A Shot at Glory

A Shot at Glory
by Michael Corrente

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DVD Reviews of A Shot at Glory

DVD Review: Should have dressed Duvall in a kilt
Summary: 3 Stars

A long way from Lonsome Dove on the Rio Grande, Robert Duvall plays Gordon McLeod, the coach of the team playing for the town of Kilnockie. The club's owner, Yank Peter Cameron (Michael Keaton), has just acquired, to Gordon's disgust, mega-star Jackie McQuillan (Ally McCoist). Jackie, though a talented player, has a volatile temper and is the philandering husband of Gordon's daughter Kate (Kirsty Mitchell). Adding insult to injury, McQuillan had persuaded Kate to marry outside of her parents' church.

As Kilnockie, a second-tier team, battles its way into the company of the Big Boys and the Scottish National Cup championship match against the powerhouse Glasgow Rangers, Duvall's sometimes incomprehensible Scottish brogue is the best reason to see A SHOT AT GLORY. I'm no judge of the dialect, but Duvall seemed a natural at it. And I could lose myself in Mitchell's strikingly beautiful eyes. However, if the film appeared in an "art theater" near me, I can understand why it must have been for no longer that it takes to kick a penalty shot. Besides the relatively unfamiliar milieu, the unusual (for the genre) ending might perhaps be uninspiring. The inclusion of the Kelsey (Cole Hauser) character, an American rookie goalie that gets thrust into a tough spot, could have provided a subplot of considerable substance if fully developed; but it wasn't. Even putting Duvall in a kilt would have raised it a notch. A soccer fan will likely rate the movie higher as is, especially since McCoist played magnificently for many years with the real-life Glasgow Rangers and was Europe's top scorer in the early 90s.

Because of Duvall's top billing, I wanted to like A SHOT AT GLORY much more than I did. I guess I'll just have to plug in my much-viewed copy of LONESOME DOVE and once again watch old Gus herd those beeves to Montana.

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