Plot
Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.

Release Year: 1993

Rating: 7.4/10 (21,987 voted)

Director: David Anspaugh

Stars: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty

Storyline
Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.

Cast:
Sean Astin - Daniel E. 'Rudy' Ruettiger
Jon Favreau - D-Bob
Ned Beatty - Daniel Ruettiger
Greta Lind - Mary
Scott Benjaminson - Frank Ruettiger
Mary Ann Thebus - Betty
Charles S. Dutton - Fortune
Lili Taylor - Sherry
Christopher Reed - Pete
Deborah Wittenberg - Young Sherry
Christopher Erwin - 7-Year-Old Mark
Kevin Duda - 9-Year-Old Bernie
Robert Benirschke - 11-Year-Old Mark
Luke Massery - 13-Year-Old Rudy
Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. - 13-Year-Old Pete

Taglines: Sometimes a winner is a dreamer who just won't quit.

Release Date: 13 October 1993

Filming Locations: Holy Cross College - 54515 State Road 933 N., Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

Gross: $22,750,363 (USA)

Runtime: 114 min

Trivia:
Dan Devine was upset about the scene in which several players laid down their jerseys on his desk as a form of protest for not letting Rudy suit up for the upcoming Georgia Tech game. According to Devine, that incident never took place and if it had, the players involved would have been booted off the team.

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: After Rudy gets in the game and everybody is cheering, his father is looking to his right and his brother is looking to his left at such angles that there is no way they were both looking at Rudy.

Quotes:
Pete: Well, you know what my dad always said, Having dreams is what makes life tolerable.

Better than "Rocky"

Rating: 10/10

This movie was dubbed a football version of "Rocky" except for one exception --it is an actual true story!! If you can watch "Rudy" and not have a lump in your throat during several scenes, especially the ending, then you are a hard to please critic!! This movie deserved much better than the 7.1 than the "critics" gave it. Sean Austin did a magnificent job playing overachieving Rudy and for those who ridiculed the fact that he only played a few seconds at the end of a lopsided game missed the whole point of the story. Rudy's dream was to play football at Notre Dame and earn everyone's respect (including his doubting family). With his lack of talent for both academics and athletics, the mere fact that he was even admitted into Notre Dame after struggling so hard to get good grades at Holy Cross (the Junior College Rudy went to in an attempt to prove himself worthy of Notre Dame since he had been out of High School for several years and made poor grades in High School.) He overcame his learning problems that had held him back in High School and this was a monumental achievement in itself. The scene where he was finally admitted into Notre Dame on his final attempt (he had been rejected 3 earlier times) was uplifting indeed. Rudy overcame reading difficulties thru hard work much the same way he overcame his lack of size to make the Notre Dame's football team --thru a gut-busting, never quit attitude. His teammates were so impressed with his attitude that they forced the coach (Dan Devine, a real jerk in the movie) to dress him for the final game. The final scene where the entire stadium was hollering "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy" in an effort to get him into the game at the end was spine-tingling! Rudy busting thru the line to sack the quarterback at the end of the game and get carried off the field with the stadium going nuts chanting his name---Well, movies don't get any better than this. And all this really happened!! Amazing how one of the best stories ever told in movies involve an "average Joe" who achieved his dream thru hard work----a Horatio Alger story indeed--10 out of 10 definitely ---For some of you "critics" that rated it worse than a "7" --you should take a class in movie critic reviews --you definitely would flunk my class if you gave this one a worse score than that!!

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