The Longest Yard

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Aldrich directs. Joseph F. Biroc behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Michael Luciano cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $2.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Grossed $43M — a 14.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
• 352 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4Directed by Robert Aldrich, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Michael Luciano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert and Ed Lauter carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "It's survival of the fiercest and funniest".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0071771 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Joseph F. Biroc

Original score

Frank De Vol

Editing

Michael Luciano

Production design

James Dowell Vance

Makeup / hair

Tom Ellingwood

Sound

John Wilkinson

Stunt coordinator

Hal Needham

Runtime

121 min · 2h 1m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$2,900,000

Box office

$43,008,075

Return

1483% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Longest Yard (1974) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

74% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

61/100

IMDB rating

7.1/10 · 22,593 votes

MPAA

R

Also by

Robert Aldrich

• 
  What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

  1962 · ★ 7.9
• 
  The Dirty Dozen

  1967 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

  1964 · ★ 7.3
• 
  Big Leaguer

  1953 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Flight of the Phoenix

  1965 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Kiss Me Deadly

  1955 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Longest Yard (1974) Original Trailer [HD]

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  Josh Olson on THE LONGEST YARD

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2018-09-09
  ★ 9/10

  Football and prison is a recipe for brutal mirth. Disgraced former pro football quarterback Paul Crewe is sent to prison after a drunken night to remember. The prison is run by Warden Hazen, a football nut who spies an opportunity to utilise Crewe's ability at the sport to enhance the prison guards' team skills. After initially declining to help, Crewe is swayed into putting together a team of convicts to take on the guards in a one off match, thieves, murderers and psychopaths collectively come together to literally, beat the guards, but Crewe also has his own personal demons to exorcise. This violent, but wonderfully funny film has many things going for it. Directed with style by the gifted hands of Robert Aldrich, The Longest Yard cheekily examines the harshness of gridiron and fuses it with the brutality of the penal system. The script from Tracy Keenan Wynn is a sharp as a tack and Aldrich's use of split screens and slow motion sequences bring it all together very nicely indeed. I would also like to comment on the editing from Michael Luciano, nominated for the Oscar in that department, it didn't win, but in my honest opinion it's one of the best edited pictures from the 70s. Taking the lead role of Crewe is Burt Reynolds, here he is at the peak of his powers (perhaps never better) and has star appeal positively bristling from every hair on his rugged chest. It's a great performance, believable in the action sequences (he was once a halfback for Florida), and crucially having the comic ability to make Wynn's script deliver the necessary mirth quota. What is of most interest to me is that Crewe is a less than honourable guy, the first 15 minutes of the film gives us all we need to know about his make up, but much like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the following year, The Longest Yard has us rooting for the main protagonist entering the home straight, and that is something of a testament to Reynolds' charm and charisma. The film's crowning glory is the football game itself, taking up three parts of an hour, the highest compliment I can give it is to say that one doesn't need to be a fan of the sport to enjoy this final third. It's highly engaging as a comedy piece whilst also being octane inventive as an action junkie's series of events. A number of former gridiron stars fill out both sides of the teams to instill a high believability factor into the match itself, and the ending is a pure rewarding punch the air piece of cinema. 9/10

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2024-11-25
  ★ 7/10

  On the face of it, the warden "Eddie Albert" maybe wasn't having his brightest idea when he decides that his prisoners should play a game of American football against his guards, but when a former pro is sent down for eighteen months after an altercation with a Citröen and the harbour, he has just the man to put together an opposing team. "Crewe" (Burt Reynolds) is offered preferential treatment for himself - and that might well mean early release, and for his team and so he and fellow inmate "Nate" (Michael Conrad) start recruiting. Obviously, there are no storage of volunteers but what starts off as a bit of glorified prank starts to mean something a little more to the team, and to "Crewe" himself as he must balance his selfish promises to the governor with the aspirations of a team that finally have some sense of purpose in their lives. With that conflict building as the game grows ever closer, just what will "Crewe" decide to do? It's all a little predictable on that last front, but Reynolds turns in quite a charismatic performance and Albert an equally dastardly one as the drama comedically illustrates the futility of imprisonment as a method of reintegrating folks into society. There's an entertaining mix of stereotypical inmates from which to choose from, and plenty of action towards the end giving us quite a sense of how perilous this ball game can be coupled with some entertaining shunts, bumps and black eyes.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

Key crew

• Set DecorationRaphael Bretton
• EditorMichael Luciano
• CastingJoyce Selznick
• ProducerAlbert S. Ruddy
• Production DesignJames Dowell Vance
• Sound RecordistJim Foglesong
• Sound Re-Recording MixerJohn Wilkinson
• StuntsChuck Hayward
• Makeup ArtistTom Ellingwood
• Associate ProducerAlan P. Horowitz
• CastingSteven R. Stevens
• Assistant DirectorClifford C. Coleman
• Sound MixerFred Faust
• Makeup ArtistGuy Del Russo
• Sound EditorJames Fritch
• Sound EditorHoward Beals
• Second Unit DirectorHal Needham
• Sound EditorGordon Daniel
• Second Assistant DirectorRon Wright
• Stunt CoordinatorHal Needham
• StuntsGlenn R. Wilder
• StuntsFrank Orsatti
• StuntsPat Studstill
• StuntsLouie Elias

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• prison
• sports
• american football
• georgia
• quarterback
• palm beach, florida

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1974-08-21R

Also known as

International titles

• The Mean MachineGB
• Die härteste MeileDE
• Der härteste WegDE
• ロンゲスト・ヤードJP
• 터치 다운KR
• Det skrappe holdDK
• 最长的一码CN