Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4068 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-11-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Special Features
1.78 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Italian
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English Italian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Arabic\Bulgarian\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\Hungarian\Icelandic\Italian\Norwegian\Polish\Romanian\Swedish\Turkish

Synopsis
In this remake of THE LONGEST YARD, Robert Aldrich's 1974 Burt Reynolds prison tale concerning inmates who organize themselves into a football team and compete against the guards, British director Barry Skolnick pulls together a ruthlessly funny cast and changes the resident sport to soccer. The leader of the prisoners, played by Vinnie Jones (LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS), is a former soccer star who is asked by the warden to coach a team of prison guards. Instead, he offers to put together a team of inmates, who will be able to scrimmage with the guards' team.

Customer Reviews

Mega fun
Any movie about football that can win over a footbla hater is bound to be good, and take my word, this is a short, fun, no-brainer, infintely rewatchable and hugely enjoyable.

In addition to Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham , about 76% of Guy Ritchie's cache of bit-parters show up as well. As usual, Statham steals the show, though Jones is awesome in it as are all the other sterotypes. If it weren't for Danny Dyer this would have been a five-star movie.

Bring on the cliches!

Remakes tend to be a way of getting a film using little creativity as it's all been figured out before. However - this is different. The fact that this is a British film means that the cultural references and the feel of it are totally and refreshingly different.

BUT - I've had to remove a star for this film purely due to the fact that it is crammed with every prison film cliché going.

The screws are racist and are hell-bent on dealing out brutal thrashings to cons on a whim.

The Governor is as bent as a bottle of crisps and uses his corruption to get what he wants, he threatens his staff with losing their jobs, and he threatens to stitch up cons.

There is a mafia-boss style con who 'runs the nick'.

There is even a ball-against-the-wall scene a-la The Great Escape.

Vinnie Jones was adequate as Danny Meehan, and the other cast are all great. Particularly the hyper salivating canteen guy, and Ralph Brown as Burton.

Burton is the Senior Prison officer and is not happy at the corruption in the prison. I found him to be my favourite character in the film as he had more depth than the others - plus Brown is one of my all time favourite actors.

You get the feeling that this film was made to surf the crest of the Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels wave. It's not a bad film, it's just that everything you expect to happen, happens. There are some very funny moments, and this would be a fantastic film for a lads night in - you've got prisons, violence, and football.

Maybe it's because I'm not a football fan, and my dad was a prison officer that I just don't get excited by the 'all police/prison officers are inherently evil' plot of a lot of films.

Bloody Funny!
Having watched the old Burt Reynolds movie of the same name, I watched this one with some trepidation...

I need'nt have worried - This film is very very funny, and Vinnie Jones is absolutely brill as the central character Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan.

Alongside Vinnie, are some solid supporting actors too... the late David Hemmings is particularly good as the corrupt & sleazy Prison Governer of the Prison that Vinnie is sent to. Jason Statham is excellent as the psychotic 'Monk' along with Danny Dyer (of Human Traffic fame) as the endearing 'Billy the Limpet'

This film would never win any oscars - which in my opinion is a great shame - but it is a film that you can watch over and over again, and always laugh yer head off! The humour at times is coarse, and not too PC at times either, not that I was ever PC anyway!

Anyway, if you want to take my advice, get yerself a copy of this film... You won't regret it.