McFarlandUSA Movie Review
Heading to the Disney lot to preview movies is always an exciting night, but when we got to screen McFarlandUSA while on my recent Disney trip I wasn’t sure what to expect. I know that Disney puts on some fabulous movies, and Kevin Costner is always on his A Game when it comes to movies, and especially movies that he is in the sports realm. But I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with McFarlandUSA because it was based on a true story, as well as set back in 1987.
In 1987, I would have been in middle school when boom boxes, cassette tapes, and kitchen timers that actually ticked were among some of the top of the line technology. I know I am dating myself a little bit, but I was impressed that film pulled off such an amazing setting of times gone by and bringing back to life a glimpse of the 80’s for us to all throwback too.
McFarland was a very poor farming community filled with migrant workers, and the newest white coach on the block was Jim White. Jim White (AKA Kevin Costner) moved his family to this town and at first it was more than a little rocky. But after a few months, they learned that the reason McFarland was a great place to live because they were all like family. As well as the small town finally being recognized for something much bigger.
Director Niki Caro sat down with us and told us all about her favorite scene:
“The Kids all go onto the bus to head to their next event, but behind the bus there are kids holding signs in the road and they’re running behind the bus. And there’s no sound except just for Antonio Pinto’s music. And in the screenplay I’d written that the kids on the bus were heroes for the first time in their lives. It’s perfect. It shows you how meaningful it is for a small town when its own kids are achieving something, you know. The kind of scale of achievement, you know, it’s just tiny. But it’s so big for this town. And that it has started a legacy that will continue, that’s so inspiring to me.
Several incidents happened in the movie, but in the end the first Cross Country ever at McFarland High School was well on their way to a successful season. It took hard work, dedication, training and putting yourself into positions that they weren’t used to in order to make this movie and reality back in 1987. Just because you are a migrant worker doesn’t mean you can’t beat the best of the best and this movie proves just that.
It was truly an amazing movie that made you laugh, cry, cheer for the underdog and of course had elements of surprise to make it a must watch film. You could tell that McFarland had a great sense of community and director Niki Caro said this about McFarland.
The doors were flying open to McFarland and Jim is kind of like the unofficial mayor. When we went out there to shoot, you know, the town couldn’t do enough for us. There’s so much love and pride there as well as happy that we were there. After shooting those scenes around the market and so on, just out of frame there was always around 300 people watching the action.
I just loved to feel that embrace of the community. There’s nothing better.
As they say in the movie, Uno, Dos, Tres McFarland!
And the rest is history, coming to theaters February 20, 2015 McFarlandUSA is rated PG and a must watch film for families everywhere. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
What are your thoughts on McFarlandUSA?
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