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The underdog film is a well-traveled narrative path, and there's good reason why so many films fit that category. Stories of individuals and groups who overcome steep odds to earn acclaim and respect from others are edifying to watch, and meaningful to our everyday existences because everyone alive has to struggle at times.
Golf is a perfect platform for underdog stories. In fact, the vast majority of golf movies can be seen this way, from caddie Danny Noonan's saga in "Caddyshack" to that of Kevin Costner's Roy McAvoy in "Tin Cup."
To play golf is to be an underdog, and for five young Mexican-American men from San Felipe High School in 1957, the deck stacked against them included not just the typical obstacles golf courses put in their way, but ignorance, discrimination and cruelty from the game's entrenched elites in their Texas home.
It's this story, forgotten for half a century until unearthed by writer Humberto Garcia in his 2012 novel Mustang Miracle, that "The Long Game," a new film based on a true story starring Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid and Cheech Marin, tells with heart, humor and historic poignancy. The movie is now available exclusively on digital platforms to own or rent, and available to own on DVD June 11, 2024, from Mucho Mas Media and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Hernandez stars as J.B. Peña, a veteran of World War II who comes to the Texas border town of Del Rio to be superintendent of the local majority-Hispanic San Felipe school district. Peña is rebuffed in his attempt to join the local country club. “I’ve gotta consider our members," explains the club's meek manager, "and they are just not used to seein’ a Mexican on the golf course.”
Of course, this is not true (and Peña, like many of the characters, is not Mexican but American). The club's exclusively white membership regularly interacts with Mexican and Mexican-American people, but only as hired help. That includes the caddies, five of whom Peña, along with war buddy and gruff but helpful (and, crucially, non-bigoted) club pro Frank Mitchell (Dennis Quaid) recruits to form San Felipe's first-ever golf team.
The boys, Peña discovers, have scratched out their own makeshift links, called El Llanito (Spanish for "Little Plain"), where they while away non-school, non-work hours. This is where Peña and Mitchell help mold their young charges into golfers while trying to get them recognized and invited to area tournaments.
Along the way, the team gets help from Pollo, a club groundskeeper played with characteristic verve and sweetness by Cheech Marin. Pollo's typical uniform - a wire cage he wears around his body so as not to be injured while picking the range - is one of countless wonderful period props and touches. It also helps underscore the central Hispanic characters' struggles and dilemmas throughout the film.
I would be lying if I said "The Long Game" breaks new narrative or cinematicground. But that's alright - the story of the San Felipe Mustangs is told with deep affection, and the film is beautifully appointed and shot in a way that really grounds it in its time and place. It never feels like it drags; characters major and minor are by and large engaging, especially Marin's Pollo and even the silly high school principal played by The Office alum Oscar Nuñez. Generous moments of levity help make the moments where Peña and others come up against discrimination feels jarringly convincing and gut-wrenchingly nasty.
Of the five high-school golfers, talented and tempestuous Joe Treviño gets the most screen time, and even a sweet side romance plot that at times seems inspired by "Good Will Hunting." Young actor Julian Works portrays Treviño sensitively, undercutting his brooding and cocky exterior with just enough tenderness and blossoming desire to rise above his humble circumstances.
The film's shortcomings will be familiar to avid golfers. Its attempts to make the subject matter appealing to those unfamiliar with golf will occasionally grate against hardcore golfers. The actors' swings are far from polished, there are assorted visual anachronisms and one or two too many labored "how golf is like life" metaphors in an otherwise lively script.
Like every film of its genre, "The Long Game" leaves viewers well satisfied at the team's on- and off-course triumphs. And while it may not quite win the "best golf movie ever" crown, its engaging subject matter and solid performances make it well worth a watch for anyone who loves golf, a good underdog story or both.
'The Long Game' on RottenTomatoes | Order 'The Long Game' through Fandango at Home
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