Topic: 'Rudy' vs. 'We are Marshall'? Both Irish, Herd boast box office hit

[Big City]

SOUTH BEND ? It's a debate that almost always evokes smiles, artful critique, impassioned pleas, disbelief and, more often than not, no real resolution.

What is the best sports movie? In this case, what is the best sports movie regarding a football team?

Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn and two-time Super Bowl champion QB Eli Manning pondered that very question this past summer while sitting in an empty Notre Dame Stadium.

How could the conversation not start with "Rudy," the 1993 classic true story about an overachiever named Dan "Rudy" Rutteger from Joliet, Ill. who had a dream to play for the Fighting Irish, if not the credentials.

But on Saturday, it's "Rudy" vs. "We Are Marshall" as No. 8 Notre Dame (0-1) plays Marshall (1-0) for the first time in program history, pitting one of college football's most storied programs against one of the sports' all-time great stories.

https://www.ndinsider.com/story/sports/football/2022/09/08/rudy-vs-we-are-marshall-which-classic-movie-has-the-hollywood-edge-sean-astin-matthew-mcconaughey/65473964007/

[Herdmeister]

Knute Rockne All American was a big hit as well. One of our first looks at Ronald Reagan

[chris88]

There was a teacher at Moeller HS in Cincy that was playing for ND at time Rudy was there.  He told someone I knew that Rudy was a brown nose cheap shot artist that would do anything to get coaches attention in practice. Don't know how many other players shared that opinion but I thought it was funny.

[gochneaur645]

Rudy was a lie. Everybody hated that guy in real life and he became a huge prick after the movie.

Also, he was offsides.

[CoachMaclid]

https://twitter.com/HerdThoughts/status/1567874227704840192

[Herdmeister]

Rudy was a lie. Everybody hated that guy in real life and he became a huge prick after the movie.

Also, he was offsides.

I met a lawyer a few years ago that lived in the same dorm as Rudy. He said Rudy spent his time at ND trying to get notice and then his life after ND trying to tell the world. He said the guy was a real fraud and that much of the movie story was fictional.
He mentioned that if anyone in the crowd was chanting, "Rudy, Rudy" it was 3 or 4 of his friends. No way it was a stadium wide chant as was portrayed in the movie.

[beau42m]

Rudy did $21 million box office in 1993 and We Are Marshall did $43.5 million box office in 2006. Not exactly box office smashes. Rudy did better on Rotten Tomatoes at 78% fresh critics/ 90% audience versus Marshall 49% fresh critics/ 79% audience. I lived through We Are Marshall, I couldn't bear to watch it more than twice. Too bittersweet.

[biggreenarms]

Rudy was a lie. Everybody hated that guy in real life and he became a huge prick after the movie.

Also, he was offsides.

Here?s what Joe Montana said about what really happened.

https://www.sportscasting.com/joe-montana-just-broke-americas-heart-by-revealing-everything-wrong-with-rudy/

Was there a lot of things that happened? Yeah. He got in, he got a sack. Was the crowd chanting? No. Did I throw in my jersey? No. Did he get carried off the field? He got carried off by three of the biggest pranksters on the team.

So, the biggest moment of Ruettiger?s life was apparently just a joke to the rest of the team. Montana claims the three players carried Rudy off the field sarcastically, not in celebration. Rudy screenwriters fabricated the jersey scene, the chanting never happened, and the iconic ending wasn?t even accurate.