Any Given Sunday (1999)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers (WGA):

Daniel Pyne (screen story) and
John Logan (screen story) ...

Release Date:

22 December 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Life is a contact sport.

Plot:

"Any Given Sunday" is a behind the scenes look at the life and death struggles of modern day gladiators and those who lead them.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Prescription Drug Abuse | Television | Institutional Discrimination | Self Destructiveness

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Nov. 19	1:15 AM	AMC
Thur. Nov. 19	1:45 PM	AMC

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Tony D'Amato
Cameron Diaz	...	Christina Pagniacci
Dennis Quaid	...	Jack 'Cap' Rooney
James Woods	...	Dr. Harvey Mandrake
Jamie Foxx	...	Willie Beamen
LL Cool J	...	Julian Washington
Matthew Modine	...	Dr. Ollie Powers
Jim Brown	...	Montezuma Monroe
Lawrence Taylor	...	Luther 'Shark' Lavay
Bill Bellamy	...	Jimmy Sanderson
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Patrick 'Madman' Kelly
Lela Rochon	...	Vanessa Struthers
Lauren Holly	...	Cindy Rooney
Ann-Margret	...	Margaret Pagniacci
Aaron Eckhart	...	Nick Crozier

Also Known As:

Gridiron (USA) (working title)
Monday Night (USA) (working title)
On Any Given Sunday (USA) (working title)
Playing Hurt (USA) (working title)
The League (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some nudity/sexuality.

Runtime:

150 min | USA:156 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Brazil:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #37161) | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:R(A) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Cardozo Hotel - 1300 Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When Tony D'Amato is in the bar, the pictures on the wall are all of people in the movie. On the bottom row are "Cap" Rooney (Dennis Quaid) and Jim Brown. Featured in the top row are Oliver Stone, Al Pacino, and Cameron Diaz.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Willie is talking to his mother on the phone after his first game and they show a reply of him throwing up on TV - it shows the score as 21-17 Miami. However, when Beamen enters the game, the opponent had already scored it's defensive touchdown to make it 24-21.

Quotes:

Willie 'Alien' Beamen: I'm trying to win coach. I ain't trying to disrespect nobody, but winning is the only thing I respect.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Full Contact: The Making of 'Any Given Sunday' (#6.10)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

HORNY

Of Sharks and Men.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, LL Cool J, James Woods, Matthew Modine, Lawrence Taylor, Jim Brown, John C. McGinley, Aaron Eckhart, Charlton Heston, Oliver Stone, Elizabeth Berkley. Directed by Oliver Stone. Spoilers herein.

"Any Given Sunday" is a film that is a feast for the eyes, but not the mind. Stone does a great job for creating a dizzying direction, eye-opening visuals, and extremely loud sound, and he does all of this with the 2 and a half+ hours that he has to spare with the film but never does go deep into detail on the characters.

The story consists of a professional football team struggling with their season. The film opens with a quote from football legend Vince Lombardi, and then fades into a football game, where the starting quarterback for the Sharks, Jack Rooney is hurt in the middle of a game, unknown third string quarterback Willie Beaman is sent in for the rest of the season. As Beaman starts rising to fame, aging Coach D'Amato and Rooney begin to question if Beaman is worth risking the rest of the season and their chance for the championship as he is trying to make the team win by himself.

The performances are pretty good and powerful. Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx do great with the lead characters, and other familiar faces such as Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine and John C. McGinley in the supporting performances.

One thing I did really like about "Any Given Sunday" is how the action during the games is very realistic, gritty, and fast. It ultimately captures the intensity and hard work from the sport of Football. But like "Natural Born Killers" and "U Turn", the sound is so unbearably loud and images are so fast and dizzying that the film could give some viewers a headache. Stone has been known to cause controversy among his films, and this is a way that he seems to do it, but it didn't bother me so much as haters of the film. Despite of some of the strengths, "Any Given Sunday" does have a few flaws. The film is unnecessarily overlong, overly stylish, and underdeveloped. Stone really could have made the film about 20-30 minutes shorter, and with most of the time the characters are either playing on the game field or yelling at each other. Some scenes showing Willie's rise are no more interesting than a Nike Gridiron commercial or a Michael Bay film. Another thing Stone forgets to do is add emotion to the film, and he replaces that with mostly sports action.

Overall I really did enjoy this film a lot, for it's realistic football scenes and the living hell that the players go through in order to win. But at times it really does try too hard, especially when it's absent with a great script and follows clichés of older Football (or even gladiator) films. But I would recommend it to Stone fans and football fans especially. A very considerate 4 stars out of 5.