Friday, September 01, 2006

Movie: 'InVINCEble': Italian American Bartender-turned-Philadelphia Eagle Tops Charts

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Although Vince Papale had played only one year of high school football, he was a track star in college, and had made it into the World Football League as a receiver, playing two years at about $800 a game before the league folded, but at 30 he was relegated to a rough

"touch football" league, that provided most of the fodder for neighborhood bar talk.  He was divorced, sharing an apartment with two other guys. Drove a beater. Ran six miles a day through the old neighborhood, staying in shape.

 

In 1976, When Dick Vermeil took over the lowly Philadelphia Eagles, he held open tryouts. Papale shows up at the tryouts and slaughters everybody.  Of all the ex-jocks, wannabes and good athletes who turned out, only one man got invited to training camp: Papale. He survived and became the oldest rookie in league history. Papale  was even captain of the special-teams unit.

 

A sportswriter dubbed him "The inVINCEble Papale," and a legend was born. He'd get on the field and Eagles fans would just go crazy. Papale had to retire from football at 34 after a shoulder injury, and disapears into obscurity until 2002, when  "Monday Night Football" did a segment about his Eagles heroics. Hollywood called the next day.

 

This is a combo "Rudy"/ "Rocky" movie!!    "Invincible" debuted as the top weekend movie with $17 million.

 

HIS VERY 'ROCKY' ROAD TO FAME

'Invincible' relates the underdog story of Vince Papale, oldest rookie in the NFL ... to a point.

Los Angeles Times

From Washington Post

Neely Tucker

September 1, 2006

 

The phone is ringing off the wall, the BlackBerry is buzzing, a photographer is calling for directions to the house, and you have radio interviews stacked up like planes in a holding pattern.

All this nearly three decades after the cheering stopped and Papale's life seemed to fall apart in divorce, bitterness and blown opportunities.
They leave that stuff out of the movies, you know, the part about the rest of your life.

And yet, somehow, here he sits, tall and athletic at 60, barefoot, big smile, sparkling eyes, light streaming through the huge picture window in the living room: Larger-Than-Life Vinny Papale. Glory, once again.

"When I heard that Disney had bought the rights to the film," he says, "I just went primal. Went out of my mind. I was going, 'Disney! Disney!' The kids were in the car, they thought I'd lost it."

This time around, when Hollywood can gloss over the rough notes, it's almost better than t! he real thing.

In 1976, Vince Papale was a 30-year-old guy from Glenolden, a working-class suburb just south of Philadelphia International Airport. He was Italian American, from a huge family (his parents had eight siblings each).

Papale had a marketing degree, taught business classes at his old high school, tended bar at a friend's place. He'd played only one year of high school football, but he was a track star in college and had made it into the World Football League as a receiver, playing two years at about $800 a game before the league folded.

He was divorced, sharing an apartment with two other guys. Drove a beater. Ran six miles a day through the old neighborhood, staying in shape, one of these relentlessly enthusiastic guys you meet in a bar, telling you about his most recent game in a rough touch-football league "see, man, there was this pass across the middle"

When Dick Vermeil took over the lowly Philadelphia Eagles, he held open tryo! uts. Papale shows up at the tryouts and slaughters everybody.

Of all the ex-jocks, wannabes and good athletes who turned out, only one man got invited to training camp: Papale. He survived and became the oldest rookie in league history. Eagles fans went nuts, some guy coming down out of the stands and making the team, right there with Harold Carmichael! He was even captain of the special-teams unit. A sportswriter dubbed him "the inVINCEble Papale," and a legend was born. He'd get on the field and Eagles fans would just go crazy.

Papale retired from football at 34 and went through several jobs before landing one in local radio for eight years. He went into the mortgage business, where he met Janet Cantwell, a world-class gymnast turned real estate agent, who would become his third wife.

But then "Monday Night Football" did a segment in 2002 about his Eagles heroics.

"Hollywood called the next day," he says, shaking his head.

 

 

MOVIE REVIEW

'INVINCIBLE'

Mark Wahlberg scores points as bartender-turned-Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale.

 

By Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

August 25, 2006

In "Invincible," bartender-turned-Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale drives a tough, weather-beaten 1970s Chevy Nova. That's the sort of actor Mark Wahlberg is: a Nova.


You never know who's going to learn to listen to other people on screen, and commune with the camera without worrying about looking just so (or just so cool) every second. In other words, you never know who'll develop into a good actor. Wahlberg, the former skivvies model with the c'mere/go away pout, has done it. He has been reliably strong for several movies now. While he's not the only thing right with this better-than-average inspirational sports movie, as Papale he sets a tone of hard-won confidence.

Much like the recent soccer film "Goal! The Dream Begins," "Invincible" has just enough human beings and semblances of human drama to sideline the clichis. Director and cinematographer Ericson Gore may use up his slo-mo quotient by the third reel. But then, a football film without a surfeit of slo-mo is like a cheesesteak without the cheese.

In 1976 the Eagles, like Philadelphia itself, needed help. Straight off a Rose Bowl win, UCLA Coach! Dick Vermeil took over the NFL franchise. He held open tryouts, drawing a wide variety of lifelong Eagles wannabes. One of them was Papale, a part-time teacher and part-time bartender. (For dramatic purposes, screenwriter Brad Gann downplays Papale's collegiate athletic achievements.)

At the sly urging of his father (Kevin Conway) and a chorus of go-get-'ems from his junkyard-football pals, Papale shows up at the tryouts and slaughters everybody. He performs like a man who knows in his heart that someday, with the full cooperation and approval of the National Football League, Disney will make a movie based on his life and call it "Invincible."

The film glides along a well-greased track. Shrewish, short-tempered wife? No problem, she's out of the picture in plenty of time for Papale's romance with the lovely and patient and understanding bartender played by Elizabeth Banks. (She tells him she likes bartending because "it's like being back home, listening to my br! others argue.") Papale is deemed an Eagle, and the hopes of a heavily unemployed city, on the ropes in the Bicentennial year, ride on a local boy's shoulders.

In real life Papale became a Cinderella man the same year as "Rocky" triumphed on movie screens. The film ends in 1976, though Papale played wide receiver for four seasons before a shoulder injury forced him to change careers. Screenwriter Gann and feature film directorial first-timer Core glance on the Rocky Balboa parallels. They also glance on some real-world issues ? alcoholism, working-class socioeconomics, the strike down at the Westinghouse plant. The operative word is "glance." We're firmly in feel-good, triumph-of-the-human-spirit territory here.

The actors make it work. Greg Kinnear's Coach Vermeil exudes Southern California good vibrations without a lot of fuss or attitude. Paige Turco has a couple of effective scenes as Carol Vermeil, who gives Dick the strength and love it takes for him to do w! hat is right for the Eagles, for himself and for America.

All the South Philly trappings are there: The cramped row houses, the dingy bars, the "Rocky" echoes.

"Invincible" features an astutely cast collection of neighborhood palookas, chief among them Kirk Acevedo (as Papale's friend Tommy, always there for him) and Dov Davidoff (Johnny, the lone dissenter and lush, who tells our hero that after his NFL fling he'll "still be nuthin'.") Wahlberg handles Papale and most of his own gridiron stunts with grace and ease.

There's a sugarcoating to the way Papale's story unfolds, but not so much that you'll spoil your dinner.

'Invincible'

MPAA rating: PG for sports action and some mild language

A Walt Disney Pictures release. Director-cinematographer Ericson Core. Screenplay by Brad Gann.

Producers Gordon Gray, Mark Ciardi, Ken Mok. Editor Jerry Greenberg.

Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes.   In general release.

 

 

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