Leatherheads: Grown Men in Tights and Head Gear

Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellwegger) tells Dodge Connelly (George Clooney) that football players are “grown men in tights and head gear” in the football comedy Leatherheads.

Directed by Clooney, this ode to slapstick and screwball comedy Hollywood exemplifies the artistic possibilities of a contemporary vision of classic stories and visual style.  Set in 1925, when college football was glory and professional football as a tenuous gathering of working class accessories, Leatherheads tracks the goals of two-and-a-half characters: when his days as a ball player come to an abrupt end due to the loss of corporate sponsorship, Dodge Connelly, a member of the Duluth Bulldogs, takes unprecedented measures to get his job back; Lexie Littleton, writer for the Chicago Tribune, is assigned to befriend Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinkski), a darling of the college game and World War I hero, and then discredit his claims to patriotic heroism.  The film’s narrative and spectacle hinge around these three characters, but Rutherford’s “goals” are a bit more vague–he just wants to play ball, making him more of a character “half” than a “whole.”

To replenish the pro game and resurrect his team, Dodge convinces Carter to play for the Bulldogs.  With the boy wonder (or “war-hero-football-boy,” as Lexie calls him) and his manager CC Frazier (Jonathan Pryce) in tow, Dodge and his teammates embark on an action-driven journey that will alter the game of professional football forever.  Add Ms. Littleton into the recipe and there is no stopping the wit, the physical comedy, or the fuel for conflict (are Dodge and Carter both in love with Lexie? Will she write that revealing article?).

There are eight game sequences and two practices sessions (games six and seven feature no actual game-play).   As I’d mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to see this film for the sight of 1920s football uniforms and mise-en-scene in color.  While I was by no means disappointed by such imagery, I wasn’t exactly riveted either.

In terms of plot structure, I was expecting the typical sports film, where most non-game scenes commonly feel obligatory and function as preludes and transitions to game scenes.  Leatherheads isn’t the typical sports film–and not necessarily in a positive way.  Apparently, Mr. Clooney immersed himself in the finer days of Hollywood, watching screwball comedy after screwball while preparing to make the picture.  Given the physical comedy present during the game sequences and the exaggerated movements of the players, I wouldn’t be surprised if he watched Harold Lloyd and The Marx Brothers films.   Perhaps he got too caught up in the O Brother, Where Art Thou humor aspect of the film.   Specifically, the non-football scenes and storyline in Leatherheads is possibly too well-conceived and carried out because I actually enjoyed the film more when there wasn’t any game-play on screen.  Shocking! but true.

Observations & Miscellania:

1. Product Placement & Branding: Coca-Cola,  Beechnut Cigarettes, S.S. White toothpaste.

2. In addition to “grown men in tights and head gear,” I also liked the comment that “you’re only as young as the women you feel.” I don’t remember which character said it, though.

3. The final word from me is that Leatherheads works as a comedy (solid integration of sports-as-spectacle) but not nearly as much as a sports film.

For anyone who’s seen Leatherheads, you’ll appreciate these video clips and hopefully recognize the ways George Clooney may have incorporated the Hollywood greats.

The Freshman clip A, clip B.

From Horse Feathers:

And last but not least, if you want to know more about professional football during the 20s, click here, here, and here.