gross of $45.7 million. The film opened in North America on February 20, 2015 and earned $11 million in its opening weekend, finishing 4th at the box office.


Critical response

The
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
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 ...
has reported an 80% approval rating, based on 120 reviews, with a rating average of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Disney's inspirational sports drama formula might be old hat, but ''McFarland, USA'' proves it still works — especially with a talented director and eminently likable star in the mix." On
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 ...
, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 60 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Stephen Farber of ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' gave a positive review, writing that "While the beats of the story are often stock, the picture benefits from sensitive direction by New Zealander
Niki Caro Nikola Jean Caro (born 20 September 1966) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film '' Whale Rider'' was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She directed the 2020 live action vers ...
and from a most appealing performance by
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...
." James Rocchi of ''
TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
'' wrote "A feel-good movie that earns all those good feelings, ''McFarland USA'' might be running on a predetermined track, but the heart it shows along the journey is what makes it a winner." A. O. Scott of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described the film favorably as "a slick and safe Disney version of a fascinating and complicated reality", and that "Mr. Costner, with his knack for grumpy understatement, manages both to dominate the film and to deflect attention from himself."


Accolades

''McFarland, USA'' was nominated at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice Movie: Drama.


References


External links

* * {{Niki Caro 2015 films 2010s sports drama films American track and field films American sports drama films Films directed by Niki Caro Teen sports films Films about competitions Films about race and ethnicity Films set in California Films set in Idaho Films set in 1987 Films shot in California 2010s Spanish-language films Sports films based on actual events Biographical films about educators Walt Disney Pictures films 2015 drama films Films scored by Antônio Pinto 2010s English-language films 2010s American films