North Dallas Forty
by Ted Kotcheff
Our Price: $9.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $0.22 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Bo Svenson, Charles Durning, Dayle Haddon, Mac Davis, Nick NolteDirector: Ted Kotcheff
Brand: Team Marketing
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-30
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of North Dallas Forty
DVD Review: Great item, great price, great seller!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought and received the DVD the same week. Great packaging and service. I would definitely buy from this seller again. Thanks!DVD Review: Pro football exposed
Summary: 4 Stars
Phillip Elliot (Nick Nolte), an aging wide receiver who must be injected with pain-killers in order to perform, faces the end of the life he loves as he sees his career slipping away. Aware of his position in a fundamentally corrupt system that demands everything of the players, then discards them when they are used up, he nevertheless puts up with it for the sake of the thrill he gets on the football field every Sunday and the joy of doing what comes naturally to him.
If you're looking for an uplifting sports film with a rousing last minute win against overwhelming odds, look elsewhere. This movie is an expose of pro football as big business in which the players are expendable commodities. There is scarcely any game footage in the film until the very end, and even then it subverts sports movie conventions. Unfortunately, the love story in the film is unconvincing, even though it is intended to serve as a dramatic foil to the dishonesty and manipulation Elliot faces in his professional life. It's not surprising that Dayle Haddon didn't go on to much of a film career following this performance. However, it is surprising that singer Mac Davis didn't make more of a splash on the big screen, since he is so good here.
DVD Review: 1970s tale with heavy resonance for today
Summary: 5 Stars
This might be considered the perfect teammate for "The Longest Yard" but it stands on its' own. A big reason for that is the startling performance of singwriter-singer Mac Davis. He got his character *down* - not too deep of a dude, but deep enough to step to Nolte at the end and say that he knew that his buddy was under surveillance and that suspension was next. He proved to be a buddy on the field but not "off the field".
The athletes must work with those who they dislike and distrust. As in any occupation involving more than one individual.
Nolte is no road scholar but is a little older, wiser, roadweary enought to be tired of the detached powers-that-be and their strategy meetings with tired motivational techniques and condescention. Not exactly tired of illegal substances to keep on keel, however. He meets a somewhat enigmatic, free spirit at a typical brawling, baudy pre-big game bash - I'm not clear on how she knew about it or why she would want to attend. She is the absolute perfect balance to all the rough dudes he has to live and perform with and her peaceful demeanor starts to work on him. In the end, shell-shocked over his own decision to chuck-it, he turns to her for...regrouping. Davis will continue playing football - and have no Love in his Life. Nolte will do the converse.
The writing, directing, and cutting here is of a very high order, the attention to detail amazing. I am no fan of this sport but I had no desire to break it up in quarters - the picture flows.
Other performances of note are by Charles Durning, the old-timer trying to keep the young guys focysed and the front office smiling. But he doesn't seem to buy his own exhortations, and he delivers some interesting facial expressions to support that. Dayle Hadden is the understated counterpart to all the riotous action, perhaps a tad too refined and mannered - though that was the '70s. Today she would have been portrayed as the exasperated divorcee who has had it with immature men and masculinity in general.
Some nicely low-lit Love scenes provide peaceful interlude to the mayhem coming in the next frame.
DVD Review: North Dallas Forty
Summary: 5 Stars
Ted Kotcheff's revealing "North Dallas Forty" uncovers the less heroic aspects of pro football as big business, depicting players as commodities to be replaced when their broken bodies give out, coaches as bullying nursemaids, and owners as greedy, manipulative tyrants. To his credit, Kotcheff isn't heavy-handed in his approach, leavening the film with plenty of wit and warmth. Nolte is superb playing the aching, rebellious Phil, while singer Davis exhibits natural acting chops as Max. Sterling support comes from Steve Forrest and Dabney Coleman (as owners), G.D. Spradlin and Charles Durning (as coaches), and Bo Svenson (hilarious as an unhinged defensive player on the Dallas team).DVD Review: The dark side of pro football
Summary: 5 Stars
NORTH DALLAS FORTY is based on the semi-autobiographical book written by Michigan State's own Pete Gent. Gent played basketball @ MSU and went on to play Tight End for Tom Landry's Cowboys in the 1960s. The coach of the team in the movie is obviously a caricature of Landry in the way that he calls guys out in film sessions and mixes football with religion, computers, psychology and philosophy (not to mention some mind-games to boot!).
The crux of the film details what it's like to be an aging player in football. Once players get north of 30 they become much more dependent on shots and pain pills and have to watch their skills erode with each passing season. The movie depicts the devastating toll that football takes on even the most athletic bodies.
Nick Nolte plays a wide receiver who finds himself in just such a circumstance. He is fighting for his pro football life while younger players are trying to push him out of the league to make a place for themselves. He also is in the middle of politics being played out on multiple levels over who gets to play.
While this is a sports movie, we hardly get to see any "game" action at all. This is not a bad thing, just different. The basis of the movie centers around the "behind the scenes" issues of a pro football team.
If you like sports movies (especially football) you'll likely enjoy this one. Just so you know it's bound to not be as uplifting and cathartic as most sports films tend to be.
Description of North Dallas Forty
A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.A very savvy, 1978 film directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood) dealing with the seamier side of professional football. Phillip Elliott and Maxwell (Nick Nolte and Mac Davis, respectively) are players for a Texas football team loosely based on the championship Dallas Cowboys. Though at the peak of his football career, Elliott is a personal and physical mess, needing all manner of drugs prescribed by the team physician to play and even to move around. The indifference of the team management and the hypocritical stance toward recreational drug use versus the drug abuse practiced by the players leads to a crisis of conscience for Nolte. The combination of Nolte's volatile presence and Davis's understated performance as the quarterback who thinks he's seen it all helps make North Dallas Forty one of the best sports films around. --Robert Lane
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Frost/ NixonUniversal; Release date: 2009-04-21; DVD
Best price: $11.39
Price in other shops:
Lost in AustenImage Entertainment; Release date: 2009-04-14; DVD
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops:
AustraliaTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-03; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
DoubtRelease date: 2009-04-07; DVD
Best price: $14.43
Price in other shops:
True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series)Release date: 2009-05-19; DVD
Best price: $38.99
Price in other shops:
FireproofSony; Release date: 2009-01-27; DVD
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
The ReaderGenius; Release date: 2009-04-14; DVD
Best price: $12.30
Price in other shops:
The WrestlerTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-04-21; DVD
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops:
Marley and Me (Single-Disc Edition)Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $10.55
Price in other shops:
Slumdog MillionaireTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $10.40
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Natural (Director's Cut)Team Marketing; Release date: 2007-04-03; DVD
Best price: $12.22
Price in other shops:
Friday Night Lights (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2005-01-18; DVD
Best price: $1.35
Price in other shops:
CaddyshackCHASE,CHEVY; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $2.53
Price in other shops:
Rudy (Special Edition)Team Marketing; Release date: 2000-09-26; DVD
Best price: $4.30
Price in other shops:
Everybody's All-AmericanWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
All the Right MovesTeam Marketing; Release date: 2002-03-05; DVD
Best price: $4.42
Price in other shops:
Any Given Sunday (Special Edition Director's Cut) - Oliver Stone CollectionWarner Brothers; Release date: 2001-08-07; DVD
Best price: $3.69
Price in other shops:
Slap Shot (25th Anniversary Special Edition)Universal; Release date: 2002-03-26; DVD
Best price: $5.63
Price in other shops:
Semi-ToughRelease date: 2001-05-08; DVD
Best price: $1.75
Price in other shops:
The Longest Yard (Lockdown Edition)Team Marketing; Release date: 2005-05-10; DVD
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops: