''The Mighty Macs'' is a 2009 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, ...
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 ...
by director Tim Chambers. It stars
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001â ...
in the lead role of
Cathy Rush
Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fin ...
, a Hall of Fame women's basketball coach. The film premiered in the 2009
Heartland Film Festival
The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...
and was released theatrically in the United States on October 21, 2011 through indie film label
Freestyle Releasing
Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...
.
Plot
In 1971,
Cathy Rush
Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fin ...
, a woman ahead of her time, takes a job as the head women's basketball coach at
Immaculata College. Rush faces a challenge of trying to compete against perennial powerhouses. Seven members of the 1972 Immaculata championship team appear as nuns in a church scene early in the film,
sitting together in a pew, passing a note from the Rush character to a student.
Cast
*
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001â ...
as
Cathy Rush
Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fin ...
*
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...
as Mother St. John
*
Marley Shelton
Marley Eve Shelton (born April 12, 1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Wendy Peffercorn in David Mickey Evans's coming-of-age comedy '' The Sandlot'' (1993), the Customer in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's neo-noi ...
as Sister Sunday
*
David Boreanaz
David Paul Boreanaz ( born May 16, 1969) is an American actor, television producer, and director known for playing the roles of vampire-turned-private investigator Angel on The WB/ UPN ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' supernatural drama (1997–200 ...
as
Ed Rush
Ed Rush is the stage name used by the drum and bass producer and DJ, Ben Settle (born 1973). Rush has been releasing records since 1992 and primarily with his musical partner Optical (Matt Quinn), since 1997. Along with Optical he is also the c ...
* Katie Hayek as Trish Sharkey
* Kim Blair as Lizanne Caufield
*
Margaret Anne Florence as Rosemary Keenan
* Taylor Steel as Mimi Malone
* Kate Nowlin as Colleen McCann
* Meghan Sabia as Jen Galentino
*
Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Jeanne Somerville (December 12, 1943 – July 16, 2020) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is best known for her roles in '' Little Children'' (2006), '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), '' Surviving Fami ...
as Sister Sister
*
Tony Luke, Jr.
Anthony Lucidonio Jr. (born March 12, 1962) better known as Tony Luke Jr. is an American restaurateur, musician, songwriter actor, and media host who founded the cheesesteak franchise Tony Luke's.
Career
Luke married at age 18 after high school ...
as Salvator Galentino
*
Kathy Romano as Gate Agent
* Joe Conklin as Game Announcer
Production
The film was filmed in 2007, but not released until 2011 due to the difficulties of finding a distributor. The director, Tim Chambers, had a potential distribution deal with Disney, but turned it down because Disney wanted to add coarse language to earn PG rating, but Chambers preferred to go for a G rating. Chambers worked out a deal with
Freestyle Releasing
Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...
, and the movie opened four years after completing the filming.
Some scenes were shot at
West Chester University
West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...
in
West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Some scenes were shot at
The Hill School
The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...
in
Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Some scenes were shot in Alfred Cope Hall Gymnasium at Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Reception
''The Mighty Macs'' received mixed reviews from critics. On
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 ...
, the film holds a rating of 46%, based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads, "Its heart is obviously in the right place, but ''The Mighty Macs'' is too blandly formulaic to transcend the genre's many clichés." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a rating of 49 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mighty Macs, The
2009 films
American basketball films
2009 drama films
Films about women's sports
Films set in Pennsylvania
Films set in 1972
American drama films
Films scored by William Ross
Sports films based on actual events
2000s English-language films
2000s American films