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Rudy was, at one time, one of my favoriteย movies.
I grew up in Indiana and remember watching the Notre Dame replay show with the immortal broadcaster Lindsey Nelson every Sunday. I remember getting chills every Saturday watching the games as the Notre Dame fight song would play and the Fighting Irish emerged from the tunnel. My Saturday afternoon heroesย as a youngster consisted of Bob Crable, Joe Montana, Vagas Ferguson, Tony Hunter … this listย could go on forever.
So, when Rudy came out, I was excited to watch it. And when I saw it, I was blown away! After watching Rudy, I came away not liking coach Dan Devine anymore despite being one of my favorites ever since he’d led my beloved Fighting Irish to a national championship. I watched Rudyย so many times that the VHS tape broke!
Unfortunately, as I would find out from an interview with Notre Dame legend Joe Montana, the movie is embellishedย beyond beliefย and actually makes a great coach and man named Dan Devine look bad solely for dramatic purposes. An example: All parties, even Rudy Ruettiger himself, admit the jersey-throwing scene never happened.
Remember in the movie when members of the team toss their jersey onto Coach Dan Devineโs desk, saying they wouldnโt play if Rudy didnโt get dressed for the final game? Didnโt happen. In fact, Rudy was told several days before the game that he could suit up. Although the movie maintained that members of the team did pressure the coach to let him play, while Coach Dan Devine in his memoir said he alone decided that Rudy would dress and play that game.
Dan Devine was a great football coach and the fact that he was cast as aย villain in Rudy is unacceptable for me. The fact that Ruettigerย to this day has no problem making money off thisย crap will show you the kind of person he is.
In the film, Rudy has an older brother Frank who constantly chides his younger brotherโs ambitions. In actual factย — you guessed it — Rudy is the oldest son in the family; he has no brother named Frank and no sibling who fits Frank’s description. Ruettiger told the New York Times that fictional person was the โcomposite of everyone who ever discouragedโ him.
But Frank is not the only character composite. Remember the ever-encouraging groundskeeper? Sorry, didnโt exist and in this movie serves as a composite of everyone who *did* encourage him. I am not making this up!
Joe Montana said that the carrying off of Ruettiger after his final play was more of the players joking around than anything else. I guess in the end Rudy is just a guy who ended up trying to make a buck by completelyย lying about his lone accomplishment in life. Itย is also very disappointingย that Rudy Ruettiger was ultimately nothing but a bullshit artist!
And I used to love this movie…
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