In 1956, JB Peña and his wife moved to the small town of Del Rio, TX, partly for a job as a school superintendent, but mostly to fulfill JB’s dream of joining the prestigious, all-white Del Rio Country Club. So when JB is rejected on the basis of his skin color, he is devastated. But his world soon collides with a group of young Latino golf caddies who work at the country club, and JB is inspired by the handmade course the boys built in the country to teach themselves golf. With little experience and even fewer resources, JB convinces the boys to start their own high school golf team, starting them all on a journey where they learn that it takes more than just golf skills to make history. Based on Mustang Miracle by Humberto G. Garcia.
REVIEW:
I don’t mind a conservatively told sports drama like The Long Game as long as the director (Julio Quintana) masters all the basics. Quintana has tailored this underdog drama about Mexican American high school golfers fighting both prejudice and better players to be reassuring, uplifting, gently comic and emotionally inspiring.
Jay Hernandez provides the grounded enthusiasm as a high school administrator- J.B. Pena, with a passion for golf and a vision of equality for Mexican Americans. He and his hard scrabble team of golf devotees, take on the country club white hierarchy, with Dennis Quaid providing effortless old timer charm as a key supporter and instructor. Cheech Marin shows up to provide wiseass Yoda support.
The movie moves from being a story of one man’s fighting to play the game he loves on the course he chooses, to aspiring for equality for all Mexican Americans. He and his team beats the snobs and bigots at their own game, and within the rules. Everything is executed with high gloss and buy the book. It just takes care to get things right in character, plot and the details of the time period.
Quintana wins the audience over by being a master in everything, favoring efficiency and directness over nuance. The privileged jerks the Mustangs play against are sore losers and cheaters. Quaid, playing the standard drunk role, sobers up and rises to the occasion with each team win. The life metaphors delivered by Pena are straight forward and full of common sense advice. He leads by example, becoming the definition of grace under pressure for the team to follow. Quintana is always aware of the movie’s long game and sticks faithfully to the plan.
The Long Game gets a 3.5/5 or a B+. It’s streaming on Netflix.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Julio Quintana
Screenplay by
- Paco Farias
- Jennifer C. Stetson
- Julio Quintana
Based on
Mustang Miracle
by Humberto G. Garcia
Produced by
- Ben Howard
- Dennis Quaid
- Laura Quaid
- Marla Quintana
- Javier Chapa
Starring
- Jay Hernandez
- Julian Works
- Jaina Lee Ortiz
- Brett Cullen
- Oscar Nuñez
- Paulina Chávez
- Gregory Diaz IV
- José Julián
- Cheech Marin
- Dennis Quaid
Cinematography
Alex Quintana
Edited by
James K. Crouch
Music by
Production
companies
- HarbourView
- Fifth Season
- Mucho Mas Media
- Bonniedale
- Jaguar Bite
Distributed by
Mucho Mas Releasing
Release dates
- March 12, 2023(SXSW)
- April 12, 2024(United States)
Running time
112 minutes
Country
United States
Languages
- English
- Spanish
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