''My All American'' is a 2015 American biographical

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

sport film based on the life of college football player

Freddie Steinmark Freddie Steinmark (January 27, 1949 – June 6, 1971) was an American college football player, whose diagnosis of bone cancer and subsequent leg amputation during his junior year with the University of Texas Longhorns provided an inspiration f ...

. The film was written and directed by Angelo Pizzo. It is based on the book ''Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story'' by Jim Dent. The film stars Finn Wittrock,

Sarah Bolger Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...

Robin Tunney Robin Tunney (born June 19, 1972) is an American actress. Tunney made her film debut in the comedy ''Encino Man'' (1992) and rose to prominence with leading roles in the cult films '' Empire Records'' (1995) and '' The Craft'' (1996). Her perform ...

and Aaron Eckhart. The film was released on November 13, 2015, by Clarius Entertainment. The film coincides with the 2015 biography '' Freddie Steinmark: Faith, Family, Football''., It received negative reviews and grossed $2.2 million on a $20 million budget.

Plot

Freddie Steinmark just wants to play football. After constantly being let down by big colleges he finally catches the eye of one coach. Steinmark heads to Austin where he gives his everything for the game he loves. Taking place in the 1960s, the plot of My All American evolves around a young Freddie Steinmark and his lifelong dream of playing football in college. The audience is first introduced to Freddie as a strong-willed athlete with a big heart. Throughout his time on the high school football team, he meets Bobby, his best friend and teammate, and his longtime girlfriend Linda. Despite Freddie’s sheer athletic abilities, he finds it increasingly difficult to make his dreams into a reality due to his small size. Just when his family is ready to give up, his high school football coach tells Freddie the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

is interested. The Longhorn’s head coach, Darrell Royal, allows Freddie and his best friend Bobby to play collegiate football, and fortunately enough Linda enrolls as well. At the University, Freddie and his peers face a variety of obstacles on and off the field. James’s older brother dies fighting in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

overseas, and Freddie begins to feel pain in his knee. Despite these challenges Freddie and the Texas football team persevered, transforming the teams losing streak into an appearance in the

1969 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1969 Cotton Bowl Classic featured the Texas Longhorns versus the Tennessee Volunteers. Background In the 1951 Cotton Bowl Classic, the Volunteers upset the Longhorns 20–14. In the 1953 Cotton Bowl Classic, Texas beat Tennessee 16–0. Th ...

. Unfortunately, Freddie’s injury gets the best of him, and he is diagnosed with cancer. The film encapsulates the inspiring true story of Freddie Steinmark, his will to play and his heart of gold.

Cast

* Finn Wittrock as

as Linda Wheeler * Aaron Eckhart as

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an All-American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), and the University of Texas (1957� ...

as Gloria Steinmark *

Michael Reilly Burke Michael Reilly Burke (born June 27, 1964) is an American actor. He played Rex Van De Kamp on the unaired pilot of ''Desperate Housewives''. Steven Culp replaced him before the pilot aired. He also appeared in The WB series ''Charmed'' in the epi ...

as Fred Steinmark * Rett Terrell as Bobby Mitchell * Juston Street as James Street *

Mackenzie Meehan MacKenzie Meehan is an American actress, known for '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), '' These Hopeless Savages'' (2014) and ''Couch Hoppers'' (2013). She was nominated for the Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident P ...

as Nurse Fuller * Kaci Beeler as Casey Addison, The Reporter

Production

On May 7, 2014, it was announced that Wittrock had been cast in the role of Freddie Steinmark, and Aaron Eckhart had been cast in the role of

. It was also announced that Angelo Pizzo had written the script and was directing the film. On May 16, 2014, it was announced that

and

had been cast in the roles of Linda Wheeler and Gloria Steinmark respectively.

Filming

Production of the film began on June 24, 2014, and ended on July 16, 2014. The filming was based in Texas. Scenes were shot in 7 different cities ranging from

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on October 9, 2015, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

by Clarius Entertainment However, it was pushed back to November 13, 2015.

Home media

'My All American'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the

on February 23, 2016 by

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

. The film made $2,962,371 in home media sales.

Reception

Box office

The film opened alongside ''

Love the Coopers ''Love the Coopers'' (titled ''Christmas with the Coopers'' in the UK and Ireland) is a 2015 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Jessie Nelson and written by Steven Rogers. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Alan Arkin, Joh ...

'' and ''

The 33 ''The 33'' ( es, Los 33) is a 2015 biographical disaster- survival drama film directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera. The film is based on the real events of the 2010 Copiap� ...

''. In its opening weekend, it was projected to gross $2–4 million from 1,565 theaters. The film grossed $520,000 on its opening day and $1.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing 11th at the box office.

Critical response

''My All American'' has 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 Wan ...

, the film has a score of 33%, based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's consensus reads, "''My All American'' has a genuinely moving real-life story to tell, but writer-director Angelo Pizzo fumbles it into manipulative, melodramatic tearjerker territory." 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 score of 34 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On

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 ...

, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Dan Callahan gave the film a negative review saying "Even for those who love inspirational sports films might have to flinch from 'My All American' is a movie so square, conservative and humorless that it winds up playing like a brutally straight-faced ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

'' parody of gridiron schmaltz".

References

External links

* * * {{Texas Longhorns football navbox 2015 films 2015 biographical drama films 2010s high school films 2010s sports films American biographical drama films American independent films Films based on biographies 2015 drama films 2015 independent films Films scored by John Paesano Films set in 1969 Films set in Austin, Texas Films set in universities and colleges Films shot in Texas Films shot in Dallas Films shot in San Antonio High school football films Texas Longhorns football 2010s English-language films 2010s American films